Almost There.....

First off glad to hear your wife is cancer free. I am about turning 53 this year and getting ready to go back into trucking after many years as a beginner. I would suggest if you want to know about what to expect with those companies why not read the training diaries / reviews on this website. I see no reason you should not call and apply to any company you think you might be interested in.

Granted I think I would determine what kind of trailer you want to pull and maybe a general idea of the type of cargo you want to haul as well. There is a group of links most of the admins post regularly for new people on the forum that can be a wealth of knowledge. I too looked at prime an even called them up and spoke to them. I was kind of put off by that particular recruiters attitude in general and decided to apply at Maverick Transportation. In my case I already have a CDL with the endorsements and I felt like they wanted to treat me like I did not even have my permit yet. Plus they wanted to treat the OTR training like a team. When you look at the amount of hours they wanted me to drive as a team with a trainer that would likely be sleeping while I drive and vise versa I feel I would learn far more elsewhere with a trainer making me do all the driving working on the same clock. I wanted to be paid decently and did not want to load or unload the truck and nor did I want to stagnate so flatbed was the right choice for me as I could stay active and not turn into a big jelly donut.

After speaking to their recruiter I instantly felt like I had found my calling. Maverick only had one thing about them I did not like and that was not a deal breaker for me at all. Everything else they had to say seemed perfect for me and they even helped me work through some pretty serious obstacles I did not even know I had. I will be starting orientation with them on Sunday. Now even though I am going to orientation this weekend I am still considering applying to a few other companies just in case things do not work out for some reason or another. honestly though based upon the way things have gone up to now I think I will be there for a long time and even if I have an issue with the physical I think they will simply send me home till I can get cleared from my dr for any issues. and then start over.

I was trained by and work for CFI. Their HQ is in Joplin MO and they use two schools, one just outside of Springfield and the other outside Joplin. With CFI your only upfront cost is your Permit and Medical. CFI will reimburse you for these. Here is a link to my CFI training diary. I am very happy here and I feel they treat me very well. One of the things I love is their home time policy. You can save your days and go home for as many as you like. I have mentioned this many times on here. You will not have to lay out money during school unless you want to. One can eat very cheeply for the short term with PB&J and Ramen. School is four weeks. Then four days of orientation where they will pay you $100.00 cash. While in Joplin for orientation, you get a good free breakfast at the hotel, they cover your lunch and dinner is up to you. After orientation, you can go home for up to seven days to wait for a trainer or you can go right out with a trainer. CFI pays by direct deposit weekly. You get paid on dispatch. So, you could finish orientation on thursday, go out with your trainer and have a check the following Friday. You have been through so much already. With CFI, you can have a rider on your truck. There is no fee for that, all you have to do is fill out a form for approval. As you can see I am a, totally biased fan of CFI. Good luck to you.