The Diaries Of Randy @ Prime, Inc.

Thats great. excited for u. i cant wait till i can get my new career started with prime.

Picking up first load at warehouse. The journey begins. Started day with light breakfast of cereal and a banana. Chatted with new group coming in for orientation before leaving with instructor. Heading for Oklahoma. Weather expected to turn Warner today and nearing 90 by Wednesday.

First day of driving.... Starting in Springfield, Mo., we made 5 deliveries in Oklahoma with a total out time of about 12 hours. I'm getting the up shifting pretty good and the handling of the truck went well (staying in my lane, shifting lanes, turning, etc.). The down shifting is another story. How soon to start the descent in speed, when to brake, when to shift, watching traffic, watching the lights, listening to the instructor, remembering what gear I am currently in, remembering the hi-lo switch.......yeah....all of that. So what I came away with is that I need to start slowing down sooner and give myself time to get to a gear I can make the turn. I was trying to cram it all into a little more space than when I am driving my pickup truck. I expect today to be a big step forward in that category and I know when the double clutching on the down shift clicks, a lot of things will get better immediately.

I like my instructor because he is like me....serious about the job but with a sense of humor too. It's easy to be around him and I get it that he isn't going to sound funny or delighted when I'm still learning this shifting thing as WE approach a live intersection. I do NOT envy the instructors, especially for what they go through in the first days of being with someone who has never driven a semi.

As we pulled around the back of one store to dock we saw a doe and her fawn.....the youngest I've ever seen, barely able to stand up and walk. There were more deer in the distance but these two were close enough to get a picture, which I did.

Got home about 9PM and am rested up and ready for day #2. Have great day everyone...and be safe!

Day 2.... As I got my day started I realized that my problems from day 1 pretty much all had one main root cause.... too much happening in too little time. Because I was waiting too long to start the slow down and down shifting I was ending up with everything in front of me, including my instructor talking to me, at the same time, which is just too much for one individual to process and execute at one time. So I set out to eliminate that cause. It did not take long to discover that I was pin point on.

My down shifting was greatly improved which translated into an overall much better execution as I approached intersections. It felt so good and I felt like I leaped light years ahead. Of course I still made mistakes, but for the most part I was getting it. Now I see the future as mastering it instead of figuring it out. My instructor has been so patient and very helpful and my hats are off to all instructors for taking on the serious challenge of teaching people with ZERO experience to handle such a massive vehicle. Whatever their compensation it, it's not enough!

It was a much shorter day as we did not travel very far from home base, arriving back here at 3PM. I got some great experience of driving through towns on country routes, giving me plenty of opportunities to down shift with many intersections and curves to navigate. As we returned to the warehouse I knew the exit I was to take would be a great test of how much I improved on my down shifting as I butchered it yesterday. As soon as I exited I began to slow, this time LIGHTLY tapping the brake, clutching, revving, and clutching again to down shift, and kept repeating it until I was in 6th gear and in total control as I got to the intersection. Everything went sequentially instead of crammed together and wow, what a difference it made. My instructor never had to say 1 word and that made me feel very good.

Was glad to find out several of my buddies met their instructors and are heading out for their own PSD phases. My roommate also left today, but not as a student. He was waiting on clearance to go.....returning to Prime after having been away for several years. He finished that up today, got his truck and is headed out tomorrow morning with his first load, going to Chicago.

That's pretty much it for today. Taking in the Heat vs Pacers game now. Rooting for the Pacers....not because I am their fan, but because I am NOT a fan of the Heat. I want the Spurs to win it all so Duncan goes out with another championship after NEVER missing the playoffs in his entire 20 years of playing. If they win it this year he will have had a championship 1 out of every 5 years he played. Talk about a winner. He is a total class act on and off the court and is the epitome of consistency and leadership. They are going to have a hard time replacing him. Think of that...they have not had to replace that position in 20 years!!! Go Spurs!!!

Til tomorrow.....

Good luck to you Randy!

I'll be following your entries here as I hope to join Prime's training program within a couple weeks.

As an aside I'm with you on the Pacers over the Heat. I'm still wanting KD to get a ring, but growing up on Tobacco Road I sure do appreciate the class act that is Tim Duncan.

By the way I am curious about the turnaround from the first contact with them (Prime) to you securing a spot in training. I understand you are busy but does anyone else have an idea of this timing?

By the way I am curious about the turnaround from the first contact with them (Prime) to you securing a spot in training. I understand you are busy but does anyone else have an idea of this timing?

I called Prime for the first time on a Monday and talked to my recruiter. As soon as I got off of the phone I completed the online application. She immediately jumped on it and expedited it through the background checks and within 1 day I was approved. I chose to wait 1 week, but could have been here the following Monday. To make things go quickly, be thorough in your details of where you have lived, where you have worked...with dates including any unemployment, names of contacts, and phone numbers, any criminal history, medical problems/history, and your education history. Missing something BEFORE you go can end up being the thing that becomes a problem once you have arrived on site....after the Greyhound bus ride that seems like eternity....and then you have to go home. Be thorough, be thorough, be thorough.........and don't miss anything!!!

Oh, and get your permit before you come if you can....and take your tanker endorsement, which is not difficult. Trust me, it's much better to have it than to do it once you get here. If taking the exam before you come is not an option....at least be all studied up and ready to test right away once you get here. Use the training materials on here to prepare. They work great!!!

Good luck!

Day 3 - Went east today and made 9 stops..........after getting out of the dock with our load about 1 1/2 hours late. Still, being local, and back here by 7PM, certainly nothing to complain about. Learning curve on shifting continued today and while I'm still thinking the steps through and having to make sure I remember what gear I'm in when going through town, it is BEGINNING to sink in and take on a feeling of naturalness. Still a few moments of searching, but overall I am feeling very good about it. I'm actually doing better than I anticipated.

Things to work on..... not resting my right hand on the shifting lever between shifts unless it's continuous. Doing two handed steering on corners. Have to get a better sense of the front edge of my truck so I have the confidence to make my right hand turns as wide as possible to avoid the trailer tires from cutting the corner. Remembering to flip the Hi/Lo lever on the shifting knob to prepare for the next gear.

One of the biggest things to remember when you are new......don't rush things. It's too easy to try to fit things into the same time frame used in a car. This reminds me of when announcers talk about how "the game has slowed down" for a new quarterback in the NFL. At first everything seems to be happening simultaneously, but when you stop rushing and forcing things, it slows down to a manageable pace and it's like things come into focus so much better.

Traveled on a country highway today, going through the Mark Twain National Forest. The word "winding" took on new meaning today. I got to practice a large variety of bends in the road...various speeds, uphill, downhill, flat, banked...pretty much everything except a hairpin turn......on a narrow road. What a great learning experience.

One thing you quickly learn in this is that the people who design stores take VERY LITTLE into consideration when it comes to allowing reasonable room for a semi to dock at their receiving station. It's one of those, "What on earth were they thinking?" Oh yeah....they weren't!!!

Tomorrow we repeat the trip we did on Monday....Oklahoma. My variety will not be that of most in this phase of training, but I am more focused on the actual act of learning to drive and hoping to cast light on it for those yet to do it. My fears when I first started to explore trucking are the same as most, so it makes sense that if I can demonstrate how it turned out compared to my fears and anticipation, that it will help alleviate some of those fears for others. That's my goal at least. This weekend will bring me to another wall to break through....learning the backing maneuvers. I have a lot of confidence in my instructor and his ability to teach it, so I feel pretty good about it. The more you conquer, the more you believe you can conquer.

That's it for today.....watching the Spurs and the Thunder in game 2. Go Spurs!

P.S. Forgot the most exciting event of the day today.......

Cruising along at 65 mph on a 4 lane highway...not divided....and went around a slight curve to see traffic stopped for school bus unloading in the oncoming lanes. Had to quickly slow down and down shift. Was so proud that I did it with control and no sudden jerking of the truck. Made it down to 6th gear and was able to sustain a slow speed without having to stop. The bus took off and I was able to then gently move on as the traffic in front of me took off. Really taught me how important it is to pay close attention to the road ahead in such situations to see what might be there ASAP to give as much reaction time as possible.

Exhale.....

P.S. Forgot the most exciting event of the day today.......

Cruising along at 65 mph on a 4 lane highway...not divided....and went around a slight curve to see traffic stopped for school bus unloading in the oncoming lanes. Had to quickly slow down and down shift. Was so proud that I did it with control and no sudden jerking of the truck. Made it down to 6th gear and was able to sustain a slow speed without having to stop. The bus took off and I was able to then gently move on as the traffic in front of me took off. Really taught me how important it is to pay close attention to the road ahead in such situations to see what might be there ASAP to give as much reaction time as possible.

Exhale.....

I have not seen it mentioned here at all and I know most trainers don't teach because they were not taught it either.....

Never out drive your stopping distance..... What's that mean? At night it means you should never go faster than it what it takes to stop at the end of your headlight. That's about 300 to 500 feet at night.

During the day if you can not see around a blind curve you should slow down cause you never know what's around that curve. Let's say your going around a cover and you come out of it past the last trees or hillside that was blocking you view and 100 feet later there is a school bus unloading like in this post. That is why most company safety programs teach if you are in a blind curve then you should slow down to half of what the speed limit is.

Gonna be following this thread, after speaking with different companies today prime seems to be a real strong candidate.