Comments By Anne A. (and sometimes Tom)

IDMtnGal, I will try to put this in General category. Sorry about that, wasn't aware it should be in there and I will put it in my Bio.

Howdy, M H !!!

Welcome to Trucking Truth! No need to move the post, you're good.

I've been off the grid for a few days, with MY trucker... LoL !! You're fine here; I'll take care of it, Ms. Laura !~ (she's my buddy, MH!)

Some good reading for starters:

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road CDL Training Program
• CDL Practice Tests

The above (ALL OF IT...) will give you a taste, and allow you to see if you even WANT to embrace or even attempt the flavor, at all !

I see your conundrum; since you've already paid for school, I'd just go for it. There's a good chance YOU MAY be able to get in with a local, when you do, in fact, have that hot & fresh CDL in hand. It may be something simpler, like Home Depot or Lowes, ie: Class B but maybe flatbed (?) that would be hands on, perhaps; yet pay for the CDL still and of itself.

Your life sounds SO similar to mine; however my youngest is 18 ~ Tom was OTR when he was born, tho...

Watch some of Kearsey's videos: Truckin' Along w/Kearsey!

Stop back; I will also. Email in my profile; as are many of ours,

See ya here soon, then; hang in!

~ Anne ~

UPDATE: As of 10/9, I passed my cdl test on the third try with only 2 points being deducted. Since then, I have driven 1 week with a finisher at CFI before I had to come home for a family emergency.

I do not know if I am going to be able to go back on the road for two weeks to finish my training.

Looking for a job where I can be home daily.

Thank you to everyone for the positive messages.

I started my truck driving training at Crowder College in Neosho, MO on September 6 for CFI. There were 7 of us going through it. We were a day behind due to the Labor Day holiday. One of the guys in my class seemed like he did not know how to drive at all. So the instructors had to spend extra time with him and this did not allow us to get ample time behind the wheel doing the maneuvers we needed to do. After a week and a half, they finally released the guy and then things ramped up. As of this message, I am still at Crowder College.

I have taken my skills test twice, and both times I had an auditor with me the examiner. I have been told that the auditor was only there to rate the examiner and not the student. I quickly found out that this was not the case. On my last test was on a Thursday, and the auditor graded me as well as the examiner and said that I ran out of points doing a parallel park after I got the truck in the box. The examiner said that he did not have that many points for me, but since the auditor called it, we had to go with his grade. This caused me to fail the test and wait over the weekend to retake it.

Other than the auditor, the instructors at Crowder College are very knowledgeable and helpful. They want to see you succeed! However, pass or fail on Monday, my time at Crowder is done.

Huge CONGRATS on passing, good sir! Told ya ~!!

Please keep us in the loop, and let us know what the future may hold for you; It sure would be in your best interest to stick it out, and address the necessity of home time ASAP. So much is changing within so many companies (trust me, we know...) that you might just SCORE a lane/route/gig, that could actually WORK for you! Doesn't hurt to ask/try, right?

Wish you well, what a ride (so FAR, even!) eh?

Best to you & yours, be safe; stop back,

~ Anne ~

Hello Anne,

Thank you. I'm dedicated to be the best I can be in all that I do. It's not that I have to be the best, it's that I try to do my best I can do with everything I do. I made a couple of rookie mistakes like almost driving right past a weigh station and catching the attention of the state police enough to be pulled around to the back of the scales for an inspection and a lecture. But, all-in-all, a pretty good six months.

I did see where they updated the September stats and I made it into the top five mileage and was second in safety score for the month. I hope to keep the mileage up, but I had a low-mileage week last week of 2200 miles. Some catching up to do.

I'll keep the bio in mind and try to update something next week.

Also, I have to get with you and Tom about some of those honey holes in Ohio. I found a good one just off of route 76 on route 131 North as I was headed to Three Rivers Michigan two weeks ago.

Take care.

Howdy, Bill !!!!!

Everything sounds like it's really going AWESOME for you; makes me remember the 'tender' days of Tom's, I don't know who was beaming more, me or him, hahaha~!

Good for you, it's really refreshing to hear this, for sure.

Now, about that bio . . . . LoLoL! Holding my breath ... (ok, nope!)

Next tho, about the 'Hidey Holes' ~ omigosh, where you just described; Perrysburg/Dixie Hwy, the 131 ?!?!? That was one of our BEST; was nice to be a tad bit outside Toledo; we delivered asphalt to The Shelly Co., right there on the SE side of the bridge!!!

If you stayed in Perrysburg off Dixie, not far from the Pike/76, you may just have found ours . . (?!?)

I'm jumping to hear, now!!!!!

Be safe, Bill. Always a pleasure, man;

~ Anne ~

Sorry, that pic was an illustration of as close as I like to get. Sorry for not clarifying that. Also, "Lord I apologize for the crud in the crevice." It looks like I need to get out the qtips.

Well, I made it, got checked in at 4:45am, which for me is LATE.

I have driven out to the absolute last minute to make a load work. I really don't like running like that, because it always increases the risk of mistakes both major and minor. Any closer than this, and I get super super antsy, and what if I don't find a spot where I planned to stop? 😳

Well, NaeNae,

My lil' rookie self 'wannabe' ...

THINKS IT'S PRETTY BAD ARSKE, ie: Awesome!!!

I mean, you did it & all, right ?!? Kudos, gal ! Sometimes the adrenaline IS worth it, haha!

~ Anne ~

It happens, you actually have minimal damages to what it could be. I saw in another thread your in Augusta I’m guessing at the KW shop.

They are good folks, but been my experience they are slow getting parts on somethings. Pretty small dealership. Good hotels and restrauants in walking distance though.

Yep lol. Nice people there for sure, will know more on the parts. May have a recovery on a brand new KW to do in the mean time, If it works out, I wouldnt mind grabbing it. Mine is a 2020.

Dang, Davy ~!

It's that time of year..and more to come, methinks.

One question, was it a Blonde Deer?? Suicidal .... Blondes !~Glad it wasn't OUR Donna! Deer X'ing?

Be safe; enjoy the new(er) truck, why not ?!?

~ Anne ~

ps:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So I was in a minor motorcycle accident last Tuesday, the same day I got home for home time. I was given a few extra days at home to recover before returning to work. Nearly a week later, I feel fine and the pain is probably less than a 1/10 if I had to rate it.

My question is, will I have any problems getting my DOT physical tomorrow? I was prescribed some medication to help with the swelling and pain I had the first few days, nothing that would be considered "banned" for me to take. I had some x-rays done last week on my left arm which took the worst of the impact, but nothing was broken or damaged. I have virtually no pain in my arm, and can move / lift things with it.

But my arms still look pretty bad, but they don’t hurt. I added a few pictures.

I plan to take the medications I was given last week to the doctor tomorrow, but wanted to see if I need to know anything else.

Wow, KIDDO !!! How ya feeling?!?!? Tom had a leg looking like that when he got into a conundrum with a shifter in his rig; a long while back. Ouch, I bet! His looked worse than it hurt too, though.

Sheesh, stop back and let the gang know what gives, moving forward!! Not sure if your DOT Physical was the 'next' day (Memorial Day) or upcoming today, Tuesday the 11th; either way, best to ya!!

~ Anne (& Tom) ~

This is kind of a stupid question I realize, but I am curious if someone works as a company driver for a few years for 1 company and decides to take a year off work and then goes back to working at that same company they last worked for and then later down the road they decided to go to a new trucking company would it be possible to not tell the future employer that you took a year off work or could they find out if you tried to hide it? Curious if somebody could help me with this one..

I concur with the others, Chris.

Care to 'IDENT?' Company/state ... any telling info? (Or not; rules assimilate.)

Guessing it doesn't really matter, these folks above are so right. My hubby is switching carriers after 6 years at the same place (due to their dissolvement) and MAN, the future company(ies) are SURE thorough!~!

Some of these background checks and whatnot, just wow. Be safe; not sorry. Our 4 cents.

Best to ya; just write what you do...(log) and do what you write.... all ways.

~ Anne ~ (& Tom !) ~

2 days, 17 hours ago I've noticed an alarming trend on the road. I've seen it in videos. This week, I witnessed it while driving.

Drivers hauling Amazon Prime trailers are using the shoulder of the highway to pass other drivers. It's a disturbing trend and terrifying to witness first-hand.

Last Monday while driving the speed limit on route 90W in the Cleveland, Ohio area, a driver used the shoulder to pass me on the right. Not five minutes later another driver passed using the left shoulder to get around the already speeding 4-wheelers in the fast lane. Dust and debris were flying everywhere, cars were swerving and jamming on the brakes as they scrambled for their lives and to make room for the driver to get by them.

How and why in the world are they doing and getting away with this?

Tom's been seeing this and mentioning ... for quite awhile. Here's a 'backdoor' way to that article:

Amazon Hires Unsafe Trucking Firms; Per the WSJ.

It's a free tech publication, so no worries! (I'm a Geek in my spare time; yet I'll never catch up w/some of y'all !)

Maybe that's why Amazon is having many of their call center folks go to 'remote' working from home, to save money on real estate, to put towards their insurance/lawsuits(!?!)

Be safe, y'all . . . "As You Were..."

~ Anne ~

Hey, Donna;

Great to see you around, and WOW, NICE !

Kudos from us (ME) as well, fellow female!!

Much better than the full blue, too ~!!! Congrats, gal . . .

Best wishes with her, stay safe;

~ Anne (and Tom!) ~

Thank you, Ms Anne I’m always around ! Just don’t seem to have time to post very often. I sleep and drive, and sleep and drive some more!

You're quite welcome, Ms. Donna!

I know, and I get it . . . I do. But when you DO show up to post, I'm on it !!!

Best to ya, m'lady; always!

~ Anne ~

Hey Shannimal, it's really cool to hear from you again!

I'm thrilled to see you're enjoying your new career!

Ditto that, Old School!!

Wow, so great to hear . . . I've been gone for merely a week .... and I miss the good stuff!!!

Congrats on finally taking the leap, man. Yeah, we're jab free here, too~!!

Stick around this time!! Kudos for sure;

~ Anne (& Tom) ~