Extended Time Off/month Off

Hey guys, I'm really enjoying the advice on this forum so I might as well post a question I have; now this is kind of a silly question but I'll post it anyway. I'm preparing for CDL school at the moment with a medium size company and about a year after driving with this company me and a close friend of mine are planning to take a roughly month long trip out west to explore national parks. I'm planning to save money for the trip throughout the year of driving with the company, but my question is would it be realistic for a dispatcher to give me a month off? I obviously have to prove myself as a safe, reliable driver, have a good relationship with him or her, and turn the truck into the terminal before they would even consider this, but I wanted to ask more the experienced drivers on this forum to see if it would be realistic to take that much time off and then return to work. Any feedback is appreciated.

Ask the company. My company allows 69 days i believe, but would have to turn the truck in by the 5th day off. i would have to pay my insurances while out. after the 69 days, id be considered seperated and would have to go through orientation again and lose my seniority as far as health benefit discounts. other companies will be different

With CFI we don't lose hometime days. I have been with CFI for just over one year and have over 30 days banked. I am home for 6 days now. A month might require special permission. It will depend on the company you are with.

I would also be very interested in this info as well. I don't want to work 3 weeks out to get 3 days off. If I can work for a number of months and then take Unpaid Time Off that would work out real well for me.

Unlike CFI (see Big Scott's answer above), most companies don't allow accumulation of days of beyond about 7.

However, I also think that most companies would tolerate a driver that took no days off for a year and then took a month, as in the OP's question...but most would likely require that you move out of their truck and so forth.

I met a guy who first drove "normally" for about 25 years, but now he runs hard every day from April-November and then takes December-March off every single year. He's been doing this now for several years.

Most companies will do a lot to accommodate a really good, proven driver.

Of course, small companies wouldn't likely be a good bet for this sort of behavior - they would have to replace you when you took off and then for you to come back they'd have to have an opening. Larger companies always have lots of openings.

I would also be very interested in this info as well. I don't want to work 3 weeks out to get 3 days off. If I can work for a number of months and then take Unpaid Time Off that would work out real well for me.