First will be nothing but online research.

Dootson School of Trucking
Ventura, CA


Google Maps says this is 18-28 minutes (12-15 miles) away from where I'll be living.

Their own website is actually very limited. It promises state-certified instructors with an average of over 21 years of OTR experience, but the rest of the information is very limited.

A few people mention Dootson on the boards here and none mention it in a bad way, but there are few details. Back in August, someone paid $1300 for 8.5 hours of one-on-one driving. Apparently you can purchase additional hours?

I found a different website that may or may not be the Dootson in Ventura, but is definitely in California. It says it's a pay-as-you-go system. I'm not sure what that will mean for financing, though. $48 for each 1/2 hour of instruction. If I can get the instructional information to learn on my own, I could save a lot, just spending money on the actual driving courses.

There are also "books" of lessons and an entire course that you can purchase, but of course they tell you to talk to the recruiter before deciding.

This does appear to be a different Dootson School, but it's still somewhere in the L.A. area-- Arcadia. I like the idea of the class "blocks" a lot. I'll have to look into it more.
There's one complaint on the internet, but it's countered by a lot of compliments, so hard to judge that way.

Arcadia would be more than an hour driving each way, so I'd probably be sleeping in my van often. I will take the time to look into this one, though. I think it would be worth it just for the unique pricing structure.

More on the in-person research when it actually happens.