Comments By David F.

...and when it’s my turn to drive for 11 hours, nothing has ever presented itself I’ve been unable to handle.

Oh no. You better knock on a lot of wood to offset those prophetic words.

It's nice to read that you are learning. Keep practicing your backing. Go to a sporting goods store and buy a set of soccer cones. They're red and stand about 10" tall. When you have downtime, see if you can set up adocking cone pattern and practice. The cones nest and don't take much space.

I started out with schneider running there western region, I am strictly regional and have gone no further east than Denver,Co in the last 7 months. I never had any desire to see the country though so it has worked out great for me.

I drove for Schneider when I first started OTR. 11 western states turned out to mean AZ, CA, OR, &WA 90% of the time with the occasional NV. It became tiresome for me.

When I was 19, I attended Federal Truck Driving School in San Diego. I graduated, passed my CA CDL and became licensed to drive in-state. I wasn't old enough to get my HazMat, even though I passed the endorsement test when I initially got my CDL Permit. I drove locally in SoCal for 5 months and then gave up and went on to other things. Fast forward to 2003. I am married and have two little boys (3 & 1!). Now living in AZ, I could not find a job that would pay that wasn't temping or clerical. I started looking online (such as it was back then). I contacted CR England, but never heard back. I contacted Schneider and within 3 weeks they had me set up to travel to Fontana and start a 2 week driving school at USTDS. After graduation I drove for Schneider through December of 2005. I then switched companies and started hauling petroleum products locally in AZ, mostly delivering gasoline to convenience stores and such. After about 6-7 years, I transitioned into dispatch, working nights. While in dispatch, I let my CDL expire and lapse. In 2019 I reached a breaking point and had to get off night shift. I left the industry and went to work in the debit card fraud division of a large bank.

Now I'm looking at getting back into driving locally. I need to get my DOT Physical and then get my CDL permit again and I can go to work with a local tank carrier to update my training and get my CDL back. I'm in that process now. In hindsight, I should not have let my CDL lapse.