Profile For Beth S.

Recently I was in the left lane passing a slower truck. (that takes two minutes in speed govererned trucks.) Behind me in the left lane, another semi started flashing his high beams. I guess he didn't want to waste his precious time waiting for me. Well, I didn't want to waste my precious time backing out and starting over after Mr. Speedee zoomed past. He had to wait his turn, like everyone else!

I'm one of the cranky people in a four-wheeler who will start slowing down when people decide that it's their job to convince me to move faster either by flashing their high beams or riding my tail. I'm guessing that's not exactly recommended in an truck?

Unless I am mistakin', I believe Ride2BFree is currently considering trucking as a career or attending a truck driving school (awesome!). Correct? If true why would you not want to first learn, sharpen your skills and gain fundamental experience on someone else's dime (your employer)?

This reminds me of when I got my motorcycle license. They have tons of 250cc bikes and basically told us that if we're going to lay it down, we'd probably rather do it at school and figure out what we were doing wrong instead of going home and doing it to our own bike. Similar concept. I wouldn't want to be responsible for the repairs to what I'm just learning how to drive.

This might sound like a silly question, but is it necessary to have an actual fridge in the truck? Seems like a waste of space, even if I can see the convenience. Can you not stop several times during your drive time to get cold water, etc.?

I'm sure you can get cold water, but I doubt the truck stops carry a good stock of the type of food I should be eating. You're also paying more to get everything at the truck stop than you would by hitting Walmart or a grocery store once a week.

I'm not sure we have enough people checking the Ladies' forum to get you much help. I know people have posted similar questions in the main forums before.

Any advice for my situation? I was looking at different options and it appears swift has a training location right next to where I'm moving and swift offers scholarships for veterans, so training would be free and I'd not have to use any of my school benefits. I've read mixed reviews on swift, but is it a decent enough company to get my foot in the door and experience? Thanks for any replies.

Any big company is going to have people ticked off at it. From what I have heard, the best company is one you go to planning to make it work and get it done.

Prime equips their truck with lane mitigation systems that make noise if you start getting close to the edge of your lane, it can be annoying but I also think it could serve a good purpose if manufacturers started including it in their trucks.

I don't know about in a big rig, but that system is definitely freakin' annoying in a minivan. Mom's new Odyssey has one, and it only took me about 5 minutes on the interstate to figure out how to turn the dang thing off because it kept beeping when I went to change lanes.

If you have to be "manly" enough to drive a truck, I better rethink my whole wardrobe!

We access Netflix through all three at home (no cable internet out here worth having). My husband watches on his phone all the time when he's out waiting in a truck. We have an AT&T hotspot that is our primary internet at the house. We just turn it off when we're not using it.

I have tons of audiobooks and movies on my computer that I can put on my tablet and phone as well, and will take those with me when I go, as I don't trust that I will always have a cellular connection. My Kindle (Paperwhite, so just a reader) will also be coming with me, loaded with books. I can download more to it using the hotspot or my cell phone.

I'm guessing I'll have to have this all BEFORE I go to training? Because once you're done and you've (hopefully) passed, don't companies put you on the road immediately?

Everything that I have seen says NOT to take all that stuff with you because you'll be in a truck with a trainer for a bit, and they don't want all your stuff cluttering up their truck. My husband told me he figures we'll get all that stuff set up the first time I come home in my own truck, other than the stuff that is immediate needs (like an atlas and a hotpot).

Cool beans. Thanks for the info! (Still have to lose some weight and get into a little better shape, but at least I know I'll likely not fail any physical test.)

Next you're going to tell me that the elliptical and weight machine in our house aren't there to hang clothes on.

Yeah, I need to work on getting back in better shape as well.