Prime Day 1

So I got to Prime last night to start their cdl program. Hotel isn't the best, but its free. Nothing really to complain about. Same with meals. Upon arriving you get a packet full of papers to fill out. I'd do it that night rather than in the morning but didn't seem to matter.

So today. Day 1. 60 people starting with me. Paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork. Hours of it. Then background checks, pee test, physical and interview. Nothing hard, just A LOT of waiting in line. This lasted from 7a-about 3:30 for me. Others longer. Because I kind of have my permit already from 4-8 was computer testing. Watch videos, take review test. All on your own. Some got to jump into the simulator. Not me. I guess I get that tomorrow. Or hope at least.

My honest opinion. This day has been a nightmare. But with so many people going through its hard to think of another way. By tomorrow I think it will get better. My biggest problem is that there isn't really any direction. Everything seems vague as far as what to do when and stuff. An example is that being from Missouri I didn't have to take the physical before coming, but took the permit tests. In their eyes I have my permit, thus was/am grouped with the others with permits from other states. Now I'm supposed to do pretrip and stuff with that group tomorrow but during that I'm also supposed to catch a shuttle to the dmv with the people without permits. I'm also supposed to get a medical card at some point that I have to take to the dmv. I was told I'd get it "tomorrow" when I asked. No idea when. There are two groups but I fall in the middle. I think there may be another one or two like me but everyrhing was so chaotic I didn't get to find or meet them. The directions given were for the two groups. For me, its all question marks. So I'mjust kind of playing it by ear. I'm really not liking that.

I have to do the sleep study. Not a huge deal because I was expecting it. They gave me some papers to fill out and then there is a meeting I have to attend thursday. Now there's some lack of clarity again. I don't know what the meeting is really for. The nurse said that they don't do anything until after you come back to test for your cdl. So Im not sure if its just them giving us info and the study is later or if the study is thursday and you don't have to get a machine until later. Just vague. But I'll figure it out thursday.

Overall day one is crappy. I hate life right now. Just exhausted from not sleeping well with nerves and stuff the last few days and just a brutal long day today. I'm sure any program like this will be that way. Its not a knock on Prime. Sure I'd do things differently, but that's not my job. The following days will be better. Especially as people get weeded out. Just hope its not me! My eyes are focused on the prize. These days will be long and take their toll but when I finally get out there they will be nothing but a memory.

Britton, Thanks for the heads up, I will be in the next class on Tuesday, I am leaving sunday on the bus up. Keep posting so i know what to expect..LOL :D Good luck! Roger

Britton, I can see you are frustrated, but your information is priceless to the rest of us..and keep your good attitude..It will certainly keep you in good stead in the next few days..remember what everyone here keeps telling us.."that's trucking"...

DAY 2

Day 2 was far better than day 1. I'm still waiting on my doctor and thus still don't have the actual permit. Crossing my fingers for tomorrow. Last night the nurse sent out a mass text to everyone that needed paperwork from their doctor. I was accidentally left off the list. Not a huge deal. They told me yesterday that I should give the doc a call today. I called my home doc and they never recieved the fax. So I found the nurse who was busy with other physicals and that stuff. I explained the situation and she sent me the text. It just said to call the doc which I had done. I texted back that they never recieved the fax and sent the fax number in case it was wrong on the paperwork I gave them. She texted 'thanks' back and that's all I heard. A few hours later I called the doc again still nothing. So I texted the nurses here again and she hasn't been back to the office and will update me later.

This sucks. I don't have my permit because I need this to be able to get the medical card. This is because on the DOT physical forms I put that I had been diagnosed severly depressed about 2 years ago and the doc prescribed me an antidepressant. I then stopped taking it because it didn't do anything. I did this without consulting my doctor. A few months after that I overcame my depression. I went to the doc for a physical to make sure I was good for getting into trucking but he wasn't there and another doc did the physical. Because of this the depression was never brought up. So there I sit yesterday filling out the paperwork and the specific question of depression comes up. They want the truth so I wrote the meds and that it was about a year ago since I used them. I've been happier than ever preparing for trucking. So in my eyes this is irrelevant, but its someone else's call. It really makes me wonder though, had I not brought it up, I think I would have my permit in hand and get on the simulator tonight. They never asked about my doc except for that one question. So I wonder if answering no would have been better. My concern is that the doc says that the last time I saw him I was wicked depressed and that throws up a red flag or something. I just feel I'm in no man's land... its angering me, but I do think it will be fine in the end.

Now... day 2.... We started at 8:30a going through slides of pretrip components. We got a packet to learn. This lasted an hour or so and they sent us out to look at trucks and talk to instructors on what we had went over. During this I see a guy standing by a lightweight truck and jump in the conversation. I asked him random questions about his driving, the lightweights, loads, wait times, etc (ironically nothing about a pretrip). As they heard us back to the classroom he asks if I have a trainer. I said no, and now I hqve a trainer. Day 2, and I've got a trainer. Not sure anyone else in the group has one. Not my problem. So we go back to the room only cover a little bit more. By this time its around noon so they say to get lunch and spend the rest of the day out with the instructors and studying your pretrips. I sit and eat lunch with my soon to be trainer and get an idea about him and all that kind of stuff. I'll be training in a 2014 cascadia (I think) with 34,000 miles on it. I'll be his first student. He seems knowledgeable and not in it for money. He started at another company and was not prepared so he wants to train me to make up for his bad trainer. I'm stoked about that.

So the rest of the day is mine. He said we'll do A LOT of pretrips so I'm not going to go out to the trucks and practice. I've spent the afternoon studying on my own from the packet. We're scheduled for computer training this evening and I'm already done. They did have us skip some sections so I may run in and do those. Because I don't have my permit I don't get on the simulator. Not sure if its that is a rule or they just get priority. That bums me out. I don't see on the schedule where there is any more time to get on it.

So overall today has been easy. Dealing with the doctor stuff has really been a downer, but its made up for by having a trainer and spending a few hours talking to him. My concern is that I won't have a permit by friday and what that means. I've passed the writtenstuff so I ddon't think they would kick me out but I don't know what happens if I'm not ready to go on friday. Does the trainer get assigned someone else? Do I go home and they send him solo until my stuff is ready? Do they drop me? Do I have to go through the program again later? All this stuff I don't know.

At the end of the day, I'm still here, I got a trainer, and I passed all the computer stuff. I think I'm winning, they're just holding onto my prize for a while. It feels promising, so we'll see. I got the sleep study stuff tomorrow and the company orientation. Also the smith system class is tomorrow at the same time I would go to the dmv. Not sure what that means. May not even matter if I'm still waiting. Oh well. Today has been a good day. But I can't lie, when those background check/security guys show up I hold my breath hoping its not me. Hasnt been yet. All is good. Be safe. Be blessed

Man, I am sooooo glad I went with Trailiner instead of Prime now. All that may change once I start my classes in September but so far it sounds like I made the right choice to avoid the big company. Keep us posted it will be interesting to see how different our experiences are.

Day 3-

Day three was pretty simple and straight forward. I started the morning with breakfast with another youtube trucker and was able to get some good info. Then the first portion of the day was company orientation. This covered insurance, sexual harassment, and handling high value loads. It was kind of dull but I did enjoy talking about high value loads and hearing some stories.

Next was SLEEP APNEA info. I put that in bold because I never got much info on it when I was looking and maybe this will help someone. If Prime flags you for a sleep study you are supposed to attend an informative meeting on day 3. Basically you get a 60 day medical card which allows you to go through the first phase of training. Once you get back to test for your CDL you schedule the test. The test is around $600 which is payroll deducted. I'd you need the c-pap machine that takes the cost over $2000 and again is payroll deducted. You do have the option to do the study on your own and all of that if you wish. These cost around $6000 and can take a few weeks to get the results rather than a day with going through Prime. One thing to note is veterans I believe can get it done free with the va or something. It would be worth looking into.

After that those that needed to go to the dmv went. Me....I was still waiting on my medical card. About an hour later I got a text that it was good to go and i'll get it in the morning and go to the dmv to finally finalize my permit.

We then did a class on the Smith system. For those that don't know its a system of safer driving. It focuses on a number of things along the lines of following distance, space around the vehicle, etc. Really a lot of common sense but good to refresh yourself on.

Then anyone that had not worked on the simulator got a chance to use them. FINALLY!!! Well my first try was a disaster. Massive, epic failure. Double clutching in your head is not at all like double clutching on a simulator ( which is still not entirely like a truck). I started by not buckling the seat belt. Then was regular clutching and missing gears. Because my focus was on shifting so much that I was all over the road. Most of the run was spent on the wrong side of the road. I was really down on myself here. Once I finished my run I was really really upset with myself. How did I react? I went next door for dinner. I came back and went again. I was 1 million times better. Faaaarrrrrrrr from perfect, but I'm grtting there. I shifted better and I stayed straight. My confidence grew a lot. I'm still not great at double clutching. Not even close, but each time I improved. One other thing I have trouble with is the low gears coming so fast and keeping track of what gear I'm in. Its to be expected on day 1. I'm not stressed, I'm excited for what lies ahead.

That was it for the day. Tomorrow morning I should get my medical card, and permit. Then when I get back I should be meeting up with my trainer and jump on the training pad. From there I should get my card and all of that and may even hit the road that night. Dont know. What I do know is I'm ready to go and get started. My trainer seems like a good guy to learn from with good motivation. He said he mostly runs east coast. I've never been too far east so that will be fun. I'm slightly terrified of the area as far as population and small roads and low bridges. But really I think learning in that area will go a long way.

I'm not sure if I'll have time to update for a while. You can also find my video updates on youtube under RideWithB. Qny questions feel free to PM me.

-B

Hey Britton. The biggest piece of advice I can give you right now is relax man! Stop worrying about things you can't control or can't know. Don't worry about how they run orientation, or what comes tomorrow, or when things will get processed. It will all take care of itself just fine.

All of the major company training programs and orientations feel like they're chaotic and unorganized. But they're not. They do this with thousands of drivers every year. The thing is, they know what they're doing behind the scenes but they're not going around keeping everyone updated about every detail. Since the drivers don't really know what the plan is it feels like nobody does. But that's not the case.

Take all of this one moment at a time or you're going to drive yourself insane. Don't waste your time and energy judging Prime or their procedures. Don't waste your time and energy worrying about what the next phase will be in the process. Just let it ride. Keep doing whatever you can to help yourself. Keep studying, talk to your instructor, or just go to some joke site online and read some funny jokes to relax.

But trucking is always like this. Once you get on the road it's moment to moment. You never know what the traffic and road conditions will be 10 minutes from now. You won't know what load you'll be hauling next. You won't know much of anything. You just take what's in front of you right now and take care of that. But constantly trying to look ahead to predict what you'll be doing, where you'll be heading, what phase comes next - you're burning yourself out with that stuff. Just relax and enjoy yourself. You're getting an opportunity to learn how to drive a big ole American big rig from a fantastic company and you already have a nice trainer lined up. Rejoice! Life is grand!!!

Look forward to hearing more updates, and less worrying!

Day 4-

We started with a roll call and about 2were cleared and got their badges. They spent the day on the training pad. Oli finally went to the dmv and got my permit. The rest of the day I was officially truckin. By that I mean I waited and waited. 3:00 comes around and I was on the the way to headquarters. I got my badge/comdata card and was off with my trainer. We went to his house to pick up his truck and belongings (its a new truck for him too). Then as the sun was setting he let me practice on a small ally road until it got dark. That was bobtailing fyi. Then we headed back to prime to get a matress for the top bunk and sleep for the night.

Tomorrow we leave for Bakersfield, CA. He told me he's pulling onto a ramp tomorrow and I'm going to drive. Ummmm what?!? Tuesday I showed up with zero experience and saturday I'm hauling a load down the highway... Well, ya gotta learn some time right? If you live in texas stay off the highway tomorrow! Hahaha. Its all real now. A few months ago I decided I wanted to do this. Now its go time.

Who is your instructor? I might know him.

Ernie

Steven dekter. I'm his first and probably last student. He says he can teach me to drive but not necessarily 'by the book'. So I ask a question and sometimes he's not sure the answer he gives me is 'correct'. At the momnt I'm stressing on the pretrip. Its a lot to memorize and he isn't sure on some stuff. I don't know what the pieces are to begin planning on how to memorize the words. Its tough. If I'm not progressing after a week I may consider trying to get another trainer. I don't know