Profile For Joshua B.

Big M Transportation out of Blue Mountain, MS trains new drivers, they even have a small school to get your CDL if needed.

Well here we are on my second week of otr refresher training and i must say im very happy! Im not as tired as i was last week and my trainer is still on top of his game with me. He told me last night he really didnt think i needed the full retraining<- that made me happy! But i am willing to go through whatever i have to, and any “extra unneeded” training will only make me better i feel. My trainer likes to be home on the weekends so that gives me a little break, even though last weekend all i did was think about getting back on the road! I dont want to name the company as i am not sure how they would feel about it but ill just say it is a medium sized company, with about 450 new trucks, burgundy and based out of Northern Mississippi. So far everything has been going great. I am in Dallas, TX at the moment at a consignee waiting to get unloaded then headed to Texarkana to pick up a trailer and head up to Columbus, OH. Been to OH twice, PA, Tn three times, TX and AL so far. When will the construction ever end on 65 and 71?? Lol.

Another update:

So, i never did find a plan B for OTR trucking. I did find a local job through a friend though. Dont need them i think. After two weeks of yard training and backing until i just couldnt stand it anymore, i am on day two with a trainer doing some real trucking. This trainer so far has been outstanding in my opinion. He is to the point, very polite but strict when needed. He explains things to me to where i can understand what he is talking about, and uses real world situations as examples. He has been on duty in the passenger seat the entire time i have been driving. He actually gets out and guides me on my backing. So all in all, so far at least, i think it was a good sign i couldnt ever find my plan B. Thank you to all again for the suggestions and help.

Please pardon me if i should have started a new thread. Let me know if i should. Thanks again!

Update:

I figured i would just repost to this thread instead of starting a new one. No other call backs from anyone, but a couple of emails did come in. I was put in a decent hotel with a room all to myself. They offered a rental car but since i live so close i opted to drive myself, and they paid for fuel. Spent the last week in orientation for two and an half days then the rest of the week on the practice range backing up like crazy lol. It started coming back to me surprisingly fast and boy was it nice to be back in a truck again! So far so good. The recruiter wasn’t lying to me at all from what i have seen so far. Plenty of drivers there with multiple cats or dogs that ride with them. All of the drivers i spoke to all said they enjoyed it there. Came home for the weekend and am heading back out in the morning. Hopefully i will get a trainer this week to start my otr refresher training. I was warned that they are currently short on trainers due to some of them being out with covid so it could be a couple of weeks until that happens, but i can work in the yard or practice to still get paid.

Well only one phone call today from Witte Bros. Had a nice long chat with the recruiter about training and my past driving experience. He reassured me I would be able to find someone to take me on with my cats. They dont allow pets at all though.

Well, darn. Was it Darien? Great guy. Did you tell him I (we) sent you?

Have you tried MAST? Apply For Paid CDL Training!!

Another possibility (I may have mentioned) is Dutch Maid logistics. What about TransAm?

Your ship (rig) WILL come in, good sir!

~ Anne ~

Nope it wasn’t Darien, can’t remember who, but I did tell him they came recommended from here! I have applied to all the companies y’all listed on here, but haven't had anymore calls. I’m leaving out on Sunday for orientation to the original company. I asked the recruiter again if he was sure I would be ok to get my cats as soon as my training was over and I was issued my truck and he assured me I would, so fingers crossed! It’s looking like I will have a total of 200 hours of refresher training to go through, then a final road and backing test. Honestly I can’t wait! I can’t wait to hit the road again! I told him that as long as they treat me right, I will treat them right and will become their best driver, lol. They know I’m looking at this as a career and not a job so I will be putting in my 1000% for them. I’m only worried about my backing skills as I never really got good at it.

Well only one phone call today from Witte Bros. Had a nice long chat with the recruiter about training and my past driving experience. He reassured me I would be able to find someone to take me on with my cats. They dont allow pets at all though.

Mechanic

Ok, all applications have been filled out ( a LOT of repetitive typing!). The only call back I have gotten by the time of this message was from Navajo Express. Everything sounded great as far as refresher training and pay for said training. They could even get me flown out to Denver by the 15th. The downside was my cats. She said they only allow one dog and only after six months, so that killed it for me. But on the bright side, that showed the lack of recent experience is not a career killer. The training time and pay was right around what I am looking at with the company here in MS.

More to come as more come in. Thanks again y’all!

Joshua B, .... ~ Well, DANG! ~

Sorry to hear, man. Did you CHECK with Dutch Maid Logistics? Cypress? CFI? The bad taste should've dissolved. Their new entity & acquisitions re: TFI should shine.. soon!

Could you list who/what/why for future readers, to pay it forward? Really would like to know what THOSE guys' output/input might have been. We (collectively) sure sent you a BUNCH. Paying it forward is what TT is all about.

New(er) to our list, Western Express and MAST ! OH, yeah.. and.....What did Millis say?!?!? Boyd Bros.? Witte Bros. ? No way you could've gotten 'noped' by all our aboves.

Pacific Pearl; wow, man. I'm saving THAT info, in MY cache; thank you.

A couple more, come to mind; sorry no links: PTL (Pashcall) and PAM Transport/Driver Solutions?

Another 'random...' Rand's Express .... ?!?!? (Wildcard, worth a try!)

~ Anne ~

ps: You never DID say what kind of freight you'd prefer to haul (?!?).. Could check out Groen**** (tanks) if you've got some grit and/or experience. Keen? Keim? I've got big sleeves, haha!

Haha Navajo was the only one that had contacted me at that point, lol. And thank you for the list of newer companies to check out. They are written down now and will be applied to.

I do plan on updating this thread for sure. Here are the other calls I got today since my last post:

Frey Miller- will not hire out of Mississippi at all.

May Trucking- will not touch me due to lack of recent experience so the recruiter said I will either need 4 months OTR or 40 hrs. from a trucking school to qualify.

National Carriers- does not allow cats at all.

Those are the only ones who have called me today.

I applied to Western Express before (recently) and I did not like what I heard from the recruiters. Mostly trying to get me to lease. I have been told by MANY folks to stay away from WE if possible as well.

I did apply to CFI, and they are doing stuff in Pulse, but havent heard from them yet. There is a lot of activity going on in the driver pulse app, with a lot of DAC, MVR and background reports getting done so I will hopefully know something soon. I’m also waiting on the company that I have orientation coming up. They are supposed to call me sometime this week.

And just for reference here are some of the other companies I have already talked to before:

Holmes- no pets

Empire Express- no cats and not enough recent experience

US Express- one pet limit and will need 40 hrs or 3 months experience

Kennesaw Transport- pets, including cats ok, but need 6 months experience

McElroy- no pets

I have applied to a whole lot more companies, but havent heard anything from them yet.

I’m pretty sure that with the big list y’all gave me here that I will have my plan B very soon. Heck they may even turn into a plan A! I’m just trying to make sure I have a fallback incase life tries to throw me a curve ball like it usually does.

I should have never left trucking because of one company. I’d already have my own truck, lol

Thanks again! I will absolutely keep this thread updated.

As far as cargo, I don’t really care. I did reefer and dry van before but have always wanted to do flatbed. I have no tanker, doubles/triples or hazmat endorsements, but not opposed to getting them at some point. I also want to go to Canada for some strange reason, lol.

Ok, all applications have been filled out ( a LOT of repetitive typing!). The only call back I have gotten by the time of this message was from Navajo Express. Everything sounded great as far as refresher training and pay for said training. They could even get me flown out to Denver by the 15th. The downside was my cats. She said they only allow one dog and only after six months, so that killed it for me. But on the bright side, that showed the lack of recent experience is not a career killer. The training time and pay was right around what I am looking at with the company here in MS.

More to come as more come in. Thanks again y’all!

Wow thank you all for the replies and suggestions!! As stated, it’s just a plan B in case this company goes south but I am hoping this one will work out.

I did already apply to Total and KLLM and they wont touch me because of my lack of experience but did say when I get that experience to give them a call.

I have written the suggestions down and will apply to them in the morning.

Mrs. Anne, thanks for the warm welcome and the links! I think I might have done the mass apply through here already but not 100% sure, so I will go ahead and do it as well in the morning.

Big Scott, I don’t know why I didn’t think of CFI before as they were a company I was talking to just after I left the last company I was with. I just had a bad taste in my mouth back then and bowed out. I will give them a shout. Thanks!