Comments By millionmiler24

@Millionmiler24 ... HOW DID YOU DO IT ?!?!

Thanks, ~ Anne ~

ps: A HUGE success story .. started at CRST ... homeless; now quite the established citizen out yonder. Look him UP on here!

07/06/2017:

I got to sleep in til 0800 to be at class for the Final day of orientation. We went through a couple more videos and then we went to meet our driver managers and my lead driver is now in PA and will be down here within the next 36 hrs to get me. I am to follow up with my student coordinator and my sub for my driver manager since she is on vacation until 07/17/2017 (wow thats a lot of 7's....I think I need a load to Vegas now. ). Anyway, I got my new CRST hat today and I love this thing. I am SO glad to be a part of CRST now. Best of all now after almost 10 MONTHS without a good job, I am now EMPLOYED again. I owe you all a lot for this. Thanks SO MUCH!!!!! I love you all.

CRST and NADTA has been SO AWESOME throughout this entire process. I thought today I wouldn't be able to receive my Hard Copy CDL because I found out that the shelter won't forward my license to CRST. I explained to them the gravity of the situation, however the shelter don't care that that license is a $15,000 piece of plastic that I NEED to drive. I let my recruiter know about this yesterday and today, she told me that I could get a P. O. Box and then convert that to a PHYSICAL address to put on your CDL as long as you DON'T tell the DMV that the PHYSICAL address is also your P. O. Box. Well, CRST advanced me the money and now I have a legitimate address here in Cedar Rapids about a block and a half from the terminal! I so love this. In case you are wondering how to put a po box on your license set up like a PHYSICAL address, look at the following example:

Your Name

1234 Anywhere Lane # 6789

New York, NY, 12345-6789

^^^^^PUT THIS ON YOUR CDL. DON'T TELL THE DMV ITS A PO BOX.^^^^^

And for a MAILING address:

Your Name

P. O. Box 6789

New York, NY, 12345-6789

If they have to have a MAILING address that is NOT a PHYSICAL address to send your HARD COPY to, use the MAILING address format above.

At least here in Iowa, how it works is you use the PHYSICAL address of the BUILDING the POST OFFICE is in followed by the # sign, then your PO Box number, then City, State and the Zip code of your PO box and then the last 4 AFTER the dash is your PO box number also.

For the Mailing address, just like ANY PO box you write a letter to. Its the same everywhere. Anyway, I finally have gotten over EVERY hurdle I was worried about now. Anyway I am so thankful for CRST I sure hope I stay with them the next 10 years MINIMUM. After everything they have done for me, I OWE them so much. They WILL be paid back BIG TIME. Anyway, thank you all so much also for leading me this direction. Thank God, those 2 churches and the homeless outreach center I was with in Stuart, FL, my BEST friend there that is the Director of Client Services that all helped me get here to Iowa to restart my journey. ANY way I can pay you all back, Please let me know. I would be MORE than glad to do so. Updates on here will be scarce until I can get my first hometime here at the terminal here in C. R. so If I am not on here as often as I want to be, I will update you all on my first hometime which should be after my 28 days is up, then I come back to CR, get my hard copy license, then I upgrade, then I go with my Co Driver for 2 weeks and then I get routed BACK to CR for 5 days off. THAT will be when my next update is on here. I will try to keep a log of everything that goes on here and then transfer the daily updates to here on my hometime. Until then, PLEASE stay SAFE out there at ALL TIMES and remember: millionmiler24 loves you ALL!!!!!

Page 9 of my diary.

Check out both of those. If the copy and paste didn't work or is illegible then click that link to go to Page 9 of my training diary and you will find the answer you seek.

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS PRE-COVID so this way MAY NOT still work.

Good luck and best wishes for success.

Use the search bar to locate the CRST posts by Millionmiler. He has had a very positive experience with CRST and will be very helpful as you take this journey.

Safe travels.

G-Town is 100% correct here. I am glad to help any way I can.

My trainin diary albeit a bit outdated (2017)

There is a link to my diary. Just to let you know I am a VERY BUSY driver but will do what I can to answer any questions you may have about CRST. 😜

Hey millionmiler! Congrats on the apartment! It sounds like everything is going great for ya!

Make sure you're having plenty of fun out there! Weird advice, right? I say that because I know you're working hard and you're dedicated to your company and your profession. You're serious about being the best you can be.

So the biggest risk for a guy like you is burnout. Run hard enough, but not too hard. Take time off, enjoy that apartment.

Oh....and don't get caught up in all the glitz and glamour of Des Moines!!

Awesome hearing from ya man. Your story is one of my favorite.

Hey Brett I sent you an email. Please let me know when you receive it. Thanks.

A.) Get MY CDL A when my son turns 18 and takes off for the Air Force (his latest choice....!) 1/28/2022...thereabouts.

b.) Keep this little house (home) on the hill, with too much to mow . . . and enjoy the great outdoors; had a blast hiking yesterday.

c.) This ^^^^ .. I really wanna join the ranks.

ps: Oh yeah, d.) Meet Todd Holmes, TomCougar, Purple Preston, et al~!

~ Anne ~

If you do the ps part of this post make sure to bring backup. Y’all will need it I’m sure.

Here are my satellite radio saved stations.

1. Garth brooks
2. The highway - new country music
3. Prime country - 80s and 90s country
4. Y2kountry.
5. XMFly - 90s and 2000s hip hop
6. Lithium - grunge rock
7. 90s on 9
8. Pop2k
9. Pulse - 2000s and today pop
10. Blend - mix of 80s, 90s, and today
11. Hits 1 - new hits today
12. Pit bulls takeover or something like that
13. ESPN
14. Fox Sports
15. College sports
16. NFL radio
17. MLB network
18. Live sports channel

I also listen to a lot of the stand up comedy stations.

BUMP for recent thoughts

Anyway I have recently switched to Amazon Music and Garth Brooks is at the top of my list also. I’ve also been listening to the music from the Eddie and the Cruisers movies. Those have an excellent soundtrack. I will still listen to JUST ABOUT anything with some notable exceptions: I ABSOLUTELY will NOT listen to anything sad, religious, any lullabies or anything that reminds me of a tough time in my life. 2 tunes that fit that bill are The Good Stuff by Kenny Chesney and Oh My Darling Clementine. I absolutely can’t stand those 2 tunes.

The Good Stuff by Kenny Chesney was playing on the radio when a family friend drove me home from the hospice center that my father was in the night my father passed on.

Oh My Darling Clementine, my Mother would play that too much and every time I heard that tune it would make me bust out crying. I don’t know why but I ABSOLUTELY DESPISE that tune. It’s the ABSOLUTE WORST tune ever conceived. My life would be better if it never existed. Sorry if me and anyone here has a difference of opinion about this but I’m set in my ways and will never change them.

Basically ANYTHING that makes me cry like a little baby or get me emotional on that level I ABSOLUTELY will NEVER listen to and that’s a NO GO. I am a man, NOT a baby. I ABSOLUTELY DESPISE crying and gettin emotional. I don’t have a problem when other people do, I just don’t want it to happen to me. There is more to life than moping around all the time. I am someone that would rather bring HAPPINESS and PEACE to the world.

Here are my satellite radio saved stations.

1. Garth brooks
2. The highway - new country music
3. Prime country - 80s and 90s country
4. Y2kountry.
5. XMFly - 90s and 2000s hip hop
6. Lithium - grunge rock
7. 90s on 9
8. Pop2k
9. Pulse - 2000s and today pop
10. Blend - mix of 80s, 90s, and today
11. Hits 1 - new hits today
12. Pit bulls takeover or something like that
13. ESPN
14. Fox Sports
15. College sports
16. NFL radio
17. MLB network
18. Live sports channel

I also listen to a lot of the stand up comedy stations.

MM, I actually have a 'cache' of Y/T videos that MAKE me cry.. and sometimes I just wanna.

Laura, I love your taste; as well!!!

~ Anne ~

ps: due to my 'age' ... a LOT of 80's dance tunes make me smile!! << Then again, I'm driving a PC still; not a rig, LoL!!

Eddie and the Cruisers atw.

So, I was offered a hazmat load, but declined. I am hazmat certified, but have never done a hazmat load. My company has a hotline to guide me on which placards to place. Still, I don't feel comfortable. I earned my endorsements on the written almost two years ago. My question is, would you suggest to take a hazmat load, and freshen up on some of the requirements? Or, is it something that I should spend time with a hazmat mentor?

I’ll keep it plain and simple: If you don’t feel COMFORTABLE and SAFE then DONT DO IT.

Exactly. I’m not swerving out of the way for anybody. Whenever I encounter a driver like that flying through a yard when it’s tight, I’ll come to a stop. Not slam on my brakes but come to a stop and let him figure it out. And then continue on. Never let a driver rush or bully you into doing something that will make you uncomfortable.

What bumped the other guy's trailer, your truck or your trailer?

Just go through all the reporting processes: call the accident number, message dispatch, take lots of pictures.

You should be fine since you're a new driver. It could have been much worse. Next time, if you're where you should be, don't swerve out of the way.

For sure. One thing my dad always made sure I learned was never get in a big hurry because it leads to mistakes 100% of the time. He always told me: “Son, if you only learn ONE thing from me ever learn THIS: Don’t do it fast, Do it RIGHT.”

Thanks, Steven. I once worked as a temporary USPS postman during the holiday season, 1995, and the local post office supervisor gave me, the newbie, the most physically-demanding walking-loop delivery routes in town. It was often challenging because sometimes I would have a different route everyday and go into unknown territory. I did not get the preferred driving-only rural/semi-rural routes much: the seniors with union representation got those cushy routes where they just sit in the delivery truck or jeep and drive up to the mailboxes.

I could probably do Regional for some time before graduating to Local then going onto a non-driving job as Dispatcher, Load Planner or Logistics Manager. Will major carriers generally require any OTR (long-haul) experience at all for hiring non-drivers as Logistics Managers?

Is Regional to Local to Logistics Manager a possible carrier path?

How about just regional directly to non-driving?

Non-driving jobs are most desirable for the natural homebodies like me. They seem like the typical 9-5 daily local commute jobs. I love the simple pleasure of hiking on the local hillside trail with a dog after work. Some here are romanced by the adventure of dieseling in a big rig all over America in many different adverse conditions. Wondering if you can pull that heavy load up a steep grade and get back down safely. Sometimes this lifestyle entails the horror of trying to find safe parking places overnight, dealing with low bridges, being in unfamiliar crime-ridden areas or getting totally lost. For me, being based in Texas and doing no greater driving ranges than Regional routes would keep me out of those congested and crime-ridden big cities of the ocean coastal areas and of the Great Lakes areas. There are seldom mountain driving, desert driving and severe winter driving conditions in the south too. This latest Texas Big Freeze in one notable exception. The warm and flat south, think Get My Kicks on Route 66, seems to be the most desirable or favorable trucking territory in Lower 48 America. I've driven to California to Georgia a couple time over Route 66 even in the dead of winter. A cake walk in a car of pickup truck with a landscaping trailer even. There were a few mountains in Flagstaff, Arizona and in New Mexico but nothing major. I doubt if a Regional driver out of Texas would ever have to drive in the Rockies of Colorado

I view the prospect of driving as an experience ticket to get to those more desirable non-driving motor carrier positions. My mother once had a real estate man would drove a fancy 1976 Cadillac Seville. He told us he drove trucks for a while then got into the real estate business. I suppose he was more financially successful as a realtor than as a truck driver back in the 1970's. He,age 45 back in 1981, had a wife and three boys.

Truck driving is/was a stepping stone or a way to make a living on the way to to something else for many. Many young and new celebrity rock and roll musicians did heavy road touring early on then graduated to the more comfortable home life of a recording studio or solo career later on. People can get totally burned out being on the road too long. Prolonged road life whether being a touring rock star or a long-haul trucker has been the substance-abuse death of some too. The road life can stand in the way of other human endeavors as family life or taking Rover to the local dog park after work each evening. A truck can be a rolling jail sentence for some.

As the Jody cadences we used to sing in the army, leave that toughest stuff (airborne ranger, long-haul driver) to the young and the bold.

Brah, I’m gonna be blunt here: if you are REALLY serious about this answer us one question TRUTHFULLY for once: Are you REALLY Todd Holmes? Inquiring minds would like to know.

Here are my satellite radio saved stations.

1. Garth brooks
2. The highway - new country music
3. Prime country - 80s and 90s country
4. Y2kountry.
5. XMFly - 90s and 2000s hip hop
6. Lithium - grunge rock
7. 90s on 9
8. Pop2k
9. Pulse - 2000s and today pop
10. Blend - mix of 80s, 90s, and today
11. Hits 1 - new hits today
12. Pit bulls takeover or something like that
13. ESPN
14. Fox Sports
15. College sports
16. NFL radio
17. MLB network
18. Live sports channel

I also listen to a lot of the stand up comedy stations.

BUMP for recent thoughts

Anyway I have recently switched to Amazon Music and Garth Brooks is at the top of my list also. I’ve also been listening to the music from the Eddie and the Cruisers movies. Those have an excellent soundtrack. I will still listen to JUST ABOUT anything with some notable exceptions: I ABSOLUTELY will NOT listen to anything sad, religious, any lullabies or anything that reminds me of a tough time in my life. 2 tunes that fit that bill are The Good Stuff by Kenny Chesney and Oh My Darling Clementine. I absolutely can’t stand those 2 tunes.

The Good Stuff by Kenny Chesney was playing on the radio when a family friend drove me home from the hospice center that my father was in the night my father passed on.

Oh My Darling Clementine, my Mother would play that too much and every time I heard that tune it would make me bust out crying. I don’t know why but I ABSOLUTELY DESPISE that tune. It’s the ABSOLUTE WORST tune ever conceived. My life would be better if it never existed. Sorry if me and anyone here has a difference of opinion about this but I’m set in my ways and will never change them.

Basically ANYTHING that makes me cry like a little baby or get me emotional on that level I ABSOLUTELY will NEVER listen to and that’s a NO GO. I am a man, NOT a baby. I ABSOLUTELY DESPISE crying and gettin emotional. I don’t have a problem when other people do, I just don’t want it to happen to me. There is more to life than moping around all the time. I am someone that would rather bring HAPPINESS and PEACE to the world.

On weather shutdown due to Winter Conditions at the Lincoln Monument Rest Area in Laramie WY.

At least it's pretty out there~!! Stay safe & warm; I hate this weather. (And since I've got a helluva cold, doesn't help.) I plan on sleeping in tomorrow...WAY in. Let us know when you are 'out.'

On another note;

Anyone hear from Old School ??? It's been a few days since he's stopped in; wonder how the weather is, in HIS part of Texas?!?

~ Anne ~

Well we got out of that but we are now shut down again due to chain laws over Donner Pass. We are at the Loves in Fernley NV.

Never HAVE been a party to a chaining. Didn't ride w/the other half back in those days, couldn't. Kids. Dang, man.. PLEASE BE SAFE. I really do not KNOW THAT terrain / area, besides.... Google and articles. I wish y'all safe.

Sicker than shxx right now; tested NEGATIVE for the Vid. Feel like smack. Someday, I'll learn how to chain, perhaps! Couldn't even bump a dock in an auto. RN.

Please stay safe; I have a couple of people to talk to that drive myself as well.... just been toooooooo sick TO FEEL IT. No clue. Please stay safe, y'all. Woke up from a 'nap' and going to try to catch another, in the 'downbed' so as not to get the hubby sick. We usually sleep in different rooms anyway, LoL~!

'What a drag, it is, getting old.' No 'mother's little helper' meds here; just need some Pepto and Mucinex.. or more of. I'll be fine.

Be safe; getting caught up tmrw.. plan to, anyway.

~ Anne ~

I hope ya get to feelin better. I’ll certainly pray for ya. 😜