Looking to change career in January, 2021

Amen EEzt! One of the guys in my class at Millis is doing what you want to do. He was a supervisor at a plant his last 12-15 years, tired of same ole grind, wanting to move to the mountains in TN. He wanted the freedom to live "in the sticks" away from high cost of living. Trucking gives him this opportunity to basically live anywhere he wants. This was his main motivator. Good luck on your career change!

 

That's awesome news Kev2021! Alice was also my recruiter. Man she talks fast (for a country boy like me). Haha. I had to ask her a few times...."You're gonna have to slow it down a little for me Sis". I can tell you the guys at Millis in Cartersville will treat you well (when you go test). Your tester; Gary; is a great guy. You will need to perform a pre-trip inspection (luck of the draw, A,B,C or D- which is ALL), Coupling inspection, Light Inspection /Test, In-Cab inspection and Brake test. When you get past these, you will then perform 3 backing maneuvers; one of the offset backs - blind side or sight side, straight back, and 1 of these 3 (parallel park - blind side or sight side, OR alley dock). After you do this, you will do a driving skills test on the road around Cartersville (probably 20 miles or less). You will be WELL prepared for all of this during your 3 weeks of training. Congratulations Brother!

 

Got my 1st week of OTR training complete! Drove right at 3000 miles in 6 days! Had to work around several areas / states being shutdown (company shutting down areas of travel because of weather), but still managed to get to Chicago twice, Wisconsin, Indiana, TN, and Georgia. Starting to get more comfortable with driving, backing, sleeping, showering, etc. etc. Having a blast so far! Already got to see my wifey and daughter once and have dinner with them while in route for delivery. Got an excellent trainer who is a hard worker and very knowledgeable. He's been driving for 20 years; has 12 with Millis.

 

Well, I’m down to the last 1500 miles to complete training. I have an important question which may make the difference of continuing this path or not. Please reply honestly. Are truck drivers expected to utilize ALL of their 14 hour clock every day? I wanted this to be my semi retirement. Really don’t care anything about working 14 hours a day. May just be my trainer....