Comments By Uncle Rake

Hello Trucking Truth Community,

I am thankful to have been accepted by Prime to begin training the week of September 7. I had applied earlier, but since I could not test for the CLP in West Texas until September 3, I had to wait to apply to Prime since they only keep applications for thirty days. Some uncertainty exists on exactly which day I will begin orientation since Monday of that week is Labor Day.

In the last four to six weeks, I have read tons of helpful information here on TT to help me prepare for the proper mindset for drive training and a later driving career. Thank you everyone for all your wisdom and your willingness to share it. I have learned that I will need to be patient with my “God-awful, obnoxious, maniacal lunatic . . . trainer [who may be like] Hitler/Stalin.” I am hoping I can be patient enough to endure. I have learned that I must be humble to experience success in trucking. When it comes to humility, I think I am pretty good. I have always been really proud of my humility, and I’m glad it’s going to come in handy in this business. I have also learned that trucking is not for the faint of heart. I am beginning this phase of my life with a determination to do my best, to finish training, and to stick with my first company for at least a year (hopefully longer).

I drove from Lubbock, TX to the eastern part of Dallas (Mesquite) this week for a funeral service. I found myself driving with both hands on the wheel, rather than the single grip I have used in a pickup for the past 35 or so years. I found myself checking the side mirrors regularly, and trying to stay centered in the lane. I thought about driving 58 mph in the right lane, but decided that would be safer in a 35 ton vehicle rather than a 3 ton.

All my life, people have had trouble pronouncing my given name, Raif. When I was a kid, an old school bus driver who had known me all my life called me “Rake.” Throughout the years my family has kept that alive (tells you something about my family). To several of them, I guess I will always be “Uncle Rake.”

Thanks again for all the helpful content you all have provided here at TT. I look forward to beginning my training and sharing the updates.

Rob,

I agree with OS’s comment. Thank you for the remarkably detailed account of your experience from beginning to end. I am to find out tomorrow or the next day if Prime has accepted me for training. I’ve found your diary to be as valuable as Turtle’s account. I look forward to reading future experiences as you begin work in your own truck.

Congratulations!

Thanks for this question and thanks for all of the helpful replies. I had read similar articles and had the same question.

I heard Ziglar and Josh McDowell speak at a Christian youth leadership conference in 1984 in Washington DC. Zig Ziglar spoke for two hours and it seemed like 30 minutes. The really unusual part of the story though is that on Tuesday the following week I saw him playing golf where I worked at a remote golf course in East Texas.

Rob,

Thanks for the reminder of Roosevelt's speech. I saw that the first time in the office of a chip mill manager near Lufkin, TX. Parts of that speech also appear occasionally in the TV series, Blue Bloods.

I have thoroughly appreciated your diary here, and expect to hear any day that you have "graduated."

What I want to share may have been presented already, but in my daily hours-long forays into TT values, I have not seen it. The content was probably not originally intended for truck driving, but the more I encounter the wealth of wisdom from experienced drivers on this site, the more I think Rudyard Kipling’s poem applies. Kipling was a favorite of my late father, and I often benefit as well. If you enjoy it half as much as I, my time in sharing will be worthwhile.

DON'T QUIT

When things go wrong as they sometimes will.
When the road you're drudging seems all uphill.
When the funds are low, and the debts are high,
and you want to smile but you have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit.
Rest if you must but don't you quit!

Life is [strange] with its twists and turns,
as everyone of us sometimes learns.
And many a failure turns about.
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow -
you may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out –
the silver tint of the cloud of doubt.
And you never can tell how close you are.
It may be near when it seems so far.
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-
it's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

I just bookmarked this thread primarily because of all the helpful links and the explanations that accompany them. Thank you Brett for leaving these old threads up to help new entrants into this line of work. I find it interesting to go back and read all the helpful comments made to a lot of my favorite current (2020) forum contributors in their early questions & concerns.

Congratulations! And be assured that your posts from years ago still bear incredible fruit for those of us about to start the trucking journey. Kids are great and then one day they turn into teenagers. So enjoy the "great" years.

Rob,

Thanks so much for the diary. As a potential Prime trainee (in September), I have read all you've posted with great interest. I do have a couple questions. In your early training, I do not remember reading comments about learning to shift gears. Do I infer from this (note that I did not assume) that all training is now done in automatic trucks?

Second question: You have had two or three periods of time at home during your training. Is that common for Prime training?

Thanks again for the incredibly informative and occasionally hilarious accounts of your training.

Hope you get started on your "rented mule" work soon, although I suppose that will (unfortunately for me) bring your diary to an end.

UR

Old School wrote:

I know how challenging this can be. It's the challenges that motivate me. People respond differently to change and challenge. That which crushes one person seems to put fire in another. I was challenged relentlessly when I jumped into this as a second career at the age of 53. I turned 60 last month, and I seriously believe I could enjoy doing this for another 15 years.

Old School, I appreciate your comment here. Every time I have seen a post from you, I note your location in Nacogdoches, a place my browser obviously doesn't recognize, but John Wayne did (in Big Jake). I lived around Lufkin for years, so I know the area. Back to the primary point: I am 53 now and hoping to begin this career, so I will listen even more attentively to your comments.

I think using your quote may also help me learn to start new paragraphs in my comments. (Now I just need to learn how to find those quotation mark images.)