Comments By Cobalt Cyborg

The second day of orientation at the Swift Lewiston terminal went well. We watched a nice video about Swift Transportation and Jerry Moyes. I realize it was company propaganda, but even so, Jerry Moyes sounds like quite a good guy, and again, the more I learn about Swift, the more I want to be a part of it.

We also learned more about the merge/acquisition with Knight, and I feel safe in saying that most of the rumor mill BS that I've seen posted by "know it alls" is total, unadulterated BS with zero connection to reality.

We had a couple hours of informative, interactive lecture by a safety guy. Good stuff. He talked quite a bit about inspections, the QualComm, Hours of Service, route planning, and just a lot of really helpful info about general life behind the wheel do's and don'ts.

We learned about payroll and benefits. Pretty decent benefits, as far as I'm concerned.

We have to buy a kingpin lock and a very badass trailer lock. Kinda spendy, but good stuff.

I explored the terminal a bit while on break, and even managed to lock myself in the drivers lounge. Ah. Fun times. Anyhow, while exploring the drivers lounge I saw Jonathan, who graduated with our class. He's a really nice guy, whose home terminal is Summer. He was waiting on a ride; he and his first mentor had a falling out.

The last couple of hours of the day was spent on avoiding and dealing with inappropriate behavior and harassment. I was surprised at having this training, but pleasantly so. I thought this sort of training was all in my past, after moving back to Montana after 30 years in Phoenix and 20 years in high tech industries. It's good to know that Swift is proactive about this stuff.

I check out of the motel tomorrow. I'll be heading out with a mentor either tomorrow afternoon, or else spending tomorrow night in a tractor and leaving Saturday. I'm pumped.

Thanks G-Town!

First day of orientation went really well. It was just me and one other applicant.

The more I learn about Swift, the more I believe I am doing the right thing, and with the right company.

The day started with a UA, and, embarrassingly, I couldn't fill the cup. I'm pretty sure I was dehydrated from the bus ride, and then walking all around town yesterday. But anyhow, after 4 cups of water and another hour, no problem. How embarrassing!

We filled out a few forms, watched a few training videos, had a very good Q&A session, which I'm sure was really part of the character profiling.

Swift bought lunch for us today. It was barbeque from a little local place that's been here for something like 14 years. It was delicious!

Our orientation instructor is really nice, and very knowledgeable.

Because Lewiston is a pretty small terminal, there's a good chance I'll have to take the bus Saturday to meet my mentor, but that's fine with me.

It's very exciting. I'm eager for each new step.

Forgot to mention: I had even *more* paperwork today! Mostly filling in a small gap in my home address history, then a couple more "sign here to allow us to inquire about your character and work habits from every other person that you've ever been within 50 miles of." Something like that. My eyes weren't working so great from that whole sleep deprivation experiment, so who knows what I signed?

Oh! And another thing I found out today, and I can NOT believe I failed to mention it before, because never pass up an opportunity to blow your own horn, am I right? I just found out that my GPA through CDL school was a 4.0. Now, I realize that's not nearly the earth shattering accomplishment that I'm making it out to be, but I'll take it where I can find it.

Man. I sure hope Swift hires me tomorrow. We can't afford very much more of this "but honey, it's all going to be tax deductible, IF I get hired!" stuff.

OK, so I learned a couple of things last night. First, long haul busses are not made for sleeping and Second, neither are bus terminal benches.

First bus was a little puddle jumper, maybe 20 seats or so for about 2-1/2 hours to Missoula. There, we had a 2-1/2 hour layover, then a Greyhound to Spokane and a 5-1/2 hour layover. I got maybe a half hour sleep on the bus and maybe 2 or so hours sleep on a bench in the Spokane terminal. Then another 3 hours or so on another big bus to Lewiston.

I got into Lewiston around 8:30 or so. The cab ride to the motel was $6, the low end of what I'd been told to expect. I wasn't really supposed to show up at the motel until 3pm or so, but the staff at Comfort Inn are really nice, and they let me stash my duffle and sleeping bag.

During CDL school, my phone started going haywire. It turns out the battery is shot. We ordered a new one ($7) last week and added expedited delivery ($16), but, alas, Murphy got involved, and my battery is lost in transit.

So, today I walked about 5 miles shopping on USB charge packs. I got lucky at Shopko; they had an 8k mAH pack for $20. It's more than I can really afford until paydays start happening, but it's a must have.

The lady at the motel kept calling Swift for room vouchers every time I came back to the motel lobby to access my gear. I don't want to known as the complainer before I even have a job, and I told her that, and that I was OK with waiting, but she called every time she saw me, so I started hiding out back. They found me around 2:30 and told me I could get my room, so I got a much needed nap.

My roommate hasn't shown up yet. From the name that was mentioned, I believe he was a couple classes ahead of me, but I'm not sure.

It's crazy smoky from the forest fires, all the way from Kalispell to Missoula to Spokane to Lewiston. My eyes and throat are burning, I hope we get rain soon.

I feel eager to get on with orientation and mentor training. I have already decided that unless issues arise with my mentor that are catastrophic, I'll do everything that I can to take it in stride. I want to get through training, get my own rig, and start getting a lot of safe miles behind me. I feel ready.

And again, thanks to Brett, all the moderators, and all the contributors here on TT. What a great resource! :)

I'm a former tech worker, although a different sort, getting into trucking now too. In CDL school I saw people thinking their way was better than the way the guy with 29 years experience was teaching it. I saw guys who apparently had no idea what a work ethic is, and they certainly had no work ethic. I saw guys with such an incredibly slack attitude about safety that I started hoping they'd fail just so I, and my family wouldn't be on the same highways as they'd be on. I saw a lot of get rich quick dreams, and disturbingly, well, paranoid attitudes and I continue seeing those attitudes on forums, even this forum, but a lot less so than on the "other" trucking forums.

All I can really control is how I respond or react to what's going on around me. I'm getting into trucking mostly because I kept finding that whenever I was looking at help wanted ads, half or more were for CDL jobs.

Now, though, I'm finding that I believe this industry and job are for me because it's challenging but rewarding. Yeah, I'll work my tail off. Nothing new there. Will I get a gold star for that? No. I'm not even looking for the supposedly ubiquitous $70K/year driving job, like a lot of the guys in my CDL class were.

I just want a challenging yet rewarding job where my good attitude, hard work and my tendency toward independence will be a good fit.

I just shared a link for this thread with my family and then realized... I probably won't be able to update much after this week for a while. I don't have a jetpack right now that's usable. I'm planning to get hooked up with Millenicom, but that's a couple of paychecks in the future.

Adding: I know I'll be sharing a tractor and sleeper during mentoring/road training, but that's necessary and relatively short term.

I jump the grey dog for orientation in 8 hours. I'm eager for the next steps. I've been reading a lot on these forums about what to pack, what to expect, different trainer personality types and training styles etc. It's very helpful, and I'm again grateful for this site and all of the more experienced drivers that are so generous sharing their experiences.

One of my classmates from CDL school really wants to try to get a team heavy haul run. I think he's so gung ho about that due to what he's been told are the advantages: more home time, a few cents a mile more. I was convinced it could be a good idea, but after reading up on team driving, it sounds to me like an excellent way to sabotage a fledgeling career. I sent him a link to a thread discussing the additional challenges, but he's unfazed. I really don't think he read it.

I've been living in a 22' camper for 4 years, the last 2 years, with my new wife. I cannot imagine living in a truck with another person and not going bat**** crazy, no matter who the other person or how big the sleeper. I'm keeping an open mind, if you'd call it that, but as you can probably see, the advantages of team driving would have to be more like a few extra dollars per mile, for me to think it would be worth it. (And yes, I know what I just wrote, and I'm aware of the implications.)

The smoke from the fire in Glacier Nat'l Park (25 miles from where I sit) is so heavy I can't see the Swan Mtn range, less than 4 miles away. Glacier Park will never be the same. What in incredible loss. Incredible, the word, used to mean "not believable", and what's happening in the Park right now is unbelievable. Sperry Chalet is gone, destroyed by the fire. This fire is destroying a unique national treasure that's been near my heart my whole life. As a teen, I used to picnic up there often, and we hiked into Avalanche Lake as a grade school field trip.

I checked out a couple of the other trucking forums, and it will take days to rid myself of all that negativity. (What the heck is wrong with people?)

Anyhow, on to orientation, and then, I hope, assuming I do get hired on, mentoring. Woo hoo!

Thanks again for this site, Brett, especially for all the hard work and dedication, but thanks to each and every contributor. You don't have to help. But you do help. Thanks.

Congratulations! Keep us posted... 😀