Comments By Sun King

As a whole, Freight is down year over year but not a ton. Freight is also down from April to May. 2014 was a ton of growth in the industry. I have been getting a daily email from JOC.com that has a pulse on that kind of stuff. It cost a ton of dough to get full access, so I just read the headlines and synopsis.

Hopefully the more experienced drivers will be able to help you out on the other questions.

Love the thread Daniel! This is a good place as any to lay down my meal plans. I am extremely frugal and I have a strong self sustainable streak in me as well. When planning my meals A few things stick as important:

- The limitations I have to face based on the Company I am with. I am going with Knight and they do not have APUs, nor do they allow large capacity inverters. They do allow small 12v plug in inverters in the 300-400w range. They capacity of the 12v outlets I hear run up to 180w so that is the max appliance usage I am looking at with A/C Appliances.

The appliances I am starting out with are: Crock Pot(100w); Immersion Blender(150w); Coleman Gas Stove utilizing the 1lb. propane cannisters. The purpose of using the Coleman cannisters are I can refill them with an adapter and I can attach a buddy heater to it as a backup heat source if needed.

The Crock Pot is for dinners. I will make beans, lentils, rice, meat, and things like that. The Immersion blender is for soups, homemade hummus, mayo, and Smoothies. The gas stove is for eggs and boiling water (when I can't fill up my insulated caraffe at a truck stop). The carafe should keep water hot for 15+ hours. I will use that for tea, instant oatmeal, my broth, etc.

- How to get vegies and live Bacteria if I am running hard and I am unable to stop. I own a food dehydrator so I started playing with drying vegatables. I would dry anything and everything: zucchini, carrots, celery, brocolli, mushrooms, you name it. I ended up putting veggies into a blender and chopping it up into a fairly fine powder. I would add onion powder, garlic powder, and salt to make a dry broth/soup mix. I would take a spoonfull and hydrate it in hot water. It works well!

For live food, I will be sprouting seeds on the road. I will be sprouting Quinoa, Lentils, Barley, and Sunflower seeds. All these seeds sprout quick. Quinoa is ready in 24 hours, the others in 2-3 days. I have a plastic mason like jar and lids with holes in them. That is what I will be using. Nut bags are also an option for around $7 online. How to sprout: Soak the seeds for 6-8 hours, then drain the water. Rinse 3 times a day. Eat. It's that simple. The sprouts can stay good for up to 5 days.

- Nutrition. I am super picky about this. I am concerned about excessive pesticide use on foods so certain foods I avoid or I am careful of their source. I ran into gut issues where I was able to pinpoint the problem to artificial foods and pesticide residue. I was running into food intolerances. I wash all fruits and veggies good. I avoid black tea unless it is organic, and I avoid foods most likely made with GMO's. Also, I will have a PuR water filter to filter my drinking water.

I have been planning my menu plan with an emphasis on basic food stuffs so I can mix and match. I don't do recipies. I'm a free range chef. I have divided up my food based on when I would primarily eat it. I also have a list of spices and baking goods.

Spices and baking: Chives, Parsley, Red Pepper flakes, Cayenne, Dried Lemon, Cinnamon, Cajun powder, Paprika, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Salt, Pepper, Curry Powder, Hot Sauce(vinegar and cayenne based), Vinegar, Italian Seasoning, Thyme, ginger, tomato paste, mustard, non-gmo oil, boullion cubes, and dry soup mix.

Snacks: Nuts, Dried fruits and vegetables, Peanuts, Protein Bars, and Juice Boxes. Beef Jerky and Salami will be used for back up meat source if I can't make it to a store.

Breakfast: Eggs, Dry Cereal, Oatmeal, Yogurt, Almond Milk, Banannas, other fruit for smoothies(seasonal)

Lunch: Chick Peas(hummus), Tuna Fish, Peanut Butter, Honey, Raisins, Pickles, Cucumbers, Green Peppers, Tortilla Shells.

Dinner: Beans, Rice, Split Pea, Couscous, Dried Veg, Beef Jerkey, Tomato Paste, Canned Soups, Bullion, Dried Soup mix, Chicken, Pork roast(sm), Cheap cuts of Beef, Apples, and Oranges.

I really don't have a price breakdown, but I feel pretty comfortable I can keep the costs down. When I can save money by making stuff homemade in advance I will.

Well, There she be! We will see how it goes and I am sure I will tweak it as time goes along.

IF you really think that trucking companies can do no wrong, then you are in the wrong industry

Everybody makes mistakes Patrick, even myself. So do the companies, so does everyone who is human. It is how we deal with the situation that determines whether the outcome is helpful to oneself or harmful.

Can you change the actions of a company? No. Can you change how you handle dealing with said company? Yes.

Answers are found within the choices one makes.

Getting someone else or a company to change is pretty fruitless.

In all serious Patrick. I hope you find a solution.

That's an emphasis on you.

Hey Patrick,

It seems like some soul searching is in order. Whenever I run into challenges I look at what I can do instead of what others are doing. The best that can happen is to take that finger which is pointed at your past employers and turn it around. Here are some questions to ask: What can I do to make things better? What changes can I make to get different results?

I leave you with some quotes:

"I am not a product of my circumstances, I am a product of my decisions." - Stephen Covey

"Be the change you want to see in the world." - Ghandi

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" - Albert Einstein

"Your life does not get better by chance, It gets better by change." - Unkown

"I am done with the past, the future has plenty of room for change." - Cyrile Dayao

I love trucking and medicine but I feel that if I never go to medical school and apply myself then I will be wasting a would be talent that I know I have. I don't care about the debt. I want to be able to provide exceptional care to my future patients and that is the satisfaction. At the same time I enjoy driving and I've been around this industry for my whole life so its nothing new

Sounds like a good plan to me:

- Bank away some cash while getting experience in a backup career where jobs will be available and it is something you enjoy.

- Follow your dream

Seems like you got it together.

So $50 a day x 28 days, 4 week training program, = $1400.... WTF

I am doing the squire program as well. How I see it is I will be doing orientation for 3-4 days. This period is medical exam, drug testing, company and driver based classroom training. According to my recruiter the hotel and lunch are covered.

After I become an employee, I head down to CDL TRAINING (squire program). I believe I will be doing backing, shifting, and learning the truck for 3-4 days then I will be in a truck with a trainer. One week city, one week highway. The max for hotel time during CDL Training seems to be 3-4 days. As I see it, you should come out ahead with the weekly increase.

And you know that's total BS anyhow. Yeah I'm sure he used the High Road and did fine. Yeah right. Did it twice even, eh?

Yeah he is full of it.

If you do the High Road twice I swear you will change the makeup of your brain. Besides being a horrible test taker, I crammed it in a weekend. My brain about exploded. You do it once, through everything, you will pass your permit test. The DMV gal was impressed. I passed with three endorsements.

Go ahead and tell 'em Brett. My scores on the High Road were horrific.

You going van, reefer, flatbed?

The terminal near me is refrigerated, so it wasn't much of an option. I'm OK with that though. The reefer drivers run hard with Knight. At least out of this terminal.

I know you are super busy, so no worries. I knew you appreciated the updates.

This site and every participant on it has been an absolute HUGE help with my research. With two teenagers and a busy wife I focused heavily on local jobs. I am also frugal, so that cut it down to opportunities to get my CDL without any out of pocket expense.

That was the plan, but it looks like life is sending me OTR. I will be going with Knight Transportation and attending orientation in a few weeks. It all came down to one question: Who does Old School drive for?

All kidding aside, the allure of Prime's CPM and respect with their drivers was very alluring. Due to my location, Hometime will be easy to schedule and there will be more opportunities to stop in while on the road with Knight. They also have many different options from home time to dedicated runs when my needs change and I prove myself. The terminal I will be out of also has a good reputation with its drivers.

Once I clear any hurdles during orientation, I will be heading down to Phoenix for CDL training.

Again, a big thanks to Brett and everyone else for you opinions and experiences. I will see you on the road soon!

Just to throw this out as another option, CoPilot for Trucks had good reviews.