CRST Expedited Trucking School And Training Program Cedar Rapids, IA. A (re) Training Diary By Millionmiler24

Congrats...

Rick

Congrats man! And congrats to Minnis too!

Now you're seriously moving up in the world at a rapid pace. Like you said, it was barely a month ago you had a Florida license and hadn't even started school. Now you have your CDL , your contract is signed, and you'll be on the road before you know it.

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you focus and put your mind to something. Keep at it. You know life on the road is a roller coaster. Just try to keep an even keel, enjoy yourself all you can, and don't sweat the small stuff. The most difficult of times teach the best lessons and develop the strongest character. Embrace the challenges and be thankful for the opportunities. I'm sure you'll continue to make the most of the opportunities you're being given.

Thanks so much Brett. I am almost in tears reading yalls replies here. I am so thankful for this site and for you all supporting not just my journey but everyone's journeys on here. I am now realizing the gravity of where I am at now. If I run my butt off with my lead driver and then with my main co driver in a couple of months, I should be able to get myself a place to live. A place I can truly call home. Right now my home is the open road in that truck and right here in this site with yall. I love you all and thanks so much for everything.

BIG SMILES and THANKS 18 SPEED STYLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats...

Rick

Thanks Rick and LEGENDARY GRATZ on your promotion to Technical Advisor on here. That promotion was well earned on your part. Thanks so much for your continuing service on here.

Congratulations Millionmiler! Fantastic news! Job well done!

Very happy for you and glad my words helped you out, but in the end you got it straightened out, did the work and succeeded.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, appreciate the gratitude. Brett has a good support team here, just happy to be part of it.

And yes that's me in the photo. York PA? I occasionally deliver to the Walmarts there...been a while though. I run Jersey quite a bit now, longer runs with 4-5 stops, better money.

A couple of other things that helped me was a couple of tunes I was runnin through my head. I kinda feel weird for mentioning these however, if it works why not?

First one:

You Gotta Believe

2nd one:

You Gotta Be

Those videos helped me out also. I was runnin the lyrics in my head along with G-Town's advice also while announcing every move I was doing in that CMV to my examiner. I will admit my mind was runnin like never before. It got the last of the rust and sludge out of my abilities and I was finally able to PASS my road exam.

07/01/2017 and 07/02/2017:

Nothing much the last two days just slept in, got up to eat and walk around some and then got on the forums. Was excited about orientation coming soon. Also enjoyed some MUCH needed TIME OFF.

07/03/2017:

1st day of Orientation:

I woke up at 0530 to have breakfast and then went literally around the corner to Classroom 1 in the Training Center for the Start of Orientation. We basically filled out some paperwork and then watched some short video clips and we got our driver handbooks and 2 smaller books that will guide us through training. One of the ladies that was in charge of getting us hired on went over our paperwork and had us sign some stuff. I am not your typical contract student. I will end up starting out higher than the normal $.25 cpm. Even though I am doing the EXACT same process that all the inexperienced people are doing, since I have 2.5yrs of OTR experience in the last 5 years, my recruiter was able to get that accounted for in my starting pay. I will be getting paid $.41 cpm as soon as I am on my LEAD DRIVER'S truck! I won't have to wait until my 28 days is up to get the pay increase. I am ALMOST at the TOP of the payscale for driver pay that are NOT lead drivers. (CRST Calls their trainers Lead Drivers). One thing I am excited about is getting back on the road after my hiatus. I NEED to get back into this. I have missed truckin so much I am still BANANAS! Anyway today was the usual orientation stuff that most companies do. Since I came in from NADTA, I didn't have to do another physical, drug screen or agility test. I also got a 1.5 hr lunch break. Thank god for that. Anyway, nothing really eventful after that so I am going to close out this update. Until tomorrow, Stay SAFE out there at ALL TIMES and also for tomorrow:

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY (HAPPY 4TH OF JULY)!

On another note: If yall are messin around with fireworks, please stay safe while doing so.

07/04/2017 (HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY AND 4TH OF JULY!):

Today was a GREAT day for me because its my FAVORITE day of this ENTIRE YEAR! I woke up at 0600 today and had breakfast and then it was back to Classroom 1 for my 2nd day of orientation at CRST Cedar Rapids. Today was a day of videos and "tests". The tests were open book and we still had some that FAILED them. Oh well, it is what it is. I PASSED them ALL of course. One was on HAZMAT which surprisingly enough I got a PERFECT score on. HAZMAT is a TOUGH Subject with a LOT of stuff that it takes in my opinion an above average mind to process and understand. The other one was on HOS or Hours of Service. That one was EASIER in my opinion however I missed the last question. Oh well, I still passed. The most HAZARDOUS material CRST hauls is car batteries is what the Safety Director was telling us today. I thought if that was the MOST dangerous thing they haul then MAYBE AFTER I secure me a place to live, I just MIGHT try for my HAZMAT and TANKER endorsements. I wouldn't want to haul anything like gasoline or pool chemicals in quantities that require placards on the vehicle because that is just TOO DANGEROUS in my opinion. Might as well go for DOUBLES and TRIPLES also since its just a quick written test to put the endorsement on my CDL. Anyway, thank you all for your advice on this topic last night and today:

I need some advice on endorsements:

That really helped me to decide not just what order I need to get my endorsements in but also which ones I should get. I will probably try for HAZMAT 1st, then TANKER, then DOUBLE/TRIPLE, then once I save up enough maybe find a company that will help me obtain PASSENGER and SCHOOL BUS also. I will have to see where FATE takes me first though. I am MOST likely going to get through my 1st YEAR here at CRST before I go for ANY of these FIRST. I figure why make it harder on myself when I am trying to REGAIN that ever important 1st year of experience?

Later on, the Safety Director dismissed us early for lunch as soon as we finished our tests, however the normal lunch crew didn't start serving lunch today until 1400. They are NORMALLY supposed to if you are at the TRAINING CENTER 1215 to 1315 and if you are STILL at NADTA from 1145 to 1200. So we covered another quick subject on the harassment policies at CRST and then we were dismissed for the day EARLY right at 1400 so we could have some of that LEGENDARY lunch. Today they had a big barbecue with ribs and bbq chicken and bratz on the grill and some Mac and Cheese. OMG today I ate like a KING! Rightfully so, today was our INDEPENDENCE DAY!

While we are on the subject, last night I started a new topic on here that asks about Independence Day and what it means to you all. So far from what I have read, I totally agree with your responses. Please continue to put in how you feel about Independence Day into that topic. I welcome all of your opinions and Independence Day experiences. Here is the link if you need a QUICK shortcut to get there:

What does Independence Day (4th of July) mean to you all and how do you celebrate it each year?

Anyway after lunch I went back to the room and watched Independence Day with Will Smith. I make that a YEARLY tradition for me on July 4th. Then after the movie, I took a MUCH NEEDED NAP and then woke up again about 1930 and came up here and started reading through the forums. Other than that, nothing really eventful planned for tonight. I don't think there are any fireworks shows tonight in the immediate area, so more than likely IF I get hungry I may have some dinner then back to bed or I might watch some stuff on YouTube. I don't know yet. Anyway, I am going to close out this update and figure out what I want to do until midnight. In the mean time, stay SAFE out there at ALL TIMES and please be careful with the fireworks tonight.

TO ALL TRUCKERS AND VETERANS: THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR SERVICE TO THIS INDUSTRY AND TO OUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY. We greatly appreciate EVERYTHING you have done for us.

07/05/2017:

3rd Day of Orientation:

Today, I woke up at 0600 had breakfast and then it was back to Classroom 1 in the Training Center for my 3rd day of orientation. Today, we went over more stuff about CSA , learned about the PSP report and then went over the main stuff that could get you terminated from CRST. Hopefully if everything continues to go well, tomorrow morning between 0900 and 1000 we should be OFFICIALLY HIRED on with CRST Expedited and then receive our hats, the "essential kit" and then hopefully our company ID's and then our DM assignments and possibly be able to go out with our LEAD Drivers by tomorrow afternoon.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Once I am over the road with my lead driver and THEN on my Co driver's truck, updates on here will be SCARCE. I will most definitely TRY to continue to keep this diary updated, however I am not stinking rich and cant afford unlimited 4G LTE internet right now because my MAIN priority is to try to save up enough cash to obtain a place to live here in Cedar Rapids. So I will TRY to keep this updated however I can't PROMISE it. If it ends up a few months without an update, I am still alright, still with CRST, and still making the best of this glorious career as a team driver. IF something MAJOR happens I WILL find a way to get to FREE WIFI that will work and see if I can post an announcement update on here, but I can't PROMISE it.

Anyway, I am going to close out this rather SHORT update for today. Until tomorrow or whenever I can deliver my next update, Stay SAFE out there at ALL TIMES.

07/06/2017:

I got to sleep in til 0800 to be at class for the Final day of orientation. We went through a couple more videos and then we went to meet our driver managers and my lead driver is now in PA and will be down here within the next 36 hrs to get me. I am to follow up with my student coordinator and my sub for my driver manager since she is on vacation until 07/17/2017 (wow thats a lot of 7's....I think I need a load to Vegas now. ). Anyway, I got my new CRST hat today and I love this thing. I am SO glad to be a part of CRST now. Best of all now after almost 10 MONTHS without a good job, I am now EMPLOYED again. I owe you all a lot for this. Thanks SO MUCH!!!!! I love you all.

CRST and NADTA has been SO AWESOME throughout this entire process. I thought today I wouldn't be able to receive my Hard Copy CDL because I found out that the shelter won't forward my license to CRST. I explained to them the gravity of the situation, however the shelter don't care that that license is a $15,000 piece of plastic that I NEED to drive. I let my recruiter know about this yesterday and today, she told me that I could get a P. O. Box and then convert that to a PHYSICAL address to put on your CDL as long as you DON'T tell the DMV that the PHYSICAL address is also your P. O. Box. Well, CRST advanced me the money and now I have a legitimate address here in Cedar Rapids about a block and a half from the terminal! I so love this. In case you are wondering how to put a po box on your license set up like a PHYSICAL address, look at the following example:

Your Name

1234 Anywhere Lane # 6789

New York, NY, 12345-6789

^^^^^PUT THIS ON YOUR CDL. DON'T TELL THE DMV ITS A PO BOX.^^^^^

And for a MAILING address:

Your Name

P. O. Box 6789

New York, NY, 12345-6789

If they have to have a MAILING address that is NOT a PHYSICAL address to send your HARD COPY to, use the MAILING address format above.

At least here in Iowa, how it works is you use the PHYSICAL address of the BUILDING the POST OFFICE is in followed by the # sign, then your PO Box number, then City, State and the Zip code of your PO box and then the last 4 AFTER the dash is your PO box number also.

For the Mailing address, just like ANY PO box you write a letter to. Its the same everywhere. Anyway, I finally have gotten over EVERY hurdle I was worried about now. Anyway I am so thankful for CRST I sure hope I stay with them the next 10 years MINIMUM. After everything they have done for me, I OWE them so much. They WILL be paid back BIG TIME. Anyway, thank you all so much also for leading me this direction. Thank God, those 2 churches and the homeless outreach center I was with in Stuart, FL, my BEST friend there that is the Director of Client Services that all helped me get here to Iowa to restart my journey. ANY way I can pay you all back, Please let me know. I would be MORE than glad to do so. Updates on here will be scarce until I can get my first hometime here at the terminal here in C. R. so If I am not on here as often as I want to be, I will update you all on my first hometime which should be after my 28 days is up, then I come back to CR, get my hard copy license, then I upgrade, then I go with my Co Driver for 2 weeks and then I get routed BACK to CR for 5 days off. THAT will be when my next update is on here. I will try to keep a log of everything that goes on here and then transfer the daily updates to here on my hometime. Until then, PLEASE stay SAFE out there at ALL TIMES and remember: millionmiler24 loves you ALL!!!!!

God is good millionmiler24.... what an amazing journey you have been through brother..... May the Lord keep you safe out there. Late with my bananas .... here they are

07/07/2017:

More time waiting for a lead driver. I ended up obtaining one, however he was caught texting while driving and I thought that if this guy is supposed to be training people, he shouldnt be doing that so I requested another Lead Driver. I got one this afternoon. It turns out that it was someone I went through orientation with me and he was going to be a lease operator, however you had to be certified as a Lead Driver before leasing a truck. As soon as he was done with his Lead Driver certification class, we went to the airport to pick up a rental car so we could drive to the Carlisle PA terminal to get his truck. I drove us from Cedar Rapids, IA to the Pilot in Oakwood, IL. I had planned ro get us to the Petro in New Paris, OH, but I was too tired and so was my Lead Driver. One note here: I am NOT a Lease Operator nor am I EVER going to be a Lease Operator. I am starting out a company driver and I plan to stay one. Even though I am on a lease truck, I still get paid like a company driver. This closes this update.