Profile For Brandon H.

Thank you all for the good advice and the birthday wishes! As far as "Plan B's", I do have a few lined up just in case things don't work out with CFI (Prime and Schneider being a few of them). This has been a decision I've been pondering for a few years now, and I'm just really excited to finally... FINALLY take the leap and start my career.

The time has finally come! I just turned 21 and I'm about a month away from applying to CFI and beginning their student driver training program. I just wanted to get on here and ask a few questions. As of right now, I have not contacted a recruiter or applied for anything just yet. I just wanted to know if there was anything I need to do before I even get ahold of anybody. Like should I go ahead and get my CLP and medical card now before I call them, or should I just wait to get ahold of the recruiter and have them walk me through everything? I feel like already having the CLP and medical card when I walk in the door will save a lot of time, but I also wanna make sure I do things the right way. I've read the Illinois CDL handbook from cover to cover and feel like I could recite it word for word at this point (lol) and passed every practice test known to man , so I feel fully confident I can pass the actual CLP test. It's just so exciting that this time has finally come and I guess all the overwhelming feelings of finally starting a career are starting to get to me and it seems I've hit a roadblock on what to do next, so any guidance or advice would be greatly appreciated!

I'll be attending CDL school here in the next couple months and was just wondering if anyone wanted to share their story of when they realized trucking was their "destiny", I guess you could call it. Was it that first drive through the mountains and getting to see the beautiful scenery? was it that first time you made $100k+ in a year? or was it something else? I'm mainly asking just so I can stay motivated and have something to look forward to and hopefully relate to in the future. So, what's your story?

So I've made the decision to apply to CFI's student driver program here in the next few months, and I just had a few questions.

1. How often do you find yourself in Canada? I've seen on their website that you can find yourself up there for a few weeks at a time, but how often does that happen? And what parts?

2. Are the trucks limited to a certain speed? I've looked everywhere, but cannot find an answer lol

3. Where do you find yourself spending the most of your time? Out west? Southeast? Midwest? Up north? Or is it just all over the place all of the time?

4. Finally, do you just have any tips for a young guy like me that'll help make the whole process a little easier? Anything I need to know or do before applying and heading off to school? What to look out for? What to study the most?

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

- Brandon H.