Comments By Sly48

Sounds like you have a plan. That is always a good way to start.

Ernie

Ernie!!!! Great to see you in here again!!! Yep, There's a lot to learn with tankers...but I'm up for it!! :)

Just got off the phone with Schneider and they have a Regional Tanker gig running TX,OK,LA,NM and some CO. (I live in Houston). What they told me is....given my credentials and having my Hazmat, TWIC and Tanker already they would send me out with a trainer for 3 weeks. After that bring me back to Houston, Take the driving test and if all goes as planned assign me a truck.

I figure since I want Tanker experience this might be a good move. I've heard their training is very good. After I run for them for a while, If I like it great. If for some reason I don't this will get me my experience with tanker and also get me the year minimum I need and that would then open up other Tanker opportunities to look at.

Do you think I should start back out with a company that has refresher course, maybe puts you back with a trainer for a few weeks?

More than likely, this is going to be your only option.

Thanks!! Just for my own good, I was thinking it might be best. The only thing that bothers me is starting all over again after less than a year and a half. But, if that's what has to happen, so be it. I REALLY REALLY want to go tanker this go around (was reefer before). There is a company here that will let me gp to orientation , but I still worry about the driving test. I wish I had a driver friend that I could spend a week with and get comfy again......but I'm sure insurance regulations would get in the way of that.

Hmmmm? I do have on Owner op friend that "might" be willing to get me in his truck for a bit, but that's a hard thing to ask of someone too.

Good afternoon Drivers!!

I've been rolling some thoughts around in my head as I search for the next trucking career. As some of you know, I've been out of trucking for 16 months now and I'm a little concerned about just jumping back in a truck after my sabbatical. I sit here and think, Geez, you've been out long enough that you will be a little rusty in terms of my actually driving abilities. Yes, I still remember everything, but actually getting in the truck and picking up right where I left off concerns me.

I really think if I had a couple of days in a truck it would all come right back to me and all would be fine. My concerns are if a company wants me to do a driving test and I don't do to well?

Do you think I should start back out with a company that has refresher course, maybe puts you back with a trainer for a few weeks?

Any insight or opinions would be great!!

Thanks, Sly

Thank you sly48. I will give that a shot.

Welcome back Sly!

I think you'll get a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to job hunting. Some companies won't care that it's been 16 months since you last drove, some will. The 8 months is enough time to prove you were capable of getting the job done, especially with the nominations and such. One big factor that companies take into consideration is whether or not your former company would be willing to hire you again. So hopefully Prime has you on their rehire list, but it's certainly not a make or break kinda thing.

Just hunt around like crazy for work and pretty much ignore the experience levels companies are requiring. Sometimes they'll say they require 2 or 3 years but often times they'll take people with less experience. A lot of times they say that to keep the call volume down. If they say they hire with little or no experience they'll get 1000 calls from people who never drove a truck or only drove a month or two before being fired.

We of course have an awesome listing of Truck Driving Jobs and you can Apply For Truck Driving Jobs With One Application also. Have a look around there and see what you can find.

Brett, One question regarding companies that might consider a person with less than a years exp. Wouldn't a lot of that henge on their insurance carrier and how they have set up their policies?

Glad to hear he's still running, should tell em to come back and say hi.. Be great to hear from em again.

I called him out.......let's see if he has time to jump on here with an update!!?? :)

I've had one experience with tornadoes on I65 between Greenville and Montgomery, AL.

1st, as a rule I watch the weather (particular doppler) like a hawk during bad weather conditions so I'm more informed as to what routes to take and no take in extreme situations. This particular day I did not and it almost got ugly. Dark blueish skies, pouring rain and winds had picked up fairly strong. the next thing I know it got very dark and then baseball size hail was coming down (I slowed the truck to a crawl as did everyone else). About another mile up the road I see a funnel cloud way to my left ahead of me going N/NW. I'm thinking, GREAT, it's headed away from me!! Next thing I see is another one to the right and it was going to cross my path if I didn't stop. 4 Wheelers were freaking out doing stupid stuff and the truck in front of me was swaying side to side. I then noticed my truck rocking side to side.

Fortunately I had a clear spot to pull over, so I did. Set my brakes, had my flashers on and just waited it out. It did head over I65 and headed N/NW as well.

That was close, but pulling over was all I could think of at the time....so that's what I did!! Not sure if it was right or wrong...but it worked.

Ok. Sooo. In order to get things done and make myself more valuable as a driver i got my passport and twic card. Well i should have had my twic card. I definatly qualify. So i was patient. I called and made sure how much time they would need to get me one and i made sure i gave them plenty of time. In fact my friend and i went in at the same exact time. He got his like a week later. So here i am, over a month into this and heres what i learned. Universal enrollment is in control of nothing. They can not contact anyone or get answers from twic. Essentially they are the equivalent of a post office. Their answer "we put a ticket in for you" (a week ago) called 3 days later per their request. "We put in a ticket for your ticket" ok. At this point i have only been slightly aggravated. So today i am determined to get to the bottom of this. I call enrollment again. Get no where. They havent got a response from ticket's. They blame tsa. So i call tsa give them ticket # and they say they filed a complaint for me with enrollment. WTF!!! Trust me, they already know i am upset. Sooooo she says that enrollment is at fault and enrollment says tsa is at fault. And no one could tell me where my application is physically other than "they" have it. Who is "they" ? Why dont "they" have a phone #?

Thank you for allowing to vent. And any input would be appreciated.

That sounds about like my story when I requested and paid for a replacement card. After all the waiting and all the calls and all the tickets that were turned in to investigate(over 6 weeks) I finally just drove to the office that it was to be delivered to and low and behold it was there. I walked in, told the person at the front desk my story. She said please have a seat and I will check on it. She called me back to the front desk and said, "Oh, it's here....it's been here".

My point and suggestion is to drive there and ask "in person".

Ahh I remember Steve, haven't heard from him in ages either..

I remember when you joined us too Sly. Welcome back sir. Sorry to hear about your ankle, hope it healed well.

Hi!!! Good to hear from you!!! Yes, Steve is doing very well being an owner/op. I think he is doing mostly intermodal stuff, but he's making $$$$!!!

My ankle is doing fine, thanks!!