Well, after all was said and done, I am going with Swift after all!

Swift and the Swift 'Academy' have a mixed reputation. Swift drivers have a 'reputation' and tend to be considered poor quality drivers. Regardless of all these, after earnestly investigating Swift, Knight, Prime, CFI and Roehl, I am going with Swift. Currently scheduled to start August 26th.
Prime, CFI and Knight simply didn't seem interested in me. I applied to them and no one ever got back to me. I did get a reply from Knight, but the info given to me in the email suggested they were only interested in someone with an existing CDL.
I did find Roehl of interest. Probably the highest paying milage rate for a newbie. But, they were interested in me as a flatbed driver. And, although flatbed is very appealing to me, I'm 59 and apprehensive of the possibility of sustaining an injury should I fall off a flatbed. While in my 30's I might be willing to roll with the chance, being almost 60, I don't know. In the end, I just decided I didn't want to risk it at my age.

Now then, why the heck did I choose Swift? Many on this forum would say I'm not being smart, etc.. And, I really don't have to defend myself, but I do wish to let folks know a bit about why.

Concisely, Swift has an appealing Veteran's program that both benefits my initial training and also benefits my pay above non-Veteran candidates. Swift genuinely showed an interest in me, over a period of several months (I moved from FL to AZ in the middle and that prolonged the whole deal by a couple of months). They responded to emails and calls in a timely manner and were just simply nice to me. Whenever I talked to a recruiter, they were familiar with the information I had already provided and I didn't have to retell the same details over and over to the same or different recruiters. None of the other companies came even close to the effort and interest Swift showed me. Also, My current home is only about 180 miles from their Phoenix Academy and terminal and makes Swift very convenient for my own logistics. Also, I really want to run all 48 as best as I can and not interested in any regional or dedicated, or routine runs or loads. I figure a big mega, such as Swift will be my best chance to 'explore' all over the lower 48.

Anyway, I will be starting my training on the 26th of August and looking forward to it. I hope we will at least be past the 110+ weather we have been having the last few weeks. With the low humidity, believe it or not 105 and below are actually pretty tolerable. But, when it is over 110, I'm sorry, it is simply hot and miserable!

If anyone is interested, I'll try to keep folks posted on how it is going. So, if anyone cares, let me know. I know several others have done the daily update posts on training stuff, don't want to assume folks here want more of that from me or not.
But, going into this, I already have my Learner's permit with Tanker and Doubles/Triples endorsements. I couldn't do the fingerprinting at my local MVD, so not hazmat stuff yet. I do intend to get the Hazmat when it is feasible.

I have already been assigned to the OTR division running Refrigerated, which was exactly my preference. But, haven't done it yet. I don't expect any disappointments here. But, until I'm actually toolin' down the road as OTR in a refer, not gonna get too excited. I do have a realistic expectation, we'll have to see how it turns out.

I also have an expectation that I will have private accomadations during training (I actually do have justifying reasons for that and was promised such during my in-person interview a few days ago). And, the same reasons influence my mentor selection stuff and I have been promised similarly slightly special treatment regarding my mentor. I really don't anticipate issues with these expectations and have been given appropriate phone numbers of folks to contact within Swift should I have any difficulties with these. As with the other things, Swift showed a distinct and personal interest in me. I guess I'll find out if their word (there is paper too) is any good in a little over a week! I hope their word is good. I am looking forward to this.

Terry!