Comments By Brian M.

Boy Colin it really depends on your needs. As an instructor I've seen people at Prime with only the barest of funds. Not a recommended route to take but it's been done.

If selected by Prime they will take care of you room, food and transportation as soon as you arrive. By far they seem to be the most generous company during training. After your first week ( orientation) and when you pass your permit you will be advanced 200 dollars a week for food and incidentals while out with your instructor. This lasts for approximately 3 weeks.

After your PSD phase you will go through your TNT portion and you will receive 700.00 a week training pay. This generally can last between 4 and 6 weeks. Excluding your personal bills I believe somewhere between 500 to 1000 would be more than enough to see you through.

Haven't been there but will put it on the bucket list. Thanks

The most efficient way possible. Scenery is everywhere if I don't see something today there's always tomorrow.

LOL I just had my eye check up last week. Always have 3prs on the truck. 2 regular 1 sunglasses. Good post I don't know if it's actually true but another driver had told me 2 pair were required. I've never checked so maybe someone could shed some light on it.

Last week was the first week in the yard since January. Sat in the Cafe a while drinking water so I could get my physical it's amazing overhearing the conversations of constant complaining how these drivers aren't making any money out there. No need for me to interject because some of them were sitting there when I rolled in on January.

Turtle it's sounds as if you found the secret sauce Congratulations! It's great when someone actually listens to old geezers like Old School and takes the bull by the horns. Keep it up!!!

Victor I have used the Tom Tom, rand McNally, and Garmin and can tell you all will get you to where your going with good trip planning. I prefer the Rand McNally do to the atlas built in and the advanced knowledge of hazards along the way. The gps mimics the atlas better in my opinion.

But I have no problem using any one of them with proper trip planning.

As Susan and others have pointed out you can't rely on one method to navigate you to your destination, all you need all the tools in your arsenal and some common sense.

As an instructor I've seen so many students struggle with trip planning because they didn't want to do their trucking homework. Look at it as if you don't do you homework you can skate by for a while, but sooner or later you will fail. So let me show you how I train my students how to trip plan and see if this helps.

First as Susan mentioned a Rand McNally (preferably the laminated one) truck atlas and a straight edge or ruleris vital. This is the start of everything in trip planning. If I were coming from Atlanta Ga. to Portland Or. ( United States pg 2 & 3 )how would I get there?

I take a straight edge and with a dry erase marker I highlight a straight line from Atlanta to Portland. Now you have guideline to find the most effective and efficient route. Starting with the interstate system we can figure out 95% of our trip without any other tool.

The interstate numbering system was made quite simple. Highways going West to East are even numbers and South to North are odd numbers. Mile markers go west to east and south to north. If you are on I 75 and get route on a bypass like 275 475 etc. it will always route you back to 75. If you see I 175 375 etc. this is a direct branch that doesn't return to the original interstate you were on.

So let's see my route ( I 24 west to I 57 north, I 57 north to I 64 west, I 64 west to I 255 north) This is just short of St Louis, since this is a major city with many interstate arteries the bypass is 255 for the east half and 270 for the west half. We are on the east half so it will be I 255. So I 255 north to I 70 west, I 70 west to I 435 north, ((Kansas City bypass)) to I 29 north. This is pg 57 through 59 in the atlas.

I try stay on interstates as much as possible but in certain circumstances I know a heavily used state route that saves time. So I am traveling on I 29 north and I get on Iowa 2 at exit 10 and head west. This road eventually turns into Nebraska 2 ( pg 62 and 63) and ends in Lincoln Ne. Nebraska 2 to U.S. 77 north which ends 3 miles away at I 80. Take I 80 west to I 84 west in Utah (pg 103). I 84 west to Portland and TA-DA 95% of my trip done!

(All the time I was tracing my route with a dry erase marker)

Its extremely important to remember all the major cities along my route. Traffic patterns change daily so if you can remember which major city is next on your route and which direction your headed if something does change you can be prepared. Getting closer to major cities I always keep a mindful eye on the signs ( Interstate number, direction north, south, east, and west, and the Major City that it leads to. If you've driven in the Dallas metro area lately I say no more on its importance.

Now this is my preferred route. Do I just go for it? Nope. My next step is checking weather, road closures or anything else they may make me change my route.

So we just completed the easy 95% but now we still need to pick up at the shipper and drop at the receiver so this is where you not only need your atlas but your other tools in your arsenal as well.

Once I have the addresses the first thing I do is use my Qualcomm and find the I need directions to_________ command. Prime it's macro19 in compose. This gives me written instructions on the address and how to get there safely. The best part is that the drivers themselves have written most of this and have been there already. Not only does it give directions but many times it has important information on hazards, alternate routes, and shipper and receiver information.

After I do this I generally look at the atlas and look at the truck routes going into that town or city. I compare it to what my macro 19 information says and check for alternate routes if needed. Once I narrowed it down to the town I am going to I check the atlas for low clearance locations, weigh stations and restricted routes. ( Pgs A26 through A49 in the Atlas)

Now that I narrowed it down I check my google maps satellite to narrow down the shipper or receiver. Making sure as I get close I am aware of hazards close to the destination. I also start planning the way I will approach my backing maneuvers while I'm at it.

Guess what I did all that without a dang GPS. I finally turn the darn thing on, enter the addresses and compare my route to my route I've planned. Plan my fuel stops, 10 hour breaks, 30 minute breaks and showers. Keeping in mind to give myself other options and now I am ready to roll.

Hope this helps

That's a reasonable 1st year estimate. You should be able to budget that average on a monthly basis. Remember some weeks maybe less and others better.

Hey Daniel it's refreshing to see someone of Ernie's age here. I'm so use to seeing youngsters like you that barely can see over the steering wheel

You're absolutely on point Brett. How many new drivers do we tell not to follow the GPS as law but as a guide? Yet in the infinite wisdom of higher profits these company's think they can take out the driver element to the equation.

Just ask any Uber or Lyft driver how they like the company mapping. They are beyond frustrated with it. There's a long way to go on this frontier ladies and gentlemen so I wouldn't start thinking about a career change just yet.