Comments By Aaron Placencia

20,000 miles. Already have close to 1,000 miles in. The Florida run will be about 1300 so it won't take long at all.

Well, since I've been back, everyone here at Jim Palmer has welcomed me and made me feel right back at home. The week of orientation consisted of drug test, physical, and some videos, and power point from the staff. Thursday we finishing up on boarding and I'm going through this even tho I'm not upgrading to my solo truck or being hired with experience. So it's a possible chance I'll have to re due all this after training.

Thursday night I get a call from a JP driver named Monte, he's taking me to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to meet my trainer. So I pack my things and wait till about 7:30 and we roll out. We shut down after about 150 miles and he finished it up Friday night. I was not allowed to drive so it was a little slower than expected.

I'm super nervous to meet my trainer, I'm always thinking the worst, that I won't get along with him or I won't learn anything and just be all around upset, considering I had such a great experience with my first trainer. Well I met him Saturday morning, I'm on about 5 hours of sleep. We talk and I'm loading my stuff up and telling Monte thanks for brining out here.

We head up to Colorado and pick up a meat load. Trainer "red" is what he likes to be called but anyways he drove up. We dropped our empty which he had me Back, I did ok, but being away for 6 months I was a little rusty. Well we get put on the wait list, so we bobtail to this Mexican fast food which was really good. Spent most of the day waiting, by then I'm already getting sleepy and knowing I'll have to drive because it'll be a tight window to Laredo tx.

They finally call so we head out. We get there, i find the trailer, pretrip and we head out. Surprisingly I drove well. Thought I would of struggled with the time off but I felt I shifted better than I ever have before. Plus me and my trainer get along great and I've been learning quite a bit from him.

I made it about 4 hours and I told red, we need to find a rest area, I'm starting to get tired, signs are becoming blurry and I do not feel safe Behind the wheel. So we did, slept 4 hours and then he drove and I slept more. Made it to about noon then we got a shower and some lunch. Around 7pm I took over, had 389 miles to Laredo, easy! This time I had monster rehab and a regular one.

Made it to Laredo on time. Now we are here waiting, we were pre planned a load to the same place but it's missing it's export papers so they refused. All these loads are heading to mexico so I guess the last driver who dropped it off at the prime yard didn't leave everything. So now we are waiting and we were preplanned another load after this local route, it heads to Florida, delivers in two days but now we are just sitting and waiting to hear from dispatch on what to do. My hours are up so I'll be sleeping the day away and driving nights tonight if we keep that Florida Run.

All I can say is so far I'm having a blast. Red has been nothing but a great guy and is showing me things I didn't even know. I already feel more confident even tho its been a few days. He says my backing is good and I think otherwise!!! But I'm here to learn and I'm glad I can soak up more knowledge from a different trainer.

Anyways, I'm about to sleep. Being up for almost 24 hours is tiring! So goodnight or day? Haha! Be safe everyone and have a great week! I'll update when I have a chance.

Awesome! All I can say is damn, that's a good week. I can't wait to hit the road soon again. If my TNT phase here at Jim Palmer can go like that with 6500 I should be done in a month or a little less.

Congrats! Hopefully that bus ride isn't too bad!

I believe 20,000 miles, I'll find out more after my road test tomorrow I'm sure. A little nervous, haven't been behind the wheel in awhile so, we will see how it goes.

How long are they sending you out with a trainer?

Thanks everyone, I will keep it updated. Today has been pretty relaxed, drug test, physical, paperwork and some cbts. Almost done with these dang videos. Not sure when I'll get a trainer but hopefully I can make a trip to Walmart before that happens! But everyone has been great, and welcoming me back. Definitely helps, I'm just ready to practice and get my skill back and start learning as much as possible while out on the road again. I know I'll always be learning something but the extra time with a trainer will help. Be safe everyone.

Well, here is my update. Last week I was preparing to call grace from prime and set my orientation date. When my recruiter from Jim Palmer reached out to me to see how me and the family are doing. I told her things are going good and I'm about ready to go to prime. She asked me a question, "why did you choose prime and not come back with us" now couple months ago I did ask if it would be an option and she said she'd get back to me. Since I didn't hear anything I figured maybe they didn't want to bring me back so I made necessary moves to get me back driving to support my family. When I proceeded to tell her and mentioned I would 100% come back if it was an option. She made some calls and here I am. 62h 40m bus ride I'm in Missoula MT. Drug test and physical tomorrow, not sure what else. I do know I'll be back with a trainer, hopefully my first one. That would be amazing, but I'm happy and ready to get back on the road. Be safe everyone, it's time to catch some sleep.

Yeah, JP and wil-trans base their training off of primes. But from my understanding if you wanted more training they would help you out in any way possible just to make sure you're ready and safe out on the road.

I'm not at prime but I believe that is correct. They will always do a road test and depending how you do, then it'll base the miles you'll do with a trainer. 30k miles actually goes pretty quickly so even if it's 40k, that's experience behind the wheel with someone who can help you when you need it.

Thanks guys. Yeah the recruiter said they are super flexible. Like you to run weekends which I don't mind. It's slip seating, which is fine since I'll most likely be home daily. But other than that, i think it'll be a good gig. I worked for Walmart before overnights, plus another grocery store out here in Maine. Plus I delivered bread in Las Vegas to grocery stores. I think it'll be something I'm a little familiar with plus something that could help me be home from time to time.