The adventure begins

Hey everyone,

I am just days away from starting my adventure with the training program with Prime. I originally was scheduled to start yesterday 2/11, but since this is such a major life changing decision for me I gave myself an extra week to make sure I was making the right decision. I don't know about you guys, but whenever there is a major decision, I start second guessing myself. Anyway, after the extra week I feel I am making the right choice. I found out from my recruiter Julie that Prime training now starts on Mondays rather than on Tuesdays starting this next week, so I start training on the 17th. Today I am packing my stuff, tomorrow moving everything to storage and I hop on the Greyhound Friday morning for my two day trip to Springfield. I will be making the switch from teacher to student. I have a long line of family members who were truck drivers, so it's kind of a family tradition. While I know a lot about the industry, I understand my outside knowledge means nothing and I am ready to learn the ropes from those that have paved the path before me. I will logging my progress here as well as on youtube under the name 1rookiedriver. I'm eager to get this adventure started.

 

I am currently in Oregon

 

All right everyone. I am on the bus from Oregon to Springfield. I will get into Springfield around 1:00 Sunday afternoon. This is going to be a long ride, but I must say the buses are much nicer than they used to be. Much more room, more comfortable and they have wifi which is a plus. Already met two other drivers on the bus. One is on his way to Alabama to work for a small otr flatbed I've never heard of and can't remember right now. The other is on his way to Iowa to CRST training school. I'll keep everyone posted as I go along.

 

Not much sleep tonight. Part is too much caffeine, part is I chose the back seat with more room, but also right above the engine so loud and warm plus right next to bathroom. We're almost to Salt Lake City, I might choose a seat more in the middle and see how that works. Another soon to be driver for CR England got on at some point, so 4 at least of the 20 or so people on the bus are an there way to drive truck.

I haven't really talked the cr England guy, but the CRST guy is a talker and it's obvious he did zero research before he signed on. He was asking what it meant to double clutch. It sounds like he fell hook line and sinker for the recruiters pitch because when I explained Prime's training program as I understand it he said "oh CRST is nothing like that! They're not in to pushing their drivers, they're all about safety and team building. They have a real team concept concept going on there." He later told me he applied for Prime, but they never called him back, I'm guessing he didn't call to follow up on his application. He also told me that he filled out a lot of applications and CRST was the only one to call him.

Going to try to get some sleep before SLC.

Be encouraged and stay safe,

Rob