Just Hello For Now... I'm Still Lurking :-)

New to the site, and new to trucking. Getting ducks in a row for training at the end of the month. My husband and i (just married Sunday) are honeymooning as students in a company sponsored program, and then plan to drive as a team. I've been lurking in the forum reading a great deal of invaluable advice, tips, information, and study material. Thank you for the High Road!! I look forward to future conversations with y'all, and an exciting albeit challenging career! I'll try to post my experiences, but more likely that I'll be asking questions LOL 😁.

Keep on keepin on! Phoenix

Welcome. You're officially not lurking anymore.

Congrats on your marriage, and upcoming trucking lifestyle! I hope you've read

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

for starters.

You both just made one of the biggest decisions, and commitments, of your life. You're about to make another one of those. I want to encourage you to establish a strong foundation for your marriage by showing love and respect towards each other, women innately crave the love while men crave the respect. Not saying men don't need love and women don't need respect, but there's something to be said for women needing love and men needing respect - that will go a long way in your marriage and partnership together. Marriage is the great school of life!

Trucking is another great school of life. You'll test your mettle. The career will test your new marriage. Stay committed to each other - love is more a choice than a feeling at times. Stay committed to your career choice - trucking is exhilirating, demanding, aggravating, frightening, and just pure joy. Those valleys make the mountain tops so much higher.

There's my two cents. Keep us posted on your adventure, and I wish you the best! Again, congrats on your marriage!

Welcome Phoenix. Congrats on the marriage and good luck in school. Keep us posted please. I too am looking forward to going to school to team with my wife. Best of luck to you and your husband.

Welcome aboard Phoenix. Looking forward to reading future posts from you.

Good luck!

Thank you, guys. We've been trying to get everything done so we can start the school Feb 29th, but I'm wondering now if we'd be better off starting the following week. It's taking me forever to get through preparing for my permit. Everything else is falling into place (even taxes came in a week earlier than expected) 😎, so I'll see how studying goes today and tomorrow.

I started reading posts, blogs, and about career choices a couple weeks before I registered, but now I just mostly muddle through the High Road now, coming into the forum when my brain starts melting. 😊

One thing I'm very nervous about is mountains. I'm from Canada, so snow doesn't freak me out, at least not in a four wheeler LOL, but mountains? Hell yeah! I face fears though, so it's another challenge to overcome, just this one an inch at a time... Hope no one gets stuck behind me! 😜 As for testing my mettle... No doubt in my mind, but that's why I'm the Phoenix, I just keep rising up, not letting anything or anyone discourage me from my goal.

Anyway, back to the grind... Thanks again for the welcome!

As for testing my mettle... No doubt in my mind, but that's why I'm the Phoenix, I just keep rising up, not letting anything or anyone discourage me from my goal.

Sounds like you'll do just fine.

Welcome Shelia!

Most mountains are usually no problem at all, with a good engine braking system after dropping down into a lower gear. In fact, I regularly run the Appalachians, and use my brakes sparingly.

As for snow, ice, and rain, it changes the way you need to operate, so you should be very wary. Big trucks are similar to motorcycles. Once you lose control, it can be very difficult to make a smooth recovery with no vehicle damage.

Words of wisdom always appreciated! I didn't mean to imply that I'd take inclement weather lightly, just that I'm aware of the dangers and need for caution and skill. Steep grades combined with that inclement weather, though... Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!!!

I took the permit test yesterday, and passed all three sections. When I found out I could have taken endorsements under the same cost though, the lady suggested we put it on hold and i return today to take some more without having to pay more. So tankers and doubles/triples on the agenda for today, and picking up our greyhound tickets for tomorrow night's ride to UT. Not the company i wanted to work for, but it's a foot in and I'm keeping in mind that i can switch if i still want to in a year's time.

Keep on keepin on! Phoenix

picking up our greyhound tickets for tomorrow night's ride to UT. Not the company i wanted to work for, but it's a foot in and I'm keeping in mind that i can switch if i still want to in a year's time.

Phoenix, don't even let that bother you one little bit. Everybody who jumps into this career as a newbie thinks they have to find that magical company where they can be perfectly content and making all kinds of money - Brett has started calling those magical companies "Unicorns." It's a perfect name for them, because they don't exist, and yet everyone wants to be the first to find them!

I started my career at Western Express in Nashville, TN. I defy you to find a decent review anywhere online about those folks! I had some issues at the beginning and they were the only folks who were willing to take me on, and give me a shot. Unfortunately in this day and age of free information via the internet, there is no way to make sure the information available to everyone is even remotely accurate or truthful. Here is one major truth about this career that is seldom ever articulated: Your performance in this career will be the sole defining factor in your success.

Let me break that down for you just a little. I did very well at Western, despite the fact that over 90% of their new drivers never lasted more than three months from the time they start. Trucking is a tough career to get started in - that is universal - it doesn't matter if you start at C.R. England or Schneider, or put whoever's name in that list that you want to. It is a career with challenges that most folks never even encounter when trying to get themselves established at something, and there is no one to help you along the way - you are on your own - thrown to the wolves as it were. There are restrictive regulations to deal with, inconsiderate shippers and receivers, constantly changing sleep schedules, and never ending delays and hurry up and wait scenarios that can drive most sane people into total frustration. That is why you see so much negative whining and complaining about trucking companies online. The problem is not the companies, nor is it even so much in the issues I just listed, but rather it is in the new drivers not understanding what it is they are getting into - I usually call it false expectations. I liken this career often times to being self employed. What I mean is you have got to be creative, have some drive, and be quick on your feet in making sound decisions. You've got to be able to sometimes take some risks, so that you can make something happen. You are taking the right approach with being willing to stick it out for a year with your first job - that is what I did, and to be honest with you I stayed there about a year and a half. I probably would still be there except that some one heard some good things about me and made me an offer that I couldn't refuse. You will learn so much about yourself and about how to succeed if you just jump in here and give it your all. You are going to make some mistakes, you are going to be frustrated at times, but just keep putting one foot in front of the other and always try and evaluate your day and learn from both the things that work for you, and the things that don't.

I've had an awesome career, and I love every day that I am out here doing my thing. I didn't get started where I wanted to, but to tell you the truth I think I learned a lot from the process I went through to get to where I am today. You will too. Like a Phoenix, you can rise from the flames.

What school are you going to?