The Adventures Of Daniel B.

@Brett - I can't wait. I realize the difficulties but I'll be driving a LW truck until then. That alone will give me some stories to tell!

@Old School - My wife tells me the same thing. But maybe she's just trying to make me feel good about myself. Who knows? Haha.

Oh ya, I love those 89,754 word essays you write

I plan on trying to only train students from TT. They are usually a cut above the rest and much smarter than the average hunk coming into trucking. I don't want to be stuck with some guy for 3 months who couldn't take time to study the industry before he went to school. If everything goes well, Guy Decou will probably be my first student. He's been on the sidelines for well over a year now, itching to get Decou off the sidelines!

There's going to be a huge age difference with every student. I'm 22 and the average person I come across doubles my age. So it'll be interesting to see how it goes with a 22 year old trainer training a 45 year old.

Hey Daniel!

I haven't been able to catch up on everything but are you at Prime now?

I will be finishing school at the end of February, Prime is top 3 on my list of company's I wanna work for .Think there is a chance you could train me .Iv read every word you have typed in this forum and I fell as if we already buddies.No it wont both me 1 pit that a 22 year old is training me at the age of 47 , I wont to learn from the best and I know you know what you are doing.

@Brett - I can't wait. I realize the difficulties but I'll be driving a LW truck until then. That alone will give me some stories to tell!

@Old School - My wife tells me the same thing. But maybe she's just trying to make me feel good about myself. Who knows? Haha.

Oh ya, I love those 89,754 word essays you write

I plan on trying to only train students from TT. They are usually a cut above the rest and much smarter than the average hunk coming into trucking. I don't want to be stuck with some guy for 3 months who couldn't take time to study the industry before he went to school. If everything goes well, Guy Decou will probably be my first student. He's been on the sidelines for well over a year now, itching to get Decou off the sidelines!

There's going to be a huge age difference with every student. I'm 22 and the average person I come across doubles my age. So it'll be interesting to see how it goes with a 22 year old trainer training a 45 year old.

Daniel and everyone on the road,

Some things I learned and would like to comment on from reading Daniel's post -

1. Your truck is like your gun in the army. You must take very well care of it because it is your life in many ways.

2. Although I'm OTR you can't and should not live in your truck. It's not healthy in MANY different ways (why do you think the manufacturers make them so nice in side. Everyone involved with buying the truck (including yourself) wants to keep you moving and going down the road because that's the only way to make money. It's a tough price to pay on your body and on your family life. Is it worth it?

3. Eating healthy is VERY important. Analogy - If you put garbage in your body will become a garbage truck instead of a nice restaurant.

4. Getting enough sleep is VERY important. After rolling MY truck and almost killing myself and others, THANK GOD I learned this lesson and didn't hurt anyone including myself.

5. Doing some basic exercises to keep your body limber and in shape. If you make it to old age someday you'll be driving one of those little battery operated carts around because you can't walk (AGAIN, is it worth it)?

Joe Flyotr.com

@Sam - We'll see man. That would be possible but its hard to predict what will happen in three months. I'll keep you in mind man!

@Joe - Exactly man. Sure, its awesome to make good money but in the end your health is much more important.

1/12

I spent the entire day from 3am to 6pm on the greyhound bus going to Salt Lake City, UT for orientation. I finally arrived at the Baymont hotel. What a nice hotel! Much better than the Econolodge that I got at Central.

While I was outside waiting for the shuttle to come pick me up, there was a swarm of rookies trying out for Central. I would say about 18 of them. They loaded the van and had to come back continuously for multiple pickups. I did get a chance to talk to about 4 of them. My intent was to simply persuade them not to lease a truck. They will be getting an ear full for the next few weeks about how great leasing a truck is so hopefully I shed some true light on how stupid it is.

My shuttle arrived and I loaded up my belongings. The first thing the driver said was "how old are you?". I laughed, I'm used to it. I asked him if there was anyone else coming and he said that I'm the only one. There's just me and 3 others for orientation this week. I'm very happy that its not a class of 10. I think since its such a small class size that the orientation might be accelerated so I can hurry up and get my own truck and get going!

I've enjoyed an entire week off. I am really itching to driving!

I am spending my evening on TT and reviewing my application I submitted to Prime. If I am to have to submit another application or answer questions about my application, I need to make damn sure that what I will say matches up with my application. I need to be on the same page.

Finally completed orientation at Prime!

I got to be honest. So far, Prime has made me feel like a king. Seriously.

I have had an amazing hotel for this week. They serve delicious breakfast!

Prime provided us with lunch and dinner for free. Delicious meals too! They hand us the entire menu for the restaurant and we can order items that are 8$! It is delicious food!

The entire process has been easy. The computer classes were sometimes a pain, but it only took me a day to finish them all. I was the first one done in the entire class so I spent a long time helping the others.

There was a green truck in the yard that I really wanted. I let them know yesterday that I would like it, and today they handed me the keys for that exact truck!

I've read so many people say that Prime treats their drivers well. And I can tell you that I have been beyond surprised at how awesome Prime is. I mean, I couldn't imagine it any better.

There was another driver who got keys to a pink/purple truck and he hated it. He couldn't stand the color. I examined my green truck and it was a piece of junk. It barely starts and has a long list of engine fault codes and the interior is trashed. Soooo...

He asked me to trade and I gladly gave him the green one and I took the pink/purple truck. The pink/purple truck is beautiful. The engine is spotless, not even a speck of dirt on it. All of the tires are brand new including the steer tires. The interior is very clean and it runs perfectly.

All the trucks available were 2011 and had around 280k miles on them. But why be mad? Everything on my truck was changed and everything is new on it. Besides, I'm sure Prime will sell this truck off soon and then give me a much newer truck.

I get my first load tomorrow morning. Right after I do a few things.

Oh yea! Did I forget? Prime gives the driver a truck wash every 2 weeks free of charge. No wonder their trucks look clean!

My DM is out of the Salt Lake City, UT terminal and his name is Lance. (do you know him Ernie?)

He seems like a great guy, he was a driver before so that's a huge plus. He told me he will route me home so I can pick up my stuff!

So far I rate Prime a 10/10. I am definitely not looking back at Central. Prime offers everything that Central offered and a million more things. Not to mention a .13cpm raise.

I will post a picture of my truck another day. I am keeping it a surprise for my wife and if I post it here I guarantee she will see it. So I'll post it after she sees it.

Wow. That sounds awesome man! Glad it's going well for you over there. Keep letting us know how things are going. Maybe we'll run into each other (not literally...) sometime out on the road.

Not to mention a .13cpm raise.

Hey Daniel, I'm glad to hear things are going great with Prime. (Definitely my first choice to pursue), did you opt for the smaller truck?

Not to mention a .13cpm raise.

Hey Daniel, I'm glad to hear things are going great with Prime. (Definitely my first choice to pursue), did you opt for the smaller truck?

Yes I did. With the passenger seat taken out there's actually plenty enough room inside. Plus there are cabinets above the bed. There's plenty of room in my opinion.