Prime Inc Paid CDL Training Salt Lake Training

I have been here for a little while, and have responded to some posts. In the last weekend I have finally started my journey to begin the CDL Training at Prime Inc in Salt Lake. I will start with a little refresher update about my background for those who are new to my blog. If you have read that before please feel free to skip on down to the next paragraph. I am 37 years old (or I will be in May) and I have spent the last 14 years in the video game industry. After so many years I was needing new challenges in life, and needed to find a new passion. Well I love to travel, especially over the road.(I have done the rt. 66 trip twice.) in the last 4-5 years I have road tripped almost 10k miles for various reasons. I grew up in the trucking industry so I am no newb when it comes to the lifestyle, my dad was an OTR trucker, my grandfather owned his own trucking business. While successful at growing the business not so much at keeping it afloat. My mom and my grandmother have worked in the office dispatching drivers, and dealing with payroll and many various other admin office type duties. So here I am many years since I have been around a truck, and I find myself invigorated about following in my families foot steps.

So know that we have the backstory, here is how the week started. So I have been in touch with prime for a out month know. they have told me that in order for me to start training I need to get my permit in Utah first then they will schedule my orientation. One major problem I live in Louisiana, and I want to move back to Utah, but doing so without a job, or a guarantee of one is a bit scary. Well I have decided to go all in on this so scary can not be in my vocabulary. So Thursday I pack up all of my belongings into a U-Haul trailer and start the trek to Salt Lake City. I drop off some of my belongings to Goodwill, and then make it to Just west of Dallas the first night. If you have ever hauled a U-Haul trailer you can only go 55mph with them. So here I am driving down I-20, and I-40 and many state highways with speed limits of 65, 75, and 80 mph. I believe I was passed by a turtle on the road, and no not the TT Turtle that also works for Prime. I did not see many Prime trucks out through my entire trip, but I did see a lot of what not to do in a truck. Many trucks following feet behind other vehicles because they refused to use their brakes. Very scary (this time it is allowed) to be side by side with a semi truck that is feet behind another truck hoping nothing bad happens to cause what would be an awful wreck. So the second day I make it to west of Tucumcari, NM. I stay at the Pilot truck stop, and catch some zzzzzs. The third day I'm off and get to Salt Lake around 8pm. 1700 miles in 2 and half days of driving.

So here I am writing this update. I have a busy week ahead of me. Tomorrow Tuesday I have my medical DOT Physical. I am a bit nervous of the blood pressure tests form all I have read here. I don't know if I have ever had high blood pressure. (I'm not one to go to the doctor unless I'm dying.) However I have been drinking lots of water the past few days, and I'm on a strict banana diet today. Wednesday I have to go and take the permit test, if all goes well with getting my Med card, and then if I get the permit I can contact Prime to set up my orientation date. (I hope it is next week) I will be taking another practice test today my last one I scored 93% on it, but I did have some low scores in the air brake and combo part. Anyway look forward to more updates as I can.

The Griz

So, some things i forgot in the first post. A few days before i left for salt lake city my hard drive on my laptop crashes. my laptop is still under warranty, but i don't know when i will have time to get this thing fixed. Luckily that was the worst thing to happen so far.

so an update for this week so far. On Monday i started this blog, then i took another practice test from the High Roads. when i take the tests i never look up the answer i just learn from the ones i git wrong. If you remember correctly i scored a 93 the first time i did one. well this time i scored a 96. I'm feeling pretty good about the permit test. Today (Tuesday) i went in for the DOT physical as expected my BP was super high at first 188/130 i think. that was with the electronic one. next time it was 148/91. the second time was the old school way, later on the doc did it one more time for me at it was 138/88. So i am proud to say i am the owner of a 2 year med card. next tomorrow morning i go to the DMV for the permit test.

until next time.

The Griz

Yo Griz, glad to hear ya made the trip. Congratulations on making it past the first hurdles in this endeavor. You have a lot of fun ahead of you, and I'm looking forward to hearing about it.

Remember that with your diary, you may not always get responces, but people are ALWAYS reading. Keep us updated! Good luck to ya!

Turtle, thanks for the support, and to all those reading I appreciate you as well. I will do my best to keep this update as much as I can.

So, for today's update. I awoke this morning earlier than I have in months and rushed to the DMV. I was ready to take this permit test. I did not do as well as I had been practicing. in Utah a lot of the Gen Knowledge questions felt like they had multiple answers and it was guessing which one they would accept. There also felt like some questions not really asked through the high roads practice tests. (which I expected) However in the end I passed, and am the new proud owner of a CDL Permit. On Tuesday I will begin my orientation with Prime. I am feeling good, I am not sure how this will compare as far as timeline goes with Sprimo, but I hope to be out on the road by the end of next week. I did also get to view the background check that Prime ran against me, and as I expected it came back with flying colors. Everything I disclosed was there, no surprises.

Well that's all I have done today. I did get to update the family, and have an celebratory breakfast and the Original Pancake House. If you have never been it is by far the best dinner spot I have ever been too. I'm a big 6'3'' 330 lbs. dude, when it comes to food I know what I'm talking about. haha...

until next time.

The Griz

Griz, thank you for the posting about Salt lake, not much info about that Terminal. If I end up at Prime that will be where I start out at. I heard they were building new facilities, hope they are decent.

So Day 1. As you have seen with most Prime Day 1's no matter the location. We did orientation paperwork, drug screening, and the DOT physical again. This seems a bit redundant. I got my physical 7 days ago, then Prime had me do it again. Kind of a waste of $150 for me. This time though I did not pass the blood pressure. I did have 2 cokes and McDonald's yesterday before I knew I was going to do this all over again. I also have to stop in Sprimo during my PSD to get the sleep study done. So I currently only have a 3 month card, but not sure if that one invalidates my 2 year card my doc gave me. Anyways, after that we had lunch and then spent the afternoon doing computer training modules. I liked how the first module states that you can pass with 80% but the training program wants you to pass with 100%. If you don't get 100% the module will remain for you to redo.

Well that's all for today. I will try and keep this going.

Thanks to all reading and cheering me on.

The Griz,

Day 2 as expected more computer modules. Today we had a really good class on how to take care of our tires, and a few items on the pre-trip for that tailer. After lunch we split into 2 groups. There are 8 in our class. My group went over the entire pre-trip with one of the evaluators. The other group made it through up shifting and started down shifting. Tomorrow we swap in the morning and who knows what else we have in the after noon. We also went over logs today. Today was very informative. Even though I have been around the industry there are so many little things I was never aware of not being old enough to drive back then. 4 of the guys in my group all have trainers already, I think it is all of the guys going flatbed.

That's all for today.

Stay tuned.

The Griz.

Day 3

Today we spent most of the day on the simulator. We did up shifting, downshifting, skip shifting, and then driving the sim. The trainers are great. Lots of years of experience driving. That is really helpful, I have never driven a truck. I had some issues, but the advice from the trainer was perfect. He was able to see what I was doing, and be able to break down and explain how I can improve so I am doing it the correct way.

We also took the benefits class today.

I spoke to my trainer Rob. He arrived in Salt Lake City last night. I still have one more day of training, but my drug screen is a pass. Sounds like I will be good to go. So they sent Rob to Idaho on a load and he will be back tomorrow around lunch. We should get some pad time tomorrow. He has an automatic, so I will do PSD in that, then come back and train for a few days before the test.

So far all is going great here in SLC with Prime. I am really glad I made this decision.

Until next time.

The Griz,

I'm right there with you Braugh. I'm glad I started in Salt Lake City on the 6th. I only had 5 people in my class. I'm at Sprimo now and their classes are huge. Make sure you get some practice in on the ten speed shifting tho. I'll be back there next week to test. Im kind of waiting for our current truck to be fixed. Wishing you the best of luck and be safe and alert.

Good day all,

It's been a couple of days, but as you know things move fast during PSD and in this industry. I left you off with knowing I passed my drug screen and spoke with my trainer. Well he picked me up on Friday and we are off. I have driven over 400 miles in a day and a half. The first full day (Saturday) I averaged 9.5 mpg for fuel. Amazing I'm trying to do all I can to make it my trainer gets all the bonuses he can. He is great at teaching, expects a lot. Which I like he is pushing me to be the best, which I do to myself too. I have been killing the pre-trip quizzes thanks to this site for getting me started early. Anyways we have about, 10-12 more days before I can take the test, and we need to fit in some pad time to work with the manual.

Until next time.

The Griz,