Comments By Matthew R.

I probably saw you, but briefly. Haha me and my trainer are halfway to Denver right now.

So yeah, Week 2, day 2: out with my trainer. Unfortunately I can't drive till w go to New Mexico and I have the MVD put the corrective lenses restriction on my license so it matches my permit and physical... They ****ed up when I first got my NM drivers license 7 or so years ago, so I'm kinda upset. Ok. My trainer is awesome, we seem to get along pretty well and have a lot in common, so that should make this pretty easy. His (our) truck is a 2016 Freightliner Cascadia. And it's a 10 speed manual which we did not get a chance to train on last week, but Monday I did a little on the simulator and my trainer said it wasn't bad so that's good. Just can't wait to start driving. I'll keep you posted. Stay safe.

Day 6: Got to spend all day on the training pad where we worked on parallel (both sides) and 90 degree ally docking. Took me a few tries with the ally dock but I finally got it figured out. The instructor helped us out a lot. It's down to just two of us waiting on our trainers now. It's crazy to think that just a week ago I had never been behind the wheel of anything bigger than a pumper with the fire department and now I'm gonna be heading out on the road with a trainer. Short update today. If anything happens tomorrow I'll let you know, otherwise it'll be Monday. Stay safe. Matt

Day 5: Today was more time on the pad, but no time on an actual road. Little nervous but I think I'll be ok. Been doing pretty good so I'm more excited than anything. After lunch we also had a training on chaining up the tires which I'm sure I'll need to do at some point this winter so that's good. Met my fleet manager today. Seems like a cool guy. Found out from him that my trainer just got married and back from his honeymoon. I'm interested to meet my trainer Sunday afternoon or Monday morning. Can't wait to get on the road heading home. I'm sure he's gonna want at least a day or two with his wife if we're going to be back in New Mexico so I'll probably get a couple days at home too. Tomorrow we get to practice pretty much all day so that should be pretty good. The more I can get in the more confident I'll be when out on the road.

We are (supposedly) going to NM right away because I have to renew my drivers license and get them to put the restriction for corrective lenses on it so it matches my CDL permit and DOT card.

I'll try to keep you and in the loop. May skip Sunday if nothing really happens. Hope y'all enjoy it. Stay safe. Matt

First off, to anyone who has commented, thank you all for the comments, advice, and well wishes. They are greatly appreciated. Day 4: Wheel time!!! Well sort of. Started out on the pad today. Got to do some straight backing then they had us all pre-triping till the rain started. The we went inside and took a quiz on the Rand-McNally Trucker's Atlas and had lunch. After lunch we went back out on the pad and practiced backing more. This time offsets, both sides and we each did it twice. Then had to go meet with Compliance and go over our information and stuff. Word of advice, if you have had any accidents in the last few years, bring the accident report with you. Luckily I found a copy of the one I had in my email. Isn't necessarily a deal breaker, by it's one less thing to have to take care of at home I you forget it. That being said it was a pretty good day. Ended up going out for dinner with a group from class and a couple guys who are already drivers and a guy who's going into the western 10 fleet. Six of us split the Uber so wasn't bad. We were all going over pre-triping while we waited for our food. Another tip, utilize the other students around you and study it with them. Itt helped me out a lot. I know I still have plenty of time before I have to test, but by the time I'm back I want to make sure I pass on my first attempt. Anyway, hope you are all still reading and enjoying these updates. I will say this. If you have a group of sveral companies that you are looking into and Wilson is in it, I highly recommend them. Most companies preach safety and how they are safety oriented, but Wilson lives it. They e en go as far as giving drivers cones that they wan the drivers to out out in front of their trucks on either side to help prevent other drivers from hitting their trucks. They get on your case for stuff like failing to use 3 points of contact getting in and out. They make it clear that if you don't feel comfortable with road conditions that I is 100% the drivers call and they don't force you to continue. They treat you like family. We will see what happens once I'm out with my trainer, but so far, this is a great company. One old timer told me he was laid up for a while in the hospital, and the company paid for and put his two small dogs in a 5 star dog kennel till he got out and D. W. (Darrell Wilson) the owner/CEO o the company personally called his wife to check on her and ask I she needed anything. That doesn't happen in just any company and it appears to be the norm here. D. W. Likes to meet all the drivers from what I hear and I look forward to meeting him at some point. Hope you like the updates. Say safe. Matt

Day 3: Well today started with more simulator. Did ok. Not gonna worry to much. Then we started going over pre-triping and had lunch then more pre-triping. Kept us busy till we left. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain pretty good so not sure what the plan is, but I'm hoping we get some wheel time. My roommate is already leaving tomorrow morning with his trainer so he's pretty nervous since the only wheel time we've had so far is the simulator. I guess that's how it goes sometimes though. Will try to keep the updates coming as much as possible. Hope y'all enjoy them. Stay safe. Matt

Day 2: Today was a fun day. Spent most of it on the simulator. Did pretty good for my first time. Instructors said I did pretty good. I took a downhill curve a little fast, but was able to recover and continue. The backing wasn't too hard for me either. Found out we won't be getting to use a manual transmission but can retest late to get rid of the restriction. Not too worried since the will be putting me in an automatic anyway. I'm excited to get on the training pad soon. Want to see how much the simulator translates over to real world. Hope you enjoy the updates. Gonna crash out and be ready for whatever tomorrow will bring. Stay safe everyone. Matt

Day 1: Today started with an intro presentation and a tour of the terminal. Got to meet my recruiter. Then they took us for our drug tests. After we got back to the terminal we got a little time (about 5 minutes or so each) on the simulator which went pretty well. They had it in automatic mode so no shifting yet. Basically it was a scenario where there are different potential hazards on the shoulders of the road and you have to change lanes, then exit the highway, make a wide right turn and come to a stop. The instructor said I didn't do too bad. Took the turn a little fast and had one spot where I saw an animal carcass ahead on the right should so I sarted moving to the left lane. About halfway through the lane change a car ahead in the left lane started slowing down and pulled onto the left shoulder. So I had to decide between trying to change back (rather quickly) to the right lane or continue to the left. My head told me to go right, but I opted to stay left anyways so as to not make a quick move. Instructor told me ideally the right would have been best, but since I was already heading left and committed that you just have to go with your gut and avoid quick maneuvers. I felt overall it was not bad for my first time with a tractor trailer even if it was just a simulation. After that we watched some videos and had lunch, followed by a PowerPoint presentation on a bunch of stuff like how the training program works, pay scale, and hours of service. Pretty basic. Then the contract signing saying we will stay a year or pay back $$$ for the training. All in all a pretty good day. I'm more convinced than ever I've made a good choice by coming here to this company. Great people and it seems like they care about their drivers. I like the small class size (6 people in my class) and we all seem to be getting along so that's always good. But anyways. I'm going to try and get some shut-eye. Hope you all like the updates. I'll keep them coming daily this week. Stay safe.

Thank you Anne. I am starting to think so as well.

Dang bro, that sucks. I’m headed up to Wilson Springfield Missouri October 12... greyhound estimated 38 hour trip from South Florida. I might just rent a car....

Where at in South Florida? I grew up on the west coast in Sarasota before moving to New Mexico. Best of luck man. Maybe we will run into each other.

Update time. So my 18.5 hour bus ride as turned into what will end up being at least a 28.5 hour bus ride. I border the bus yesterday at 11:15 MST, broke down two hours after we left Albuquerque. Stuck for 4 hours waiting on a rescue bus. Made it through Amarillo and Oklahoma City, then got stuck in Tulsa for 6 hours because Greyhound had to fly in a driver for our bus. Only 3 hours from Springfield and I waited 6! Oh well. S*** happens. Looking forward to starting my training officially tomorrow. Will post updates as I can. Everyone stay safe. Matt

Phantom, I appreciate the reply and after reading your thread, I'm more sure than ever that I've made the right choice. As for my nerves... Let me let you in on a secret... First responders (Fire, EMS, and LEO's) all can appear rock steady in the face of insurmountable odds, but inside they are nervous as F***!!! We literally train ourselves to not show any emotion. It's something that drives my wife mad sometimes, like when I didn't cry the day my daughter was born. (Proudest day of my life by the way.) As for the instructors, I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out. I respect that you don't name names. (Also something drilled into us in the academy. haha) I'm honestly not too worried about it. I think the hardest thing for me will be the down shifting. But I guess we will see next week!