Starting Late in Life

Thank you. It is on order.

 

Update 27 Sep 2025:

Graduated yesterday. TMC issued me a company charge card, a safety card and wait for it, the coveted TMC tee shirt.

Unfortunately, they do not have a trainer for me. Our group was about thirty drivers, about half of us did not receive a driver trainer. Starting Monday we have to call in to our Training Manager every morning or risk being dropped from the rolls.

And so it goes.......

 

Question about per diem, do I take it or not?

I am not eligible for the company ESOP until I have a year or so in the company. As I understand it, taking the per diem will increase the take home pay, but lowers the taxable income, this would affect how much the employee earns in regards to the ESOP and any unemployment or workman comp claims.

My initial thought is to take the per diem for only the first year and have my accountant figure it out for the second and following years.

Your thoughts?

 

Update: 30 Sep 2025

I have a trainer! He is a Marine Motor-T NCO, served in MARSOC and lives about two hours away from me. We are scheduled to talk on Friday afternoon. I expect that I will link up with him on Sunday so we can get parked up for an early Monday delivery.

Life is good.

 

Update: 11 Oct 2025

I linked up with my trainer last Sunday night. We went through a very thorough pre trip in the dark and then headed to Virginia for an early Morning delivery. We were headed to pick up our fifth load on Friday morning when the transmission blew in our truck. Had to be towed from Charlotte to our terminal in Columbia, SC. The truck had to be returned to Peterbilt to be repaired so we emptied the truck into a rental car and headed home. We are headed to Ohio on Monday to pick up a new truck and trailer.

Some highlights:

- I drove almost 2k miles and backed 22 times.
- Not sure why truck drivers are often overweight as there was literally no time to eat other then when we were being loaded or unloaded.
- The big bad tarping monster is nothing to fear. We had to tarp 2 of 4 loads and both times the shipper pulled the tarps onto the load.
- Truck stops at night are chaotic. Fuel pumps, parking, showers, every man for themselves.
- The clocks, wow. Every second counts. Creeping under 4 MPH is a critical skill so is the ability to eat game how and when to take breaks, get fuel, check loads, etc.
- Route planning. Critical skill. Between Garmin Trucker GPS, the on board Trimple route stuff and google earth, the differences in distance and time is often significant.
- I drove twice into down town Cambridge, MA. Crazy tight turns, narrow streets, ####### drivers, etc, makes for a fun time. We delivered a load of steel decking to a construction site, Had two other company trucks show up. One made it into the correct yard with us. The third driver went down the wrong street and had to drive over raised flower bed on one turn and then kept going and ended up on a side walk, knocking over a light pole onto a build, popping a steer tire and destroying a rim. Driver had been on the road for over six years and had over 600k safe miles.
- Had to supplement my wardrobe and PPE this weekend. New Klein safety helmet with light, an insulated long sleeve shirt, better rain gear and a different belt.
- My trainer is amazing. He radiates knowledge with everything he does. Always teaching, sharing personal experiences, has me doing a lot of stuff right off the bat. I drive over the road ok, but sometimes the speed on downhill turns is intimidating. Watching my trainer drive is like poetry in motion with a little NASCAR.
- Sleeping in the top bunk is no problem. I brought fitted sheets, a really good pillow and wool Army blanket. I sleep in a pair of Ranger panties and wake up every morning feeling pretty refreshed.

This week I drove into New Hampshire, Western NY, Cambridge, Pennsylvania, Jersey and Virginia. This coming week we are going into the midwest.

I have rigged loads in the rain, folded tarps in the early morning chill. I have been hot, cold, physically exhausted, met all sorts of interesting people, etc. This is exactly what I signed up for.

I cannot wait to link up with my trainer on Monday for week two.

 

My trainer provided a short list of stuff to bring the for the first week. After a week I have a better idea of what I need to round out my gear. This weekend I ordered a few things and purchased a few things that I need right now.

For right now I need some warmer work clothes so I purchased a lined button down flannel from Carhart. I also purchased a better safety helmet with an integrated headlamp from Klein. I also searched for and found a multi-tool pliars type thing that I already owned. Seems every time I have to hook up a trailer the seal in the glad hands needs to be straightened out.

I ordered a Garmin OTR truck specific GPS with a 7" screen. It comes with a windshield mount but it looks flimsy. Going to wait and see but suspect I will be sourcing a RAM mount, arm and cradle. I already have a deluxe Rand trucker atlas. Plan is to use the Garmin, the nav feature of the onboard Trimble unit, Google earth on my phone (possibly an iPad on a RAM mount) and the Atlas for trip planning.

I have not ordered it yet but plan to source a strap winder thing. My trainer has two on his truck that we race each other winding straps. I cannot see myself burning time by winding them by hand. I also plan to source a pole thing to put edge protectors on top of tall loads.

 

I was really lucky to get him (name is David) as a trainer. I made it very clear that for now our relationship is trainer and trainee, but I foresee a day after I am out of training and in my own truck that we will be friends. For now, he says/I do. My job is to work him out of a job while asking questions and absorbing as much knowledge as I can from him. Four weeks seems like a long time but it really isn't.