Comments By J. Snow

Excellent!!! Great job!

I was wondering if wearing a weight lifting belt would help? Since it keeps your posture better overall? Thoughts?

I'm sure you will pass by again! Always stop at the 10,000 Silver Dollar bar! I remember when the original bar was open, it's all boarded up now and down the road from the new one. We used to camp all over that area. I'll never forget my first time tent camping in the Cabin City Campground.

We had driven over from Spokane, and it snowed, hailed, rained so hard you couldn't see coming over the passes. We were going for a long 4th of July weekend.

And the lightning all night long taking out the trees all around us. I thought we were gonna die. Then, in the morning-we woke up to just about what that picture shows. Amazing beauty!

Done. Thanks! :)

LOL-Well now I'm meeting up with my Mentor tomorrow morning at the Walmart DC In Macclenny, FL at 7am. So a nice 3 hour drive to get there in the morning... and here we go!

For everyone driving I-90 out of or into Idaho, My grandfather built the fire lookout you can see rising over the forest. After the 1910 fire he built several. But the UpUp Lookout is the one that remains. You can't miss it when you are driving west. The Forest service used to allow people to spend the night in the lookouts with a reservation. Of Course that means you have to hike up all those stairs. Also, the Savenac Nursery is there too and it's pretty cool to visit. The CCC built the nursery to help with rebuilding the forest and of course to put men to work. :)

My Grandparents opened up a roadside inn back in the 30's and my grandfather built all the cabins. It's still there, in DeBorgia, MT. I think it's called the Atom Rest or something. My Father is in Ripleys as being an only child to go thru all 12 years of school alone. Meaning he never had any other class mates for 12 years. The one room school house is still there and is listed on the national places of something or other important register.

There is a graveyard in DeBorgia, it's just a little east of the DeBorgia exit right on I-90, that all my family is buried in. I'll be buried there too someday. So for every trucker reading this-give a pull on that air horn as you go by!

Anyway... Something to think about either before or after Lookout Pass. I can't wait to drive it!

:)

They are owned by a bigger company... I just read/saw this somewhere.. but can't remember. :) Google.

Avoid all the Viagra classes of drugs before driving... or testing.. but not as long as it's before... :)

AWESOME!!!!!! I want to see that on my QC one year from today!!!!

I finished Swift Orientation today out of their Ocala, FL terminal. Here is what I'll say about it.

Every single person working here was professional. And they were still fun and easy to work with. I had severe issues with my DOT physical paperwork from my school. To the point that last night at 4:30 the compliance people called me on my cell and asked if I would mind going to just take a new physical. Right then, so that they could process my hire date as today, so that my benefits would not be delayed a month. They called the clinic to authorize it and off I went. Done (and I got a 2 year since I wasn't stressed this time). And this morning compliance showed me how to update it to the DMV online without having to pay. :)

Easy. All the paperwork, and there is a lot of it, was all done via their online system. Either use their computers or yours. As you progressed thru each step, you were notified via email there was something to do-so you just did it.

No-pressure. Going thru all the corporate stuff was as boring as it can be. I mean, really-Teach me how to walk on ice? But it was presented well, and we moved thru it. I loved our instructor but she was easily distracted-and spent 45 minutes explaining the W-4 form.... not great... but again, it wasn't high pressure. Is Swift a forced dispatch company? Yes. Do you have a driver ranking? Yes. Do you have a risk assessment score? Yes. Can I see these 'scores'? Yep. Just login to the Driver Dashboard. And yes, the cameras are coming. On and on... but I've worked for multi-billion dollar corps before. It's the song and dance. They don't get to be this big, and profitable, without doing something right. And I'm happy to be part of that. I make money when they make money.

Finally-MY ATTITUDE made the difference. I established myself as easy going, funny, and willing to help. I was willing to help even when it didn't matter. So guess what-the Ladies in the Compliance Dept. at my new terminal think I'm a pretty good/funny Guy willing to help. And I don't look a day over 40.

I learned a new perspective on how to be a safe driver from another industry vet. He didn't always agree with what Swift wanted him to teach. I'll decide on my own...

Now...

The assignment of Mentors was totally disorganized. So much so that I'm home tonight and meeting my Mentor tomorrow afternoon. He's gonna call around noon. I didn't like this until I realized that this works to his benefit and mine. I get to spend a night at home to regroup and he didn't have to go to the terminal to pick me up.

There was a LOT of time wasted during orientation at the beginning-then we ran out of time at the end. Not sure why, but I think it's because we had a smallish class (15) so there was a lot of time front loaded for physicals and drug testing (UA) but by the end we ran out because we were all feeling comfortable to share stories and so-things took a lot longer.

It rained a lot so I didn't get to use the pool at the hotel. The pool was the nicest feature.

Since I've been home tonight I've repacked my clothes for the next 4 weeks and gone from 2 small duffels to 1 and still added some snacks. I was able to grab what I forgot and organize my electronics better since I know we don't have inverters. And a biggie-I'm able to leave all the documents for personal stuff back home that I was required to take to orientation. I'm not out on the road with my entire tax packet from last year for example (and they said they needed that to prove my self-employment but didn't).

All good.

And when I board Nelson's truck tomorrow I'm gonna be ready. Ready not only to take this on, but I'll be rested, I'm more confident in what I've got, how I've got it packed and what I expect. I feel that I'm going to be a positive influence on his paycheck now that I know how that works. I want to make him proud. Most importantly, I'll make myself proud. This has been an incredible road to a new career. The Journey will never end. And that is, after all, the point.

Jay