From A Buzzard To A Phoenix

Hello to everyone and all of the friendly gear jammers that truck on this highway known as "Truckers Report." Despite my initial post back in May of this year, I come here not with a gripe story, but an actual thanks to the aforementioned company that this thread is dedicated to. So without further delay I will start so hang on for the ride.

After taking a leave of absence from my job as a corrections officer for 5 years, I attended Stevens Transport Training Academy from January 5th ,2015 to January 24th, 2015. Even before I got into the door, I didn't buy into the "$1000 a week" BS. I just wanted to fulfill my childhood dream. I obtained my CDL January 20th, 2015 thanks to their fabulous training and the fabulous teacher I had as well (don't think we can put names up here) in Dallas, Texas. By January the 26th, I was out with my first OTR trainer but due to family problems, he had to go home at the beginning of February. So I was placed with another trainer who was just as knowledgeable as the first and spent the remainder of February with him, returning to Texas on March13th, 2015 for OR 2. After OR 2 I was assigned a 2011 Peterbilt 587, whom I referred to as "Beasty" (is there a better truck?) and decided to get my feet wet early on in the OTR field. Despite some of the gripes I've read from others, I did receive the miles that I wanted most even with repowers and learned my truck inside and out. I felt on top of the world as I got to see New York City as a solo driver (I actually volunteered early) while being my own boss. But sadly, this story has a tragic ending...

Between March 31st and April 2nd, 2015 I had a couple of backing accidents that would prove to be my undoing, despite trying to do the job with the best knowhow I was given from day 1 of my training. I reported back to the Dallas Terminal on April 16th and was dismissed April 24th even though I passed the reassessments that were presented before me. I know now that trying to be a perfectionist was not the way to go. I came back home to Deep East Texas and started job hunting again, but due to my DAC or less than six months of experience couldn't obtain a job. So in August, I resolved to return to my former job just to have a stable income. Unfortunately, even with my years of service with the criminal justice system, I was denied the opportunity to hire back on a month and a half later... But a light at the tunnel shined bright later that week.

As of today at approximately 7:00 a.m. I started my first day as a Ready Mix Driver closer to home ( I will not specify the company). My trainer is just as good as my trainers from Stevens Transport and just as knowledgeable. With everything learned at Stevens, I was able to prove my worth and will continue to in the future I will report more updates if any of my fellow gear jammers are interested. The moral of this story is this: Just because a certain thing you thinks is for you isn't, doesn't mean that there isn't something for you in the long run to fall back on. So I would like to thank Stevens Transport for the fantastic training and the ###### experience (despite the short time) that they allotted me this year. OTR is not in my near future, but who's to say I won't see you all again hmmm?

Keep the greasy side down,

Voodoo Pyg.

 

Thank you so much Puppage. Stevens wasn't a bad company at all. No one else would look at me and I refused to deal with what Swift, CRST, and CRE had to offer. Stevens had to highest DOT ratings in my area so that's why chose their training over everyone else. And in the end it paid off.

 

True and thank you. I can say that this has been a life long dream since I was five. Even with some of the bad I put in my original post, I still have Stevens to thank for getting me this far.

 

My DAC is too bad for that one Chinatown my friend. It's gonna be about three years before I can do anything like that again. But I've got them on standby for the future. Again I thank you for looking out for me. And God bless you and yours and may the Trucking Gods continue to look down on you.

 

I just had to keep reminding myself that there was someone in Heaven and they were looking down. Thank you and keep the Greasy Side down big man.