Comments By Brett N.

I'll volunteer. Going to be testing for real in a couple weeks anyway so it can't hurt!:)

Two weeks from today and we'll actually have something useful to post about. We are all set to begin with Central Refrigerated on April 8th. I've bugged our recruiter with every question I come up with and I've followed a couple other guys that have posted threads about their recent experiences through Centrals training process. Central will pay for your bus ticket to get to their training facilities but they will also reimburse you for a plane ticket up to the cost of what they would've paid for the bus tickets...so, we've opted to fly. We'll be arriving on Friday, April 5th and have been assured that their shuttle will pick us up and we'll have a place to stay. We are still sxtremely excited and I look forward to sharing our experiences with you.

I second that! You have a fantastic attitude and I wish you nothing but the best! Good luck and keep us posted.

Fantastic stuff! As much as I want to start right now, I'm so happy that I've found this sight and am going through the High Road Training Program first. It sounds like anyone that is able to go through this program will have a HUGE advantage for the permit testing, classroom work and the final written CDL test. It sounds like you are way more prepared than most of your classmates. Good luck on the driving stuff! I hope you continue to do so well.

It cracked me up that you said something about selling stuff because I just found someone to buy my car from me today so that is going to make things a bit more comfortable! Soooo dang excited to get going!

Well this kind of sucks because it's still almost a full month until our first day but we are both soooo excited. This is a repeat for some of you but my wife and I are in our early 40's. We met in Saudi Arabia while we were both in the Army, got married young, had two wonderful boys and...fast forward 21 plus years...the boys are both out of high school and we are both completely unsatisfied with our current jobs and ready to hit the road! We are currently renting so we are putting our stuff in storage and just going for it. Going to get through CDL school, endure the 4-5 weeks apart while we are with our respective trainers on the road, get in our truck together and work our butts off to earn our DM's trust! Then, eventually put some money away so we can enjoy the heck out of ourselves when we get our "hometime", wherever that may be! Okay, I know it will be a tad tougher than this makes it sound but that's why I'm so happy to have come across this great sight. Brett has done a phenominal job of pointing out that truckdriving is what you make of it. (He's got a kick ass name as well!) We are both going into this with the attitude that we'll be going through basic training again in many ways. Just do what you're told, learn as much as you can, take the good with the bad and get er done! I don't think there is any doubt in either of our minds that we can do this for at least a year to see if it's something we want to continue with. (I probably sound pretty confident but I'm nervous as hell about a lot it! lol We both drive a manual transmission but neither of us has any experience with a tractor or with a trailer.) Anyway, can't say enough great things about this sight in particular! So much more positive than an of the others and I look forward to checking in every night and seeing what's new. I hope we can add something for someone who is considering doing the same thing. By the way, cudos for the information on the different companies that offer the CDL training at no (up front) cost with a time commitment to work for them. I went through all of them several times and really feel good about our choice right now. Obviously it would be great to stick with one company for as long as we choose to do this but as many of you point out, after a year of driving it looks like there are a ton of choices. Don't want to get ahead of myself. First day is April 8th so I'll try not to write too much until we actually get started! lol I've got one quick question for any of you that have recently gone through company sponsered training. How much money did you need to get you through training for food and stuff. We won't see our first paycheck until after starting with our OTR trainers so we'll probably need enough for 3 1/2 - 4 weeks. Think this can be done with $600 each? Thanks again and I look forward to sharing this new adventure with you and hopefully meeting some of you some day.

My wife and I are so dang excited to get on the road! First day of CDL school on April 8th and although that's less than a month away now I want to start tomorrow! Love this sight and appreciate all of you putting up with our giddiness! I bet you experienced drivers get a good laugh from some of our questions and comments sometimes!

It's evidently not super new with "four wheelers", (I love that you guys call a car that! lol) as almost all dealerships and most of the tire shops are going to it. Most newer cars are coming with tire pressure monitoring systems now and as I said, the big thing with Nitrogen is that it is supposed to be more stable in hot and cold temps. Theoretically it sounds like it would be perfect for trucks that are rolling all over the country. Just don't know if it actually works like it's supposed to or if it's just some fancy rhetoric to get extra money tacked on to the price of the car. lol

Okay, thank you sir. Was just curious and I appreciate the speedy reply.

I appreciate all your input Daniel and my wife and I will be starting with Central Refrigerated in less than a month now. As the veteran drivers have said, you seem to be doing a fantastic job keeping the right attitude about everything. I hope that my wife and I are as successful as you with just going with the flow and proving ourselves without getting caught up in the whole "oh woe is me" syndrome. After reading all this incredibly helpful but honest advice about what driving a truck for a living is really like, I can't believe anyone is actually surprised when things aren't all roses and lollipops! lol I have absolutely no experience yet and I am already starting to be able to tell when someone is griping about the job or their company that there is something they are probably not doing right as well. Anyway, thanks again and best of luck to you. Hope the wife and I run into you and your wife one day soon. We're twice your age but it would be fun to meet and hear some of the stories I'm sure you'll have over the next few months.