Swift Orientation Monday

Fair point Jakebrake. I wasn't really planning on using it until I was on my own anyways if allowed. I wouldn't want to drive my mentor crazy by chatting away on the phone all day haha

Something else I was curious about....I've heard conflicting reports regarding how much time your mentor is allowed to give you behind the wheel each day in the beginning. A guy in my class told me his recruiter told him they're only allowed like 3 or 4 hours a day to start with. I wondered if that was true and if that's standard operating procedure for newbies or if it's ran on a case by case basis. Like if my mentor decides if I can handle it will he allow me to run full days (8 to 10 hours or whatever the case may be) from the beginning? I'm hoping thats the case so I can get a jump start on those hours as well as rack up some experience. I realize I shouldn't rush things but at the same time I'm really eager to get going.

After my ordeal with Roehl, my first day behind the wheel with Swift I drove about 6 or 8 hours. After that I typically get 450+ miles per day, with a couple lucky days in the 600 mile range. I'm wrapping up my 2nd week with a mentor and just finished an 11 hour driving day yesterday.

It will largely depend on you and how long you can remain alert. Don't rush yourself to do the big mile days early on. I've done 1,000 mile days in a car before driving a truck, but when I got behind the wheel of a truck 6-8 hours a day was all I could do before I was completely beat. Over time you will build up the stamina to run longer.

As far as I know, no hands free devices allowed during training. I was driving team pretty much from day 2 but that isn't the norm. I was also driving pretty much 8 to 10 hrs a day from day 1. I switched trainers after the first week and still finished 200 hrs in 4 weeks and 3 to 4 days.

JJ