My next decision is to pick a company for training, I don't have the money for tuition. I live in Ga, I am thinking, p.a.m., schneider, or j b hunt. I am still weeks from deciding for sure. Naturally, I would rather run from ga to ca and back, no north, or no new york. please give some advice as to the best companies that do offer schools. Also my second problem , I am 49 y/o , I have never been able to work the ( Midnight shift ) with any success and I hate to drive at night . Truthfully, can this profession work for me keeping daytime hours. not bankers hours, but daytime hours. 5 Am to 7 or 8 pm. grab some dinner , go to bed, get Breakfast, head out again the next day. Don't get me wrong, I understand that an hour or two from my destination maybe I should keep rolling. But for the most part ,can this work.

If you find that job let me know. I might consider unretiring.

just thought i would pass on this info,not sure if it will help you or not. Roadmaster's in West Memphis, AR is a trucking school. my husband got a grant for $6000, he got in for being a ar resident. but they have other ways of getting in as well. i gave someone else from GA this information and they turned up there the last week my husband was there. its a 3 week course. if you get the grant it pays your way there and home, lodging and its a nice motel right near the school. Hubby really felt at home there even tho there was people from all over the US there. oh and some of the better company's and even some of the worst will reimburse you the $6000 if you go to work for them. i know thats alot of money but its something to look into. plus you get 3 college hours, lol.let me know if this is somthing that may work out for you. i can give you more info later if you want.

best of luck

Thank you for your reply, At this point I am open for anything that can help, yes please, I would like more info on the school and grant. Thanks again.

Thank you for your reply johnny99 , I am serious with my question though, With two key ingredients. Not bankers hours, And for the most part can this work. Here are my thoughts. you can only be on duty 14 hours a day, why can't it be the daytime 14 ? , I realize that i can loose some miles by doing this, and I might change my mind once I get in the business, can this be done 5 of the 7 days. What I don't want to do is like some of the other people I have known in the business. End up popping pills to stay awake. sleep from 10 am to 8 pm then drive, sleep afternoon the next day, then partial night the next. Please, others reply also.

When I posted that answer I was being cynical. Almost any OTR job you take you will have to have flexible hours. For example, you pull into a grocery warehouse to unload with a 1000 am apt. Sometimes you might not be unloaded before 300 pm. Then dispatch wants you to deadhead 150 miles to pick up load that delivers 600 miles away at 700 am the next morning. Stuff like this happens all the time. 200 am apts to unload are not uncommon. Sometimes you might get a load going 2000 miles, then you can do it your way. I ran a dedicated load for 2 yrs, Columbus Oh to Sacremento Cal and return. The truck I ran didn't have qual com in it yet so I could do pretty much what I wanted as long as the fuel tickets matched the log. I'm not saying its impossible to find what your looking for, but try to not be discouraged if you don't find it right away. Good Luck.

One other thing I thought of after I posted that last reply. Remember that these trucking co's are not in business to supply you with a job. They are in business to supply a service their customers need. If a customer needs a load delivered at 300 am dispatch is not going to give a hoot whether or not you want to drive at night. I'm not trying to be a smart ##### or give you a hard time. If you go into this with unrealistic expectations you"ll be discouraged and po'd and won't last 6 months. Truck driving schools are expensive if you pay for it. If the company you sign on with pays for it you'll be an indentured servant untill its paid for. Research each co. you might want to work for and remember that a recruiters mouth is not a prayer book. Its their job to get you to sign on the bottom line, and some of them have been known to stretch the truth. So ask lots of questions and know as much about these co's as you can. Again, good luck, and I really mean that.

Thank you very much johnny99 , I really appreciate your advice and will take it into consideration. I do see your point on all of that. I am in the corporate world now , where it is dog eat dog, and i am really sick of it. I was self employed for 25 years with my own retail boot business in ga , and I would never expect too much from my employees. But then again, Maybe that is why I am not still self employed. LOL. Thanks again

My Worthy Brother,

Any of the "training companies" out there would be a good option for you. Unlike me, I wished I researched it more, I wouldn't have the student loan over my head right now. I would look at what is closest to me first, look over their records and see how the opinions on these boards are going. I'm at Swift just because they are the closest to me, will accept a person with some medical issues ( I have sleep apnea ) as long as your doctor will back you up with records. Sure, I have to pay my "dues" out here to get something better later. My family understands what I have to do. It also helps when your "brothers" support you in this. When on the road, make sure you can ID youself with some sort of sign, they will seek you out and make you feel welcome. This is always welcome to me, when you feel you are all alone, the welcome grip of your brother and the conversation that follows is reassuring. Had the same experiance at the training school, brothers seeing me there, taking me to the side and offering their help.

That's my outlook and advice for now, waiting for my truck to be assigned and find out what I am going to run, I'm pushing for a certain region so I can build up my experiance and get comfortable. I did the 48 for 6 plus weeks and know what I like with my driving experiance. i fixed them for 25 years, driving is another game, need to learn it at my own pace. I'll be in the right lane !!

__________________
On the Level, By the Square,

Dale, a traveling man...