Brand New CDL.............TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations Mike! This is an amazing accomplishment!!!

Old School and Mike C... the two of you have NO IDEA how much reading your posts concerning you ages took a major load off of my shoulders.

Rodney, welcome to our forum!

As long as I can remember, we've had people coming in here really concerned about their age. We always try to calm their fears. In the trucking industry they just don't care what color you are, what gender you are, or what age you are. Here's what they are looking for: Motivated, safe, productive employees who take responsibility for their results. That sums it up.

I was having a discussion with a management person in our very large company recently. They acknowledged that I was getting near the one million mile mark with this company. Then they transitioned the conversation to, "Hey, you aren't considering retiring anytime soon are you?" They commented, "We were hoping you'd stick with us for a couple of more million miles. It would be wonderful for you to hit three million miles with us."

That would put me late into my seventies, yet they are already encouraging me to stick with it. If you can be safe, productive, and easy to work with, these trucking companies are glad to have you as a driver. Those three qualities will set you up for a long term relationship in trucking.

We have several drivers in their 70’s still driving and crawling up and down tankers. We have one that just retired a few months ago at 82. Age is just a number. If you take care of your health you can pretty much stay as ling as you wish!!

To ALL of you 'seasoned' gents,

I already thanked Old School and Mike C. before I finished the thread. Thanks to all of you for sharing the ages you went into this career. This 52 year old need hearing it. My age was one of my major concerns... now it isn't.

Thanks again!

That's a fact. Those two are really ancient relics from days of old.

Well, since my last post I chose where I wanted to go (Prime), went, got my CDL and am now about to start the next part of my training on Friday. Hopefully goes smoother than things have since I made my decision.

NOTHING with Prime but life itself. I am originally from SW Louisiana. Most of my family still lives there. Hurricane Laura did not play nice. Everybody in the family had damage to their homes. Some severe. My brother-in-law had his truck smashed by a tree. My sisters SUV had its electrical system fried from water BLOWN up into her vehicle, my mom had her SUV smashed under their carport. The damage back home is horrific. Separate from the storm: One of my great-uncles died. One of my youngest two boys great-uncle died (On their moms side of family). Just was not a smooth last month. All happening while I was up in Springfield. Oh, also turned 53 while there and an idiot cut me off when I came back down to Houston to take care of my license and caused to blow outs and possibly other damage. (NOTE: Prime training and orientation personnel told me that if I needed to head home to help out that it would be no problem and that I just had let them know. They also told me that if I did have to leave, just let them know when I was on my way back so they could resume my training when I got back. They just earned a lot more respect from me with that.) Family told me to keep myself where I was. OK... not going to argue with my dad. So things could have gone smoother personally but with Prime it went great.

Even with all of the challenges I am glad I made the decision and went with it. Thanks again to all for their posts that helped kill the doubts I had.

God Bless and stay safe!