Profile For RandyinNC

Nice job! I remember not too long ago that the idea of me getting into trucking was just a thought to consider. Now... I am writing to you from my sleeper berth in Alabama!! Who’d of thunk it! Go in with the determination to get through anything they throw at ya!

Sitting in the truck on the side of the road with a flat in Louisiana headin’ - frankly, it’s a great experience and we will be rolling on soon

Hey Rob, first of all I love your profile picture. Looks like a tight squeeze I decided to go with Quality Carriers. Looking forward to it and the orientation is held at a location that is about an hour from my home, which is really cool.

I beat myself up and spent lots of energy trying to figure out what company to start with. All in all, I know every company has its pros and cons; and those are different for each person. I am committed to staying with this company for a while and then I will be able to make a more informed decision as to whether I stay or go.

All right... major update here. All done! I have my CDL and I actually start a job (orientation) this Monday. Seems like only yesterday that the thought of truck driving first popped into my mind. This website has been an enormous help and has provided many different perspectives on training, companies, life on the road, etc.

I see good money to be made in this industry over the foreseeable future.

Thank you both for the congrats! I am looking forward to this Wednesday and the actual road test.

All right!

Passed the PreTrip and the Backing for the CDL. Road test s next week. This has been a great class thus far and the help from the instructors has been phenomenal.

I guess you are on the road with you trainer at this point, any updates?

At this point I have narrowed it down to: Dry Van: Ozark or CFI Flatbed: McElroy, Melton, or Maverick

I applied to tons of companies early on in the school process. I think this is a good thing to do because as you begin to get acquainted with the industry as a whole, you can start to ask the recruiters intelligent questions. I also stopped at Truck Stops and questioned drivers as well. What I have determined is this: All jobs have pros and cons, and the complainers on YouTube probably complain about everything. Maverick is visiting our school on Monday, so I am looking forward to hear what they have to say. Interestingly, Schneider was by on this past Thursday and described the on-road training with a driver to be only about 8 to 10 days with an initial week in their training yard, and a subsequent week in the training yard again after the on-road training.

Doing tons better with the driving. Went through two round-abouts without hitting the curbs. Down shifting is smoothing out as well. We went through a weight station on I40 in Mebane NC and visited a truck stop. Frankly, the truck stop was the best part of the day! I’ll have to retain some self control in those places as there is lots of cool stuff! We do our CDL pre-trip on Monday so in hindsight, if you think of anything regarding that, please let me know. Be safe!

Spent lots of time during yesterday’s class practicing 90 degree and offset backing. Definitely not as easy as it look, but I am picking it up pretty quickly. Once I fully grasp that the idea is to drive/steer the back wheels of the trailer, better backing is just around the corner.

Spent an 1 1/2 hours today driving I40 and some of the country roads that branch off of it in the Mocksville area. Drove by quite a few “black ice” wrecks today. Sun finally warmed up and took care of that. We are also practicing the pre-trip and paper logs.

So far this has been a pretty thorough school. On “drive days” we usually have about 2 1/2 hour seat time each. Five more weeks to go.