All is said & done. I am now sitting in my own rig! I spoke with our DBL about being home for Thanksgiving and he was very amicable.

Soon another DBL stopped me and asked if I could do her a huge favor. She had a driver at her desk discussing his load. Due to his hours and that he lives in El Paso, if he took this load he wouldn't make it home for Thanksgiving.

If *I* take it she can then assign me to a load delivering less than an hour from home. So I can drop ...

This morning I began my SQT (Skills Qualification Testing.) Right out of the shoot they give us a TE evaluation then sent us to a road test instructor.

They handed me off and the later this day gets, the tireder I get and the more I reflect the worse I feel about who I was with.
This morning I was a lil anxious & nervous so I tried not to let his attitude or personality get to me. After all, we're only together for an hour or so. But it IS a "make or break" hour. ...

I finally got my marching orders. This morning I was to meet my TE at 10 at the Dallas OC. Of course it's clock rollback time. My phone is my alarm clock. Being set by whatever controls the clocks on phones I had no worries.

My alarm was set for 6:45 A.M. I got up and began getting ready to jet. As I put on my wristwatch I noticed it read 9 A.M. I thought, "That's weird. It SHOULD read 8. So I looked at my phone. It read 7. I looked at my wife's phone and it read 8. Crap. For whatever ...

Tomorrow is the final day of orientation week. But for all intents and purposes it seems today was the "decision day." Looks like I'm in!

My road test went pretty well with a few minor points to work on. Jason has been a great trainer and really put me at ease.

My written test was ok. I scored a 94. I really didn't understand some of the MCP questions because of my lack of familiarity with it; but all that will come along.

My trip plan ...

I'm getting a pretty good boost in my confidence now. Jason's a pretty good guy. I wish our instructors at Continental coulda been more like Jason. Tomorrow afternoon it'll be just the two of us; so I won't be having to share time between a couple other guys.

One instructor told us today about HIS trainer back in the day. Every morning as he got into the truck he would stop on the running board, look down and mumble something to himself. After about the 3rd day he had to ask what was ...

Today is the third day of Schneider orientation and my first day in a Schneider truck. I got a boost in my confidence today.

First off when I met my driver trainer, or TE for "Training Engineer" (love political correctness), I learned he has the same name as my roomie in drive school. How odd. He's a big ol' guy named Jason. He told us that we'll learn he is "Kind of a BIG deal."

Jason is a good guy, very friendly and easy going. But I have to back up ...

I contacted Continental School about my concerns over my training and the issues I had with McElroy. The job placement counselor said that explains why McElroy called asking about the equipment we train on. Rod said that McElroy is the pickiest employer he deals with. He went on to say, "What do they expect? You're a student." When I told him they told me they don't train drivers, they already expect me to know how to drive Rod replied, "Then why do they hire students?" When ...