Profile For Jon P.

Chris, I've suffered from high BP my whole life - from a skinny 165# 17 y/o all the way to now, as a middle aged spread 53 year old. It peaked January 2023 and I had to go to the emergency room, where I was put on a drip to reduce it. I was terrified and thought I'd die. My BP that day way 208 over 103 and I was having heart palpitations.

Being a dumb-ass proud man that I am, I thought Doctors were for pansies. This forced me to go see a Cardiologist. They did the full smog check, and found that my BP and Heart were fine. It was lack of proper sleep, a poor diet and stress. They put me on Candesartan, Bisoprolol and Statins.

My BP dropped dramatically almost immediately, now 12 months later it's a regular 130-140 over 65-75. I ran out of one of my meds and I had a DOT physical just this last Thursday. I was a bit stressed and my BP was initially 150 over 85. I explained and said I was nervous and I had already fully declared the meds I'm on (they are all approved). He left me to it to kick back for 10 minutes and came back and retested me and it was back down to 135/70.

I've changed my diet, quit coffee and alcohol, ate more fish and chicken, swapped soda out for water and no fried food. Not only has it helped with medicals, it's just good for you. I also make a point of walking my dog at least 1.5 -2 miles every day, rain or shine. I'm less irritable, sleep better, no headaches etc etc.

Just go see a doctor, they will square you away in no time, BP is a warning buzzer for your health, don't ignore it by temporarily lowering it, do sort out the source of the problem, it will come down quicker than you'll believe with meds and very modest lifestyle changes.

All, thank you so much for the considered replies, I've been at RM today and have been dealing with some 'shenanigans' via email this evening. I won't go into detail, as I don't want to color my personal experience for anybody else.

Bruce, thank you so much, I have your address and an email is inbound to you, please feel free to delete your deets as I now have them.

I'll update the thread once I've worked this out.

Cheers all,

JP

Hello Jon, always nice to see new members posting.

BK & ID Mtn GAL;

Thank you so much for the responses and welcome, I really appreciate it. Lots of food for thought. BK: on the Roadmaster intel, I'm kinda unsure, I have until Monday the 15th which is my start date, I can pretty much bail before then if I want to. Finding an alternate, would be interesting as RM is 15 minutes from my house, but obviously I don't want to make a mistake out of the gate.

I'm not sure if there's a way to get in touch with your buddy, seems like there's not a direct message capability on this board. If there's any way at all to contact him, I'd really value a steer on the current situation. I do have to say the two guys I talked to today seemed genuine and no b.s. We visited outside for a bit as they were taking a vape break and I think I got some decent input - they certainly weren't painting a 'roses around the door' picture of the current state of things. In fact, much of what they said is echoed here, get on, build experience, respect your DM, keep your head down, be reliable, accommodating and hard working and things will generally be good after 12 months OTR. There were pretty balanced on the companies out there, again, they pretty much said, that it's degrees of separation on strengths and weaknesses but a pretty universal success formula. Interestingly, the only company they were really cautious about was Prime.

I think my mind is set on avoiding the Team driving, I know whatever happens I'll have to team in training with an instructor from 4 weeks to a couple of months, but that's the admission ticket, but I think that's probably the limit for me.

Thanks again

Hello all,

I'm looking for some advice from the old hands here. A little about me, I'm new to trucking, but not new to driving, I'm 53 years old and I've been (luckily) semi-retired for two years. I have a modest amount of 'heavy' driving experience, from the start of my career in the military and over the last 10 years, leisure driving a 45' Class A Diesel pusher, towing a full size truck - in fact, I've spent 8 of the last 12 months full timing it. Fully clean record on all counts.

We've settled in Savannah, GA and my Wife still has 6-8 years before hitting retirement, so I've decided to take my CDL test and get back on the road, which is where I'm happiest. I'm hoping to start in Regional or stretch to OTR for 12 - 18 months and then *possibly* purchase a truck/trailer and lease on, depending on the economy or just stay as a company driver if I'm enjoying it. My Wife can work remote, we have wifi/Starlink etc up the wazzu and she's keen to take a trip or two per month with me. We're empty nesters with grown kids and no Grandkids (yet!) I like to be busy, we like getting out from under each others feet. We've been together for 37 years, married for 30 and happy. My career in the past has often had extended travel and periods away from home.

I'm self funding my school, so I can be free to choose an employer and not be tied in if the economy changes or things don't work out with a specific company. The school I've enrolled in, is Roadmaster in SAV, who seem to have a decent reputation here. I went down and visited, completed an application and met some of the instructors and students. It looks pretty professional and well run. I liked the people there a lot. There is a Community College locally, which is cheaper, but the classes are spaced out, fill up quick and I can't seem to find much info, especially in regard to employer relations and/or reviews.

I know Roadmaster are owned by Werner and it's kind of assumed, you'll go work for them, as they direct-hire many of the students. They seem to have a modern training fleet, but they are all automatics. I figure, I'd likely work for a company driver on auto boxes and if I do buy a truck, I'd certainly be buying an automatic. As I enrolled and DOT tested out they submitted my packet to Werner, who came straight back and offered a placement. It's for an OTR position, but it's 'Gold team' driving. I explained that I would prefer solo OTR if possible or regional, in fact, anything other than team. I want to do this job because the big upside is independence, to a degree, and eventually, when I'm comfortable to have my Wife join me. They basically said it's an open offer and if I change my mind, I can come back to them.

So on to the 'sniff test' :-) I asked the placement rep, if they are likely to have any solo OTR or regional positions opening up anytime soon, as I could delay a course start at my leisure if they expect solo positions to open later in the Summer. She said that is unknown, which is kinda obvious I guess *but* they are moving to team driving as a standard for all new starts. Now to be clear here, not a trainer team for on the road training, the actual graduated positions. She did say that once on board, I could laterally shift to OTR or Regional etc etc, but being ex military, I'm very wary of such promises, especially if you're in an MOS that is hard to fill.

Having read a lot of advice on here, I don't want to start this career as needy or snooty. I'm happy to sign on for any established carrier as I see this as my apprenticeship and a necessary part of the process and I'm happy to consider anything, including flatbed, as I'm still in good shape for my age. I just balk at team driving, as it kind of negates 50% of the reasons I'd want to be on the road in the first place. Passing the CDL is first, second and third priority otherwise 'Man plans and God laughs' but, what say you?

Suck it up, buttercup? It's the economy, stupid! Don't look a gift horse in the mouth? Pass CDL and then apply out to other firms and see what's what? Apologies for the ramble, but I'd very much value your opinions, I'm trying to set myself up for success and not sign on for something I may regret a few short months later.

~JP