Swift Diary From Training Acceptance

That map does not tell the whole story. SWIFT has many smaller yards or contracts with other institutions on parking. Your DM most likely won't know that info. Best bet talk to a Planner at Memphis, they know the logistics infrastructure better than DM's.

Will it be possible to get home every 10-14 days running OTR , Id like to run all 48 if possible.

you are supposed to be out atleast 18 days... also if you try to take hometime that often you will get noticed as doing such and get short runs that never take you too far away. From what i have found the more often you ask for hometime it seems to directly effect your miles in a bad way. Most the guys you find claiming they get no miles are the guys that go home often because they cannot go far because of wanting to be home.

I am out for 4-6 weeks at a time and get runs that are normal 1000+ miles my DM knows that if i do 2 sub 500 mile runs i will start declining loads until i get a longer one so she keeps me in long runs. However i also worked my as off to be able to do that with her. Like i said in another post i have done 1200 miles in 2 days with 2 deliveries today if i went by "swift trip planing" it was an impossible run as swift doesn't want you planing on doing more then 550 miles a day.

Being OTR is a lifestyle going home every other week is more of a local driver or dedicated driver thing. Also you only make money when rolling so you want to be rolling as much as possible.

Great Stuff Eckoh!! And I totally understand that, I have 3 daughters, 15,11,9, and I just trying to see them as much as possible, but what I'm going to have to do is just bust my ass for a year or year and half and make as much money as possible, and then maybe find a company that I can get home more often, I'd like to at least be home every 2 weeks, but there is no doubt that I'll do the 4-6 weeks runs for as long as it takes, after all its making money for my kids, and I just need to keep that mindset, no matter how long I'm gone, it's to provide my kids with better life, I have no choice but to do this, I'm 34 years old now and this has to work for me, I haven't done anything since I left the Army and if I want to give my kids a good life I have to bare down and do this. And then a year or two from now try and find a better company that can get me home more often. What's your opinion on my age? I'm starting late at 34 years old, do you think I have enough time to put into driving to get a decent retirement one day?

i'm almost 33, i have met guys in their 70s still drivin.... Even on this board Old School was old when disco was popular and driving now

Also the gary indiana terminal blows its tiny and ghetto... also its got really bad chinease delivery.

Jarod, this is going to be real hard on you and family. Bret has a great article called "is trucking right for me?" Read it if you have not already. It goes into the family man mindset. SWIFT probably won't let you take the truck home the first couple months, so be prepared for that. You will also want to shop your truck on home time. Nothing sucks more than you stuck somewhere for days, away from home, while they fix your truck. Thats why I brought up the smaller yards, I'm sure they would be OK with you parking in one of them if close to home. After a few months SWIFT will trust you with the equipment. Then again it never hurts to ask.

Eckho so how are you liking Swift? Are you making decent money? From what I heard from "reasonable" people, it seems to be a good company to get started with. You running solo or team?

No joke here, I saw a guy fueling up his nice Pete using a freaking walker while his woman sat holding the puddles. I was like, U go Bro :-P

Jarod, this is going to be real hard on you and family. Bret has a great article called "is trucking right for me?" Read it if you have not already. It goes into the family man mindset. SWIFT probably won't let you take the truck home the first couple months, so be prepared for that. You will also want to shop your truck on hometime. Nothing sucks more than you stuck somewhere for days, away from home, while they fix your truck. Thats why I brought up the smaller yards, I'm sure they would be OK with you parking in one of them if close to home. After a few months SWIFT will trust you with the equipment. Then again it never hurts to ask.

Atilla, Yeah I understand that, I'm used to being gone away from home all the time, I was only home for about 3 months out of the year for the last 5-6 years in Army. Well I was hoping to be able to take truck home, unless they have a small yard within 30 minutes of me that I can park, I might have to talk to them about that.

No joke here, I saw a guy fueling up his nice Pete using a freaking walker while his woman sat holding the puddles. I was like, U go Bro :-P

LOL @ Atilla!!!!

Eckon, I had that lady yard dog of yours yelling at me to park my t call somewhere else. I just reved my engine until she turned red and stomped off. Also watched a couple of bull's games with the guys, best place to watch basketball IMO.

Jarod, this is going to be real hard on you and family. Bret has a great article called "is trucking right for me?" Read it if you have not already. It goes into the family man mindset. SWIFT probably won't let you take the truck home the first couple months, so be prepared for that. You will also want to shop your truck on hometime. Nothing sucks more than you stuck somewhere for days, away from home, while they fix your truck. Thats why I brought up the smaller yards, I'm sure they would be OK with you parking in one of them if close to home. After a few months SWIFT will trust you with the equipment. Then again it never hurts to ask.

swift lets you take the truck home as soon as you start...

Eckho so how are you liking Swift? Are you making decent money? From what I heard from "reasonable" people, it seems to be a good company to get started with. You running solo or team?

i run solo. I have made just shy of 15k for the first 4 months of the year gross.

That being said after i finish my first year i will most likely move on as there is more money to be made at other companies.

Eckho so how are you liking Swift? Are you making decent money? From what I heard from "reasonable" people, it seems to be a good company to get started with. You running solo or team?

i run solo. I have made just shy of 15k for the first 4 months of the year gross.

That being said after i finish my first year i will most likely move on as there is more money to be made at other companies.

Eckho, So I can take truck home on days off? Good deal, my closest terminal is 7 hours away. That was my plan also, Im going to run every load I can for first year, and then try and find a better company to run for, that pays more and gets home more.