CRST - Training Adventures In Cedar Rapids

LOL, I gotta ask, so your in cedar rapids Iowa right? If, so you have to drive all that way to meet up with your lead driver?

Do they not pay you with direct deposit to your bank? How's the Comdata card work?

The Comdata card is his fuel card and also what his pay will INITIALLY be deposited on. When it comes to this CRST does what is called Indirect deposit. Whenever you give CRST your bankin information durin orientation that info is used to set up this feature. The money is placed on your comdata card then you use an app called FleetAdvance, available on both iOS and Android to transfer however much money you want into your bank account or prepaid card. If you want to withdraw it in cash, Comdata charges a $1.25 fee on top of whatever the ATM provider would charge. Most truck stop ATMs that is usually $3.95. So that comes to $5.20 for each cash withdrawal done from $20 all the way up to whatever the maximum atm limit is at the atm you are withdrawing from.

Some people's Leads showed up in Cedar Rapids. Other people were sent elsewhere for various reasons. In my case, my Lead was taking home-time and will be just about done by the time I get there. The load he's getting has a team requirement because of the time-sensitivity of the delivery (teams often get it there faster.) So, if it wasn't me, they'd have to find someone else. Just cheaper and easier to give me a rental car from the company they own and then pay my gas to get there.

LOL, I gotta ask, so your in cedar rapids Iowa right? If, so you have to drive all that way to meet up with your lead driver?

Currently at a truck stop somewhere near Topeka, Kansas. Hoping to grab a hotel for the night in Witchita.

Maybe you can stop in Houston. Riverside CA is on I-10 too

So close...! But headed over to I-40 and taking thay across.

Maybe you can stop in Houston. Riverside CA is on I-10 too

Hey Jeremy! I would recommend to make a stop in Barstow, CA right after you get off I-40. Take exit 178 and make a left. There is a Starbucks, Panera Bread, In-N-Out Burger or Panda. It's a good place to take a break and prepare yourself for the LA madness :).

Oh, boy! Wish I had seen this sooner. That strip of Cali was a barren wasteland! About an hour and half in, we finally found an exit with life... And it turned out to be an old, run down Dairy Queen ice cream place. One of the guys riding with me noted that there were telephone call boxes located randomly along the highway. He commented that those must be in case you break down. I corrected him by informing him that those were actually so you could call your family and say goodbye! Because nothing short of a Marine batallion could rescue you if something happened on that isolated stretch of road!

Hey Jeremy! I would recommend to make a stop in Barstow, CA right after you get off I-40. Take exit 178 and make a left. There is a Starbucks, Panera Bread, In-N-Out Burger or Panda. It's a good place to take a break and prepare yourself for the LA madness :).

So, I'm spending the night in the sleeper cab of my new home for the next month or so. It's kind of cozy tonight. Let's see how it feels in a month or two.

We leave tomorrow morning, and the second chapter of the adventure begins. I'm attached to a very experienced Lead Driver. And we seem pretty compatible (for now.) Let's see how we do after a week or two living in a closet together.

He's successfully trained quite a few people from what I've heard others say. And I'm looking forward to finally learning more.

Tomorrow morning we set out with a fresh clock and a fresh team, hauling from Riverside, California over to Jessup, Maryland. A nice coast-to-coast run to break in the newbie!

Hope everyone is having an awesome weekend!

Jeremy

Those are some kick ass miles for the first trip. Congrats!!

Chris

Oh, boy! Wish I had seen this sooner. That strip of Cali was a barren wasteland! About an hour and half in, we finally found an exit with life... And it turned out to be an old, run down Dairy Queen ice cream place. One of the guys riding with me noted that there were telephone call boxes located randomly along the highway. He commented that those must be in case you break down. I corrected him by informing him that those were actually so you could call your family and say goodbye! Because nothing short of a Marine batallion could rescue you if something happened on that isolated stretch of road!

Hey Jeremy! I would recommend to make a stop in Barstow, CA right after you get off I-40. Take exit 178 and make a left. There is a Starbucks, Panera Bread, In-N-Out Burger or Panda. It's a good place to take a break and prepare yourself for the LA madness :).

So, I'm spending the night in the sleeper cab of my new home for the next month or so. It's kind of cozy tonight. Let's see how it feels in a month or two.

We leave tomorrow morning, and the second chapter of the adventure begins. I'm attached to a very experienced Lead Driver. And we seem pretty compatible (for now.) Let's see how we do after a week or two living in a closet together.

He's successfully trained quite a few people from what I've heard others say. And I'm looking forward to finally learning more.

Tomorrow morning we set out with a fresh clock and a fresh team, hauling from Riverside, California over to Jessup, Maryland. A nice coast-to-coast run to break in the newbie!

Hope everyone is having an awesome weekend!

That run will cover your entire solo phase week. Make sure yall reset after that run when you upgrade to lead/student team.

Wow!

548.5 miles today!!!

Now that's how you start a training run! Lots of new advice today, things they just don't teach ya in school. But I did all the driving, from 5am in California to around 5pm here in the middle of Utah.

We might have been able to go farther, but we left the truck and went off duty a few times to attend to personal needs neither of us remembered to bring or didn't know we'd need. Such as portable fans because the A/C is only partially working and it gets pretty warm in there after the sun bakes it all day.

But I drove all the miles today myself, he just observed, asked questions, and pointed stuff out. And I (ME) drove that truck across four states today!!! I know that sounds really cheesy, but it was so freakin cool.

Southern California wasnt really anything to talk about. And downtown Las Vegas was no simple task. But the views in Arizona and Utah - some of them were just breathtaking.

And how about the first time you're nosing your rig down a 7% grade...? I'm sure there's bigger out there, but when it's the first time, oh boy, God blessed the Jake Break!

Yes, I'm still going on about it (and so will you when you drive for the first time, lol.) Besides, I am so close to being a bona fide trucker now that I even walk a little different going in the door at Loves (no, it's not swagger, it's ass-in-seat-for-10-hours-itis.)

I'm having a truly awesome time and can't wait for tomorrow (my clock resets around 3am if you're playing along with us at home.) But we probably won't leave until the sun comes up. One of the company rules for something like the first three days or something. Whatever, I cant wait to get some more miles in!

The worst thing so far is the Qualcomm totally messed up my trainers hours and nobody can fix it until the elog people come in to work on Monday. So, that's his DOT hours in the image below because he was still logged in when I snapped this image, but you see whose name has the miles....? Yeah, baby!!!

Hope everyone starts off their week as happy as I am!