Comments By Joseph L.

I think it's much easier to live in a truck for a longer amount of time in a truck these days. There are all kinds of of appliances you can buy that plug into twelve volt let's on the truck, a lot of drivers have microwaves and refrigerators on their truck, this cuts down on eating out, because that gets expensive. Pretty much any other goods and services a driver might need can easily be found on the road. There are several super size truck stops/travel centers that have everything you need. Of course there is Walmart and other places that are either truck parking friendly or a short walk or Uber ride, where you can go to for supplies. So far since leaving out I have been on the road five weeks, as of right now I am probably not going home untill the end of November or early December. I think the toughest part for being on the road for an extended amount of time is the psychological toll it takes on some drivers. Being a solo driver Is kind of like a self impose solitary confinement. Sure your moving about. You can stop and park the truck go inside some truck stop and start a conversation with someone if you really wanted. But generally speaking 9-10 hours will be spent behind the wheel, just you, God, your thoughts, the radio and the road and miles and miles of highway. My last and final co driver was someone who wanted to be out on the road four days and home three. Because he felt he needed to be at home to make sure things would get done. He called his wife on a daily basis to give her a list of things that needed to be taking care. He even ran the four days out, three days home idea by our DM and our DM laughed at him. I think he (my former co driver) does local or regional work now and gets home more often.

DMF, Once you start driving and get experience your going to start learning what Walmarts allow trucking park, grocery stores , restaraunts, that are near by truck stops. For example in Ripon California, there is Save Mart grocery store about a five minute walk from the loves travel center and maybe a ten minute walk from the flying J next door. There are several restaurants and a super cuts in the same shopping complex. In Oregon I forget the exit but it's on the I-5 there is a Pacific Pride truck stop with a fairly decent size parking and directly next door is a grocery outlet store, less than a minute away. In Tennessee I stopped for fuel at a loves travel stop and directly across the street was a Dollar General store. In both Texas and Oregon there are a couple of truck stops and directly across the street are little bar b q shacks. As I said with experience your going to start forming a list of places that are trucker friendly. There are also several truck stops/travel centers, which have a small size grocery stores At the White's travel center in Raphine West Virginia (the largest truck stop on the east coast) you can shop for everything there from produce to underwear, after shopping, go get a haircut and then go see a movie all in the same travel center.

Okay it's been a while since I have been here. Callie S, sorry to hear about your problems with crst and backing. I actually graduate from CRST's Hawkeye school last August. My total time spent backing starting from training to going through testing was roughly 2.5 hours. Two hours training and about thirty minutes to testing and passing So now Callie S after reading that your probably second guessing yourself, wondering why I able to learn it so quickly and pass? I did so because I am a certified awesome super Trucker!!! Callie S if anyone tells you that they are are certified awesome super Trucker, run away very quickly, because the only thing that person is, is a certified idiot. I originally went through CR. England's CDL program and failed because of I could not do the backing. The class I arrive with had 40 students, plus another 5 who arrived the week prior but because various logistical issues they got put on hold. The first day of backing training was a Friday, your also supposed to get training on either Saturday or Sunday. For the day you were not scheduled for training , you could go over to the remedial training course to practice. By the time we got to the backing course our class size was about 30. The instructor I was with had twenty students. Eventually the number grew to twenty five. Twenty five students, one truck, one instructor. The scene was total and complete chaos. First you had the eye candy ladies prancing around in their short shorts and skinny jeans and a size two small shirt flirting with everyone, looking for their next baby daddy (no offense ladies). You had your joker's, the people who wants to be everyone's buddy, was lead to the formation of the "cool club" and rounding out the list are the people who are in love with there own voices. I think I waited nearly two hours before I got to do the straight back. I failed because I didn't understand the mechanics involved, how to adjust, add in the screaming instructor, and people pointing and shouting , it was a mess. Four or five weeks later I tested for the final time. Normally CR England will give 3 or 4 chances to pass backing. Because I stuck with it and was at the backing range every day, I got 5th chance. I failed because according to the tester I had encroach on some white line. Several Students and instructors where standing near by and saw the position of the trailer upon my finishing the final backing maneuver. I got out check, I was in the box, everything looked good. I got thumbs up from the instructors and the students who watched me. I was on cloud nine, until I started to get back in the truck, at which point I got a bad feeling. I was then told about the encroachment which I was later told no one saw, even if I hadn't encroach according to the tester I had lost two many points due to pull ups. Something else that was question. However because of the Seniority of the tester, his relationship with the director and connections within the company, any challenges were pointless. I was absolutely devastated, I was an emotional wreck. I allowed myself maybe an half hour or so of self pity. Then I was mad, I was so mad and I had passed all the stages of anger one could go through and arrived back at a stage of extremely strange and rather disturbing sense of calmness. My first instinct was to arrange a very personal encounter between the tester and a road cone. However I focused my attention on the backing, to me this was a personal assault on my being, it was something I couldn't let go. What did I do? I started calling other trucking companies, I forget how many I called and got rejected before CRST decided to give me a chance. Callie S if this truly something you want to do, then first have faith, second refused to give up! Callie, the hardest thing about this job is the backing, it takes a extremely long time to get good at and experience drivers those worth their weight in gold will tell even they have bad days when it comes to backing still, after five, ten even twenty years years of doing this job. Do not give up!

@Yamu, I would be up front and honest about it, I would bring it to a potential employers attention right away. I am sure some will say that they can't work with it, but I have a feeling because of the length of time four years that there will be companies willing to give you a chance.

I got hired with CRST in August of this year since getting hired I have had nearly five weeks where I haven't made money because of circumstances. There was the first week where I had to go home handle getting my CDL license and going to the CRST terminal in California to get officially hired. The second week was spent convincing people I was actually in California not Iowa Because of a computer glitch I kept being listed for cedar rapids. Week 3 was a combination of days during training when we sat because we kept getting rerouted to pick up loads only to be told that the load was cancelled or had been picked up. Week four was waiting for my first co driver. Week 5 was going home for unwanted home time and trying to get a replacement co driver. Now I have been sitting for four days because of mechanical issues that were fixed but also because I don't have a co driver so I am limbo till Monday when I speak with my DM to figure out what to do.

While searching for a replacement co driver I was given the number of another CRST driver who turned out to be a student in week two of training. He told me he and his lead had been sitting in California for several days because they had been randomly selected for a drug test which they went and took. He said that they were waiting for a load when their DM call the lead and told them that they needed to go to some other lab to be tested because he and his student both tested positive for meth, the trainer has been with the company for years and has passed all drug test with flying colors. The only thing that they could think of was there was a mixup, lab error.

When I got assigned my first co driver. We realized that where areas we were strong in and others we were weak in. We both needed work on backing, both knew the qalcom I knew it better. He had no clue had to preplan a trip, low clearance, restricted routes he was completely oblivious of these things. His goal was to go solo at the end of his contract, I hadn't decided. But our general consensus was we would work as team figure this trucking thing out and eventually go our separate ways. He turned out to be a hindrance. My replacement co driver turn out to be a little flakey and now I'm a solo driver again So as of right now I have a rather negative out look on team driving

My first career goal was to play for the L.A Lakers, but after decades of waiting for them to call I kinda of decided it was time to move on and so here I am a rookie truck driver

Congratulations Ladies, wish you both the best as you start your trucking journey.

Part 2. Okay I started writing this a short time ago and accidentally close out the window. So I ended up waiting from 2:30 am Friday morning till 10:00 am Sunday morning. I sat over 34 hours and reset my 70 hour clock . I finally got my trailer loaded and headed to the CRST terminal over in jurapa valley. It was Sunday with very little traffic. From the shipper to the terminal was about an hour drive. Once at the terminal I found a parking space and got parked. I then went inside to meet my new co driver who was getting off his trainers truck. He had did home town two weeks prior. So I was told that he would be good to go for a few weeks before he went on home time again. I was looking at staying out over four weeks, but I know people want to see their families. I finally meet my co driver (2 .0) we get to talking and I think okay maybe this guy will work out, then he started saying things that started rasing red flags this site I believe calls them terminal rats. Around 4pm we decided to head out. I don't remember where we were going Arkansas or west Virginia. So we head out. I am driving and that's when my co driver tells me, he's been in contact with another company, he could be gone by next weekend or by that Wednesday. Sorry he told me but if it comes down to it you will have to drop me at a bus station I was what? I am going to drop you where No I told him I will be nice and drop you at truck stop somewhere if possible close to Greyhound but I won't go out my way or drive this truck a hundred miles out the way to get you to a bus. He said if he is driving he will. I don't respond. My plan was to report him call the DM and explain what is going on. However by Tuesday or Wednesday he was going to stick around at least till the end of the of year. By Thursday afternoon he was gone and I was solo driver again