Profile For Kate K2

Albert L asked:

5 - Drug Test

I partook legally in Colorado in February and have not partook since. I am bald and can shave off the goatee if necessary.

Is this going to be an issue for hair follicle tests? Is there a chance to take the same drug test that the DoT administers before taking CDL classes, and if it comes up positive, be able to re-take it?

Most hair follicle tests will test 1.5 inches of hair, which usually goes back approximately 90 days. You must have at least 1.5" of hair somewhere (anywhere) on your body in order for them to do a follicle test. Companies who require this test will consider it equivalent to a fail if you have shaved everywhere.

If you bought it legally in Colorado, you may have some idea of the THC content. Knowing the THC content of what you "partook in" is as important as remembering how much you smoked and how long ago.

As others have said, your own metabolism can make the THC clear from your system faster or slower. A heavy user will keep a detectable amount in their system for longer. The issue of the strength of the marijuana is this - Marijuana can range in THC content by a wide margin. Smoking one "serving" of 30% THC marijuana is the same as smoking six servings of 5% THC. Do that only three times in one week and you've just had the equivalent of 18 "servings" of 5% - which would be considered quite heavy usage. So, your use may go from being considered "light" to moderate or heavy when the THC content is taken into consideration and the higher the usage rating, the longer it stays in your system. I have heard of heavy users testing positive on a hair test well after 90 days.

Not that I would have any first-hand knowledge of this of course...

Turtle wrote:

I believe what Patrick was referring to is the "rolling" 34, something a lot of teams do to be the most productive. Here's one scenario:

Ah! Thanks. Yes, I have seen that term here but thought it meant something different. Thanks for explaining that so clearly.

And Turtle also wrote:

To be clear, nobody here is trying to dissuade you from this. We just want you to have a more accurate picture of what goes on. I wouldn't say your expectations are unrealistic in the least. Perhaps a little overly optimistic, in the sense that things almost never go perfectly out here.

I don't feel that anyone is being at all discouraging. I came here for exactly that - realistic info on what this might be like. I think knowing what you are getting into is the first step towards building the foundation for success and I appreciate what this site does to help in that area.

Big Scott said:

I think you both have a lot of talking to do. Have you started High Road CDL Training Program?

Yes, we sure do. This has been my research project right now as he is focused on some other things right now. I am collecting info for our ongoing discussions. He may have some other ideas and thoughts. I have started the High Road Training Program. Mainly because I was afraid this was beyond me and if THAT didn't make any sense to me, I knew I was barking up the wrong tree. I am almost 30% of the way through it, learning a lot and doing quite well on the tests.

It was also important to me to start there because I know NOTHING about auto/truck mechanics. My husband and I have a running joke that to put me to sleep all he has to do is start talking about compression ratios. **head falls and I start snoring**

Big Scott also said:

Where a company has terminals is not important. Where you live is a busy freight lane.

I hope I gave you more to think about. Good luck.

Wow. I didn't think of that. Thanks! You just opened up a lot of options to us. I said something to my husband about this just now and he responded, "Well, of course! We're only about 15 miles from I-70!" He seemed to get that from the start LOL. I'm learning every day.

Thanks for your help and the info on CFI.

Larry, thanks so much or documenting and sharing your experience. As one half of a couple considering taking this path, your thread was just full of great info and really seems to give a clear picture of your experiences. It also set my mind at ease about couples training together in the same truck.

I was looking at a video of those FL Cascadias and thought, "well, that looks very cool!" Hearing your experience with them changes my perception now. At least from a team perspective. What make/model truck did you drive to start out?

I feel like my favorite TV show ended with a cliff-hanger and I am hoping we don't have to wait until the fall to learn how things work out for you both!

Danielsahn wrote:

My brother in law and his wife team. They worked out a schedule, Along with their FM , that allows them to spend good quality time together, and they average around 6000 miles per week. They drive for Covenant. It is possible to find a schedule that works for you, but as Patrick said, the freight will always determine when the truck is rolling, and when it can be parked.

After reading the thread that Old School referred me to above and your comments here, I think maybe we should not be quick to stop considering Covenant! Did your brother in law and his wife start there as newbies? If so, I am curious about what their experience of training together was like.

Thanks for your response!

Patrick C wrote:

... At best you may end up doing a 34 hr reset together. But even than more than likely around only 10 hours of that will be spent with the truck not moving.

You have to decide is the goal money or quality time. If it is more of a quality time than you are better off one gets their license and the other be a full time passenger. If it is money, than team is the way to go.

Thanks for your response, Patrick. Since I'm still trying to figure this all out, can you explain why the truck would be moving if we were both doing 34 hr resets?

Also, I agree 100% that we have to decide what's most important - money or time together. With our current goals, money definitely wins out, but we do require some quality time, so we'll keep reading, thinking, discussing and asking questions before we decide whether this is the right move for us.

Thanks!

Thanks for your response, Turtle. Your thoughts on training sound absolutely right to me. We just have to decide how much we are willing to sacrifice to make this happen. We do know that it won't be a pleasure cruise, but work. If we got to drive all over the country, sleep and eat at the same time and do tons of sight-seeing everywhere, I would expect to have to pay the company for the use of their truck, not the other way around! LOL.

Your cautions are precisely why we are in the kicking-the-idea-around stage. I think I am more in favor of it than my husband at this point. I may have an unrealistic idea of what it would be like. The way I am imagining it, on days that we have to roll constantly, we each might drive the complete 11 hours and would each sleep about 8. That's 16 hours sleeping if we have no overlap at all and that leaves 8 hours where we are awake at the same time. That is A LOT more than we had when I was a Director of Nursing. Maybe I am not getting an accurate picture of the reality though. In my imagination, we would generally split the driving shifts where one of us would drive between noonish-midnightish and the other from midnightish to noonish. It would allow us both to see the sunlight :-) Maybe this is an unrealistic scenario though.

I appreciate your thoughts and advice, Turtle!

Kate, be careful - I honestly think you're overthinking this.

Me? Overthink? LOL! Yes, I do that. Kevin (Mr. K2) is the same. That's probably why we like driving. All those miles to think! We both like to research things to death before pulling the trigger on major life decisions or purchases. That approach has served us well in the past but it does sure lead to overthinking!

Thanks for your thoughts on my concerns. I'm happy to hear that his work history and our ages won't likely be an issue! I will take a closer look at the article on company-sponsored training. I think we have stumbled into the "Free Agent" thinking that you talk about in Busting the Free Agent Myth in Trucking.

Husband and wife teams are considered very valuable. Definitely look into some of the companies who specialize in team driving.

We are banking on that! How do I know the difference between a company that runs some teams vs. a company that specializes in teams? Some companies that have terminals in Indianapolis (we actually live equidistant from Dayton, OH, Cincinnati, OH and Indianapolis but Indy is a little more convenient) that we think run a lot of teams are Schneider, Celadon, Old Dominion, Covenant, and Werner.

Kate, if you haven't come across this little gem, you should take the time to read through it.

A Husband and Wife Journey Into Trucking.

Wow! Thanks for the link. I don’t know how I missed that thread and will read it with great interest.

Thanks again for the feedback and for all the work you guys put into this site!

Kate

Hello, TT! I have been lurking and soaking up as much as I can in current and old threads and blogs as well as working through the High Road Training Program. This site is a gold mine to someone considering starting out in trucking.

My husband and I are in the “kicking around the idea” stage of considering becoming drivers. We are older- I am 57 and he is 67. He retired over 10 years ago from a career in IT management consulting. I retired (well, I took what I am calling my “first farewell tour”) from a long career in nursing last September, knowing that I had not saved enough for the retirement that I would like to have but I needed a break. So we took off on a six-month RV trip! We are now looking to our future. We both love driving and seeing the country. We are at the point that we want to spend as much time together as possible after our respective jobs kept us apart more than we liked. We would like to save more money and I will need health insurance when my COBRA expires next year. Enter the truck driving idea. We could, with OTR team driving, be together, make money and see lots of the country!

I have a few questions for the more experienced folks here.

First of all, would his lack of work history in the past 10 years be an issue? He has been doing a lot of volunteer and church work and was caring for his father who had Alzheimer’s Disease during that time but prior to that he had a terrific work history.

Secondly, do you think our ages would be an obstacle in finding jobs? We are both in relatively good health. I have sleep apnea and a use a CPAP religiously (what a blessing that was! – I know I would have to supply compliance reports) and although we have a few minor health issues, it is nothing that would prevent us from doing the work or disqualify us and nothing that would be exacerbated by the demands of truck driving. It has been awhile since we’ve been to the gym and we are (more-so I am!) overweight, but the last time I was at the gym, I believe we both could have pushed/pulled 100# with no problem. I noticed that Schneider is a participant in the AARP Employer Pledge Program for Mature Workers, which suggests that they may be more likely to hire older workers. Does this mean anything, really?

Thirdly, because we are older, we no longer have the idea that we already know everything and are indestructible, so we want to do everything we can to decrease the risk to ourselves and others. This would suggest that we want long and thorough training. Something like Prime’s training program seems pretty awesome. But we don’t want to be apart for that long. I have been looking at Schneider but their orientation/training program seems awful fast! As a result, I have been looking for a CDL program that is a little longer and more thorough than most. What is the average behind-the-wheel time at most CDL schools?

Safe Driver Institute of America in Indianapolis uses the course curriculum from Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI) and claims to provide 162 hours of instruction with 44 hours of behind the wheel time and their class is about 5 weeks. You are expected to have your CLP when you arrive, and they have small class sizes and 1:1 behind the wheel training so it would seem that 162 hours might be spent on things other than preparing you to get your permit. They also provide forklift certification. Alternatively, Vincennes University has a six-week 240-hour program but I have no idea yet what that entails and how much of that is behind the wheel and have to research both more.

I am seeking some opinions on whether attending a CDL school that is a little longer and does not include CLP prep might be any kind of substitute for a longer training period. We want good training and I think we both could tolerate training separately for up to six weeks or so but would both be pretty unhappy if we had to be apart any longer than that ( I am guessing we’ll have to fight off being grumpy after two or three weeks!!) I have read that Covenant trains married couples together but honestly, I can’t possibly see how that is a good idea. It seems we’d both get less than half the attention and driving time we might get training separately.

Wow, this turned out to be a long first post! If anyone is still reading, thank you, and I would love to hear your thoughts on all this!

Thanks!

Kate