Comments By Luke O.

Started out my trip to Springfield with what was supposed to be a 9 hr bus ride, but became a 11 hour bus ride with a 4 hour layover in the middle of nowhere in the cold and alone. I showed up to Primes Inn around 130am monday morning with another guy. We were both put in the same room, where we managed to both grab 2 or 3 hours of sleep before waking up at 530am. I skipped breakfast so I could keep my blood pressure and sugar levels down. Before I went to bed the night before I ate a tuna and crackers snack pack.

Class started at 7am ish and we had around 75 people or so. I will tell you now, I can not believe the sheer amount of pure stupidity some of these people have. We had one guy start getting real mouthy with the instructor about the contract and money. Had another guy interrupt the instructor asking if the class could take a break. Had multiple people asking some of the stupidest questions Ive ever heard, mostly stuff like when the instructor would say not to do something, and then they would ask that exact same thing 5 seconds later. This kind of **** persisted throughout the day. I was easily able to pick out the "bad seeds" as they made themselves abundantly known. Another thing that bugged me, was the fact that it took us like an hour to walkthrough the full paper application (which I had completely finished the night before). I felt that that was really unecessary. I mean if you can't understand how to do a paper application on your own.... Between that uneccesary speech about how to fill out simple **** and people constantly interrupting the instructor with bs questions, I was getting really aggravated and annoyed and even my roommate chuckled a few times at me muttering **** under my breath.

Class ended around 1130am, thank god because It was a hell of a struggle staying awake. I nearly fell asleep without warning at least 5 times. My eyes hurt and burned all day. I felt dizzy, feint, and fatigued all day, and was just absolutely drained. After the initial class we did our drug tests, physicals, and background interviews. All of mine went off without a hitch, and I somehow scored surprisingly great on my blood pressure tests. After that I skipped lunch, and went straight back to the dorm room and managed to sleep for 20 minutes before my room mate came back and woke me up.

That little power nap somehow left me survive through 3 hours of sim lab. I actually enjoyed simlab because I already knew the information, but it was good hearing the instructor confirm it as well. I drove the simlab truck 3 or 4 times before the class ended and we were released for the day. I grabbed some dinner from the cafe, and now Im back in the dorm room again, absolutely drained. I can not put into words how ****ing tired I am. One thing about simlab that really annoyed me too was just how much people dont listed. At least 5 to 10 times the instructors had to remind people to stay under a certain speed limit, and to not skip ahead to new modules. I started to feel like I was surrounded by teenagers. Thats ****ing sad.

Im gonna grab some Zzzs, and maybe wake up later tonight and start on my CBTs, which I tried to do earlier today but was just too damned tired for it. I mean I almost fell asleep, without warning, while standing up with my eyes open, suddenly, at least 3 or 4 times. Like someone just pressed the off button on me. Thats how tired I am, but I managed to force myself some ****ing how to grind through the day.

I know this was a rhetorical question, but I personally have a variety of reasons running from the generic to the personal...

1. My financial situation at home has gone to utter ****. The jobs where Im from pay about 300$ a week on average, even skilled trades. On top of that, my car had been falling apart the last 6 months and finally broke down about a month ago. Its gotten to the point I couldn't support my family anymore locally. 2. I am not interested in your generic jobs and never have been. I dont find the idea of working in a windowless factory day in and day out doing the same routine day in and day out very appealing. Even the jobs that do pay good money that are like that, that's just not what I want to do with my life. 3. Up until about 7 years ago, I was always traveling and on the road. Some of it for work, some of it for pleasure. The last 7 years though, I got married, settled down, and focused on my future. However, on top of the financial difficulties Ive had, I also am fairly miserable most days living in the city and trying to live a city-based life. I grew up in a rural area, where You weren't bothered by heavy traffic, lots of noise, and huge crowds of people. Which is why Ive always been happiest when Im on the move driving down interstates and countryside highways and what not. I love my family dearly, but Im ****ing miserable living in the city and working a job in the city. 4. My grandpa used to be otr, my uncle was a train conductor, my cousin is a train conductor, and my other grandparents were forest fire watchers that lived in a shack up on a cliff in the mountains for 2 decades...I think the desire and wanderlust are in my blood. I was born to travel. 5. Lastly, I generally dislike people. I crave solitude. Just in general day to day life, I love being alone and having my own personal space where very few can intrude and bug me. If I could choose a time to be born, Id choose to be born back in our primitive hunter and gatherer days when humanity was still in the thousands and I could be the only sole human for hundreds of miles around. So I know I will have no trouble at all adjusting to solitude otr many miles away from home. 6. The adventure and the money, and the pride Im pretty sure I'll have to drive big trucks, while traveling, and making fairly good money, even despite the challenges, thats something I want almost more then anything.

Im happy to report ive been averaging 70-90% (mostly 80-90%) on the various cdl exams found online. I know anything less then 80% is not passing, but most of those have been silly mistakes like wording or misclicks. Anyways, I can guarantee you before I started the high road training, I would have never gotten anything higher then a 20 or 30%. On top of the high road, using all the other various resources out there such as youtube and cdl manuals, I think Ive got a real good chance of passing the CLP on the first go around. Not gonna get my hopes up, but Im faily sure I will able to pass it on the first go. Tanker, Combination, and Airbrakes Ive also been averaging 80-90% on.

I too considered teaming as my first option but decided against it as others have said, for multiple reasons:

1. cramped space for 2 people your stuck with for weeks at a time 2. your stuck with a total stranger you might end up disliking for weeks at a time 3. little privacy if any at all, while dealing with whats mentioned above 4. you have to be able to trust that the other person wont kill you or others while your asleep because they suck at driving or dont know what theyre doing. 5. you wont necessarily be with a veteran driver, Ive heard of newbies getting put with other newbies concerning team driving. 6. the best way to learn after training on anything in life, (imho) is to be thrown to the wolves to some extent, and learn how to do things on your own. 7. I dont understand this fully and what it all entails, but you will "always be moving" .

First off your doctor is doing you a favor, she got your attention. The second thing is, her job is not to get you a card, it's to protect the public, that's her job and that's what she's doing. Trust me when I say she's not going to risk her license for you, or any other driver.

Diabetes is nothing to screw around with, IT IS DEADLY! If you are diabetic it means that your blood sugar is not well regulated. Going too high or too low can cause you to lose consciousness thus the reason they pulled you off of the road, you are a danger to yourself and others. Put on your big boy pants and go see your doctor. If your A1C is OK you don't have anything to worry about, maybe it was an unusual reading due to the big breakfast, I don't know. If it wasn't, then you need to control your diabetes. If you don't control it sooner or later they will likely start whittling you away as your tissues begin to die. It will likely start with a toe or two, then some more toes, then part of your foot, maybe your fingers and hands, I think you get the idea. When my sister-in-law finally died from diabetes she didn't have any arm or legs. It wasn't pretty. Please don't let yourself get like that. Please!

Yup. My mother in law lost both legs and half her hip 2 years ago from diabetes and my cousin lost his foot a year ago.

I was just sitting here, reading some various articles, taking a break from the studying, both here on TT, and it just occurred to me that TT really is the best new driver resource out there as far as the internet goes. When I first got into this whole thing about 6 months ago, I was confronted by so much conflicting information. And what I thought I knew was not true, and what I thought others said was true, was not true. I remember getting into it once or twice with the mods here.

I remember at first I was like wow, "TT is a bunch of people who claim they arent super truckers, but man they are high up on their high horses" Thats what I felt at first. But after spending time in other forums and discord servers, and seeing the sheer amount of negativity, I realized over time that while TT might seem like its a group of super truckers, its really just people who care about making sure theres no BS, hence the name Trucking Truth. I have learned more from TT then from anywhere else, their CDL training materials are very thorough and very well put together, and although the mods can seem a bit gruff or blunt at times, theyre speaking the truth, and it'd be wise to listen to them. At least 3 times they helped me keep from making the wrong choices and screwing myself.

Im fairly sure that as I sit here and write this, I will do just fine on the CLP tests, and Im pretty sure I will be able to survive the first year. I know that the turnover rate is super high and many have sat in my shoes and in my mindset and still failed, but I think the one thing that I have going for me, is the ability to admit when Im wrong/be humble, and actually listen to what the folks here on TT have to say, not just on the forum posts, but in their articles, their diaries, and their videos as a whole. Ive been in some pretty ****ty and dangerous industries before, and I dont brag about surviving them, however I believe they have taught me to keep my head up and just roll with the punches. I know its gonna be tough eitherway for me, but im fairly positive that with the helpful insight of TT, I'll be able to succeed. And if I dont? **** it, try try again I will.

Been a rollercoaster ride for me the last few months, managing personal responsibilities and figuring out what Im doing with this whole trucking thing. I look forward to the training, but at the same time like every one else, Im fairly nervous as well. Ive gone over my paperwork about 20 times but ofc I still second guess myself constantly. 'Did I fill that out correct?' 'Did I forget to mention anything?' 'Did I choose the right time to do this?' 'Will I pass the blood pressure tests?' 'Can I truly mentally handle this lifestyle?' blah blah blah etc etc.

Also Im daily reminded that in a week from now Ill be gone for 3 months without seeing my wife, and all the challenges that brings. Nevermind having to keep my head cool, calm, and collected so I can focus on studying and learning on top of all that. My fingers are crossed that I can pass all the tests. Been studying out the wazoo the past few days,nearly round the clock studying. Plan to keep doing that up until I dont have the time anymore.

Wish me luck.

Ive been checking around and havent found much insight on this other then stocking up at walmart as much as possible. Im on a 1500mg sodium diet a day, and that truck stop food would screw me real fast. Hell I went to the diner and had chicken fried steak yesterday with my wife and that thing messed me up all day. So what do you do? Starve or what?

Also the other thing Im worried about is TnT, how do I survive something like that, while on a restricted diet, without impeding on the trainers lifestyle? I imagine Ill get placed with someone who eats truck stop food like everyone else, and I can see it now, Ill be starving the whole way through.

So any tips on how to be as non-inconveniencing as possible while still managing to stay healthy while being stuck with someone else in their home on the road?

Id say about a week, maybe 1.5 weeks. If you have all your dates and times correct, and can get ahold of w2s quickly, then you shouldnt have any holdups. Any kind of criminal record, drug issues, and medical issues, will make it take longer.

How long did it take to be accepted to prime. I sent in my application today.

^^that.

3 yrs is fine. You're good to go. Welcome to Prime!

thanks! ive been hitting the high road guide hard. are there any sections specifically that i do not need to study or is it all pretty important? not trying to take shortcuts, just trying to make sure Ive got the necessities down pat before moving on to the extra stuff