Accepted To Jim Palmer

Best of luck at Jim Palmer... They are a really solid company.. Working for Prime I have talked to several of their drivers and they all were quite happy. I am sure you will do well there..

Thank you icecold24k.

Day 1 is in the books. Today my fellow classmates and I were picked up from the hotel approx 7:10 am. There is 3 of us in training with 1 other guy stuck in bad weather. He should be in tonight or tomorrow. We were all given a single room in the hotel. (Nice touch) We arrived at the terminal to a welcome board with all our names on it. Everyone in the building gave a warm and inviting welcome. My nerves were calmed quickly due to all the smiles and nice intros. It was a day of drug testing, DOT physical and some paperwork. A lot less than I had expected. They do a lot online before our arrival, which I think we go over tomorrow in an interview to confirm our information. On our tour, it was nice to meet our recruiters. They took the time to greet us and encourage on our new journey. It was not one of those fake introductions, you could really feel the warmth in the room, actually, throughout the facility. We did our physical in, on under the truck and trailer. Our instructor even did a brake test for us. He showed us all the functions on the dash. He asked if we had any questions I was thinking "would you say all that again". Hahaha..... All in all it was a nice relaxing day. Tomorrow we go for our CLP testing and on that note, time to get back to studying.

Hey Tyrone! Any updates? I hope you are still going at it in the JP program and doing well?

Hey Tyrone! Any updates? I hope you are still going at it in the JP program and doing well?

Hey Ralph G,

I am doing well. I did pass my CLP. I was sent out on the road with my trainer on Sat the 17th. I was practicing in the yard with a Freightliner and my trainer has a Pete. (Uh Oh). He drove us out of Missoula due to the ice and snow. He drove us to Billings and into SD. Day 2 out and it was my time to drive. He pulled over at a rest stop full of ice and snow. Boy, did I grind the gears. He tried to shift from the passengers seat to no avail. He was yelling until I finally got it. I said to him, "don't worry, we will survive". On the 94 heading east in SD there is a slight downgrade over a bridge and up an incline. (most of y'all might know it). Going up i said "should I start to downshift". He stated "no, I want you to move to the right lane first". I proceeded and downshifted flawlessly up the grade. After we got over it he says "now where was that shifting before". I said "my life was on the line". hahaha

I now have about 30 hrs of driving in. He let me drive during rush hr in Chicago and Detroit. He has me driving through all major cities that we drive through. (St Lou, Tulsa, OKC, Indy) My struggle was this, I was using the downshift technique on the upshift. No more grinding since then. I do mis a gear now and then when I am in traffic and worrying about traffic, speed, lane position, RPMs, you know. (putting it all together in a split second). Driving down the 55 and 44 is a breath of fresh air. I was able to blindside back with 1 pullup today. There is a lot of stuff (lol). Two men in a truck, we had a few moments, but I don't have time to dwell on it, the new moments around the next curve dissipate our quarrels, gotta keep moving forward and deal with the next moments set of circumstances. I go back to test on March 6th. Ok, time to sleep. Hope that this update helps.

Sounds like you are doing really good so far and you have a great attitude.. I do agree training is hard.. I had an amazing trainer but he really got on my last nerve and I was so ready to get off his truck and upgrade. When I finally did upgrade I realized why he was the way he was and that first month solo I missed having him there and I wanted him back.. Anyway keep it up you will do just fine..

Hey Tyrone! Any updates? I hope you are still going at it in the JP program and doing well?

Hey Ralph G,

I am doing well. I did pass my CLP. I was sent out on the road with my trainer on Sat the 17th. I was practicing in the yard with a Freightliner and my trainer has a Pete. (Uh Oh). He drove us out of Missoula due to the ice and snow. He drove us to Billings and into SD. Day 2 out and it was my time to drive. He pulled over at a rest stop full of ice and snow. Boy, did I grind the gears. He tried to shift from the passengers seat to no avail. He was yelling until I finally got it. I said to him, "don't worry, we will survive". On the 94 heading east in SD there is a slight downgrade over a bridge and up an incline. (most of y'all might know it). Going up i said "should I start to downshift". He stated "no, I want you to move to the right lane first". I proceeded and downshifted flawlessly up the grade. After we got over it he says "now where was that shifting before". I said "my life was on the line". hahaha

I now have about 30 hrs of driving in. He let me drive during rush hr in Chicago and Detroit. He has me driving through all major cities that we drive through. (St Lou, Tulsa, OKC, Indy) My struggle was this, I was using the downshift technique on the upshift. No more grinding since then. I do mis a gear now and then when I am in traffic and worrying about traffic, speed, lane position, RPMs, you know. (putting it all together in a split second). Driving down the 55 and 44 is a breath of fresh air. I was able to blindside back with 1 pullup today. There is a lot of stuff (lol). Two men in a truck, we had a few moments, but I don't have time to dwell on it, the new moments around the next curve dissipate our quarrels, gotta keep moving forward and deal with the next moments set of circumstances. I go back to test on March 6th. Ok, time to sleep. Hope that this update helps.

That’s a great attitude Tyrone. Ditto what iceCold said. Some people would look for an exit strategy. You see the prize at the end of the battle.

Good luck moving forward.

Hey there, Ty

This is your classmate, Jason. Haha how ironic that I’d find your posting. TT has been super helpful and I too continue to visit the site when time permits.

For those of you reading and following his story, I was/am in the same program as Tyrone. I too am currently out with a trainer on a Pete. He is going to continue to nail this...what a trooper he is. He was miserably sick the entire first week, tissue in hand at all times yet he was able to focus and excel. Proud of you Ty, can’t wait to see you back up in Missoula for our CDL test and upgrade.

Jason

Things are moving along. I was able to drive in some adverse weather. Well, adverse for me. lol. Yesterday while coughing I heard a crack in my back rib cage. The pain this morning was intense. The bad part is that it is on my right side and unable to drive at the moment. Tssss. Any suggestions?

That's not good. Sounds like bronchitis with a cough bad enough to crack a rib. Keep an eye on that! If you start coughing up, or otherwise passing, any blood, you need to get to a doctor or an ER ASAP. No joke.