Profile For Richard O.

Schneider does not require you to wear a company shirt and they do not provide them for free. I bought shirts and I always wear one when I am at a customer's facility. I like looking professional in the eyes of the customer.

I'm stuck at home. Just like 2 weeks ago when we had the snow. I'm supposed to go back to work today but I have pushed it back a day due to the ice conditions. I'm anxious to get back out there.

I went to Katlaw this past October. I had pretty much already made my mind up to go to America's Driving Force until one Saturday when I visited both facilities. I won't comment on ADF because I did not go there so it wouldn't be fair or accurate if I did. I can tell you that I was satisfied with Katlaw. Katlaw will tell you from day one their job is to get you your CDL and to get you a job. In my opinion you are far from ready to be a solo driver just because you managed to get a CDL. You will still need a company's orientation. The first week is classroom. On Friday morning you test for your permit. If you pay attention in class you will pass with no problem. Everything on the permit test is covered in the class. The second and third weeks are in the practice yard and on the road. Barring mechanical problems you will be in the same truck from day one until you test. You will have access to several instructors that have years of experience. And you will get plenty of time behind the wheel to learn. During the three weeks of class several recruiters from large and small trucking companies will come in and give you their pitch. I don't know of any company that hires recent school grads that will not consider students from Katlaw. Also Katlaw's website lists when recruiters will be there and you are welcome to come back and sit in with a recruiter even after you are finished as a student there. Honestly unless you have a bad driving record or recent criminal record you will not have a problem getting a job.

If you have any specific questions just ask and I will try to answer them for you.

I want to thank Thinks Too Much for all of the time he has taken behind the scenes helping me as I transitioned from "in school" to "rookie solo driver" with Schneider. He always was quick to respond to my emails.

Radar is showing practically nothing. I wonder if this is an over reaction to the last winter precip. Temps aren't even forecast to go very low.

I have a 16:00 live load today and it has to be in Chattanooga 24 hours later. No way I can make that. I will have to drive at night which I don't like to do. Fortunately it's all interstate. That's trucking.

Yeah Texas is big, very very big lol. If you stay out 3-4 weeks they can probably send you west. If you and your DBL have a good relationship, you can ask for loads to certain areas. I got loads to places just by asking, if they had a load going there, they gave it to me.

I'm at home, in the frozen Mid-Atlantic lol (Pennsylvania). I was in Long Island today at a receiver, and they apparently didn't believe in putting ice melt in their yard... so I got stuck for 2 hours trying to pull an empty trailer out of their yard while they spread ice melt under my tractor.

You have to wear your pickle suit yet?

Not yet. I got my hazmat endorsement when I was on home time but I haven't told them yet. I'm getting good runs without it so I figured I would wait until that changes to mention it. I hear we get called in at the 2 month mark to check up on our work and driving habits so I'm sure it will come up then.

61 mph!? You must be mashing the accelerator pretty hard in that big orange truck Richard! Glad to hear everything is working out for you. I loved driving through west Texas, beautiful open roads.

I'm in Houston now. Heading to Chattanooga tomorrow. I saw a sign that said El Paso 878 miles. It makes you realize how big this state is. I would love to go to west Texas or any of the western US. I really haven't seen much of the west and seeing the country is part of why I got into trucking. I am happy to be staying out of the frozen north for now.

Where are you?

I'm in Texas now where the speed limit is 75. If there were and hills here I would have to put my flashers on. I'm stuck at 61 mph. Unless I'm loaded and going downhill. Then I could do 100 if I didn't use the engine brake.

I am a brand new driver with Schneider tanker. I don't have anything to compare to but so far I like everything. The tanker training is intense. From what I hear more so than the van division. It seems more rewarding and in some ways easier than van. I can tell you that after being with my TE for a few days it takes a special relationship to team. You are living in close quarters with someone 24 hours a day. And I have driven 79,500# over some interstates that were so rough that things were falling off the shelves in the back. I can't imagine trying to sleep during that. Good luck with whatever decision you make.