I’m Back With Prime Inc

I’m officially rehired with Prime today and on the truck assignment list for a Cascadia Lightweight.

Almost 5 months since I’ve driven. Will feel good to get rolling again. The refresher training has been beneficial.

Will provide a pic when I get the truck.

It's about time. Quit goofing off and move some freight!

Congratulations Dennis!

That's great news!

Thanks guys.

My roommate that arrived yesterday after a 26 hours Greyhound ride from NC for Orientation today for CDL training just departed for the bus station to go home.

He was having difficulty with his history of speeding tickets. I advised him last night to be upfront about anything that might show up in his record even if he couldn’t remember exact dates.

A few years ago he had a citation for doing 124 mph in a 70 zone! He had a lawyer to deal with it back then.

Prime is still going to let him obtain his official criminal records, etc for further review to see if he can eventually be cleared. I don’t think it will happen since Prime can be picky now on who they bring in.

I finally got back in contact with my Prime trainer today after several months trying to reach him. He had changed his phone number!

I had to remind him who I was.

We had a chance to chat about my getting back in the seat and rebuilding my stamina to drive long hours and refreshing my rusty backing skills (which weren’t all that great yet anyway!). I’m trying to set realistic expectations for myself to be patient to get back to where I was.

This is my first full winter season driving solo. We only drove in a little snow last February in Wisconsin. I’ve been paying close attention to the threads on here about winter driving and Prime’s extreme weather training this week.

The key will be to carefully trip plan the weather forecast, SLOW DOWN and park it if I don’t feel safe. Drive to my comfort level as a rookie.

Prime Safety saying is “There’s no load so hot that it won’t cool off in a ditch”.

I’m going to buy a CB radio and dash cam to install before I head out. I didn’t have those before, but feel necessary for winter season.

I have time on my hands today, so re-read a couple of Trucker Blog articles by G-Town and Rainy (Kearsey).

G-Town makes a compelling case for staying with your starter company beyond one year if you are one of the lucky 10% that survive the first year. Very sobering.

Staying with your starter company beyond one year

This blog article by Rainy (Kearsey) about why most new drivers don’t survive the first year is also sobering.

Do retention rates really matter?

I had 5 month’s experience (2 months solo) before my recent 5 month’s work gap for a medical issue. It feels like I’m starting over to survive, and hopefully thrive, during the next 12 months.

Will take it one day at a time.

12/9/22

Got my new ride today. She’s a 2023 Cascadia Lightweight with 47,252 miles. Just like new and slightly broken in.

This little mama is a very pretty green.

This 2023 LW compared to my prior 2019 LW is 2” longer and 3” wider. Has more storage space.

The dash is laid out differently, so will have to get used to it.

The inspection got off to a slow start late afternoon because I found it with the batteries dead! Someone left the battery kill switch on. So got a jump start.

I’ll finish the inspection tomorrow morning and then take it to the shop for a few items.

I’m very happy right now

PackRat told me last May that Santa might bring me a new truck for Christmas. He was right again! How does he do it?

That’s awesome Dennis! Best of luck to you!

Safe travels!

Thanks G-Town