Comments By CK

Sleeping in a moving truck is something I'm going to have to get used to! Haha! Good first trip, just waiting for a load.

All right! I'm on the truck :-)

TNT trainer is really friendly and he has a brand new 2019 Freightliner Cascadia.

Well, home time has been a little longer than anticipated, but it's all good. My trainer is now picking me up tomorrow around 1300. This first load is only about 600 miles and has a lot of extra time on it, so I'm getting one more night at home and I'm hoping for a nice home cooked breakfast in the morning before I leave. Eating on the road is going to be interesting - my trainer only has a microwave, and no refrigerator - but there are some options available that I'm discovering.

I'm looking forward to seeing these articles from someone with industry experience. Thanks for sharing :-)

I believe the phrase I was told on day one was "embrace the suck."

Good luck Grumpy!

Transferring my license to California took 10 minutes and didn't cost a dime because I already had a California permit. I walked into the Gardena commercial DMV office, immediately got a number, and was immediately called to a window. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I was in and out in 10 minutes.

On my way back to California, literally the day after I was told to head home, and while I was on my layover in Las Vegas between flights, dispatch called me to tell me I had a trainer and he was in Salt Lake. I explained that I was told to go home because it would be week delay, and that I was about to get on a plane in Las Vegas for home. I was told no problem, trainer will pick me up at home and give me a call to set everything up.

My trainer called yesterday, he's picking up a load in Arizona destined for Southern California, and will be picking me up sometime tomorrow, Saturday.

I'm so looking forward to this!

You don't need a passport to start.

Do they require you to get a passport once you're there? I can't remember, and I've had my passport for years so it wasn't an issue for me. I do know they set you up with a TWIC card once you're there.

SLC didn't do anything with TWIC, but I'll make sure I do it when I get to Springfield. Passport is not required, but I'll be getting mine as soon as I can. They also want you to get your hazmat within 6 months, but I found many drivers who never got their hazmat endorsement.

Rainy, What is Primes reasoning behind singles vs duals? Just curious.

Fuel efficiency.

Congrats!

It's covered up by some patch or something. Not sure if I should call it on tonight or wait until I get to our OC tomorrow, only about 350 miles away.

I would call it in... the more upfront you are about damage the less likely you'll get blamed for it, right? Do you have a macro for trailer inspection that you can send in?

Got a call from the new hire fleet manager over here in SLC. They won't have a TNT trainer available for me for about a week, so rather than leave me to my boredom in the Ramada, they're sending me home to take care of transferring my license to California.

I'll be on a plane in the morning, and will be reimbursed for my plane ticket up to the cost of the bus ticket when I get on a truck. Even though I will be home, I will still be receiving guaranteed pay since I am available for dispatch.

Looking forward to seeing the wife and kids for a few days. Then we'll get this show on the road!

And it's time to break out the paper logbook, since I'll probably be looking at more than 7 days off duty.

It's a urine analysis, if you stopped in October you should be fine. Just don't start again, random drug tests are a thing and drugs do not mix with Commercial Driving. Which location will you be going to and when are you starting?

Maybe his PornHub subscription, so he can be hands-free compliant

but the hands need to be on steering wheel at all times........

Omg bwahahaha

Had a chat this morning. He apologized and everything is going much better

Please keep this updated. It will be interesting to see if he goes back to his old ways.

His license plate and truck number need to be free of any unlucky numbers.

He will also take the 13th day of every month off. And he must be home on Friday the 13th.

He expects a daily wake-up call from his FM. The call should begin with the FM singing show tunes.

He wants a green seat belt, not an orange one.

Hahaha, thanks everyone! I evaded capture this time, and was just out celebrating at Chow Time Buffet. I'm looking forward to TNT training!

Day 22: Test Day

TRIFECTA! I passed with 0 pts on pre-trip, 0 pts on backing, and only 6 pts on the road test. Super stoked!

I got to see Rainy again (and evaded capture once again!) and had a good chat until I had to run to catch the shuttle. I ran into Christopher G on the shuttle back to the Ramada. PT is staying somewhere down the hall, but I'm not sure where. Hopefully we'll meet up real quick before I leave.

I'm now awaiting a TNT trainer for my 30,000 miles of OTR training. I'll be waiting here for a few days, and if they can't get me with a trainer right away they'll send me home and have a trainer pick me up there. I'm certainly good with that second scenario, but we'll see what happens.

Now, off to update my forum status! :-D

Christopher G. and PT, I'm still here and testing today. I'm the short guy with goatee, glasses, gray jacket and black Prime sweater.

I did not have to take any sort of physical agility test for reefer at Prime. I have a friend who is doing Flatbed here, and he will be required to do one as part of his flatbed training.

Hi David and welcome! Check out our welcome package, which is full of great information. We pretty much always suggest Paid CDL Training Programs over a school that you'd pay out of pocket. Be sure to check out these links:

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