Considering Prime, Sell me

If you can do it, stay with your trainer through at least most of the winter. I80 in Wyoming in January sucks very much badly. You also have mountain crossings to deal with. There's a lot to learn and that takes time

 

And remember, that just because you have the (random number of miles required this week) doesn't mean you HAVE to get off the truck and upgrade. Prime can extend your training, and so can you.

 

You get the guarantee up to 80,000 miles. Seeing snow n ice for the first time while alone sucks

 

As always, thank you for your kind words. My arrogance is in no way appalling. My family is now down to my wife and dog. She's from the Philippines and wants to see America, so she and the dog can be my navigation team.
In fact, she may want to get her CDL and we can team. She is petite... 5'0"... but I think she can reach the pedals![/QUOTE]

 

Yep. I'm a cold weather wuss in the first place, but I can adapt. It's good advice from you and DTB to stay on thru some of the winter to get more experience.
I intend to get this right the first time so, if extra time is required, then I'll do it.

 

I think it was Gator? that went an extra 30 days w/ his trainer, and they specifically went into the western passes after the snow started flying. (This includes AZ, CO, CA, UT, OR, etc). And the snow can start flying in September.

 

Ha ha! Rusty the Wonder Dawg is a Terrier Mutt I rescued from a local adoption agency. He's small, ~15 lbs, and friendly, affectionate and a non-yapper He'd take up with anyone who give his head a nice rub. To my dismay, he's not really a car dog. Has no interest in hanging his head out the window and letting his tongue and hears flap in the wind. He just sits quietly and watches the world go by. Sort of like Ferdinand the Bull, if you're familiar with that old childrens book.

 

I know I'm coming off a bit hard-a%% on that, but we get a lot of newbs who have a romantic idea of what trucking is. BJ and the Bear is not trucking, and neither are those bozos on Ice Road Truckers.

The first year is the toughest, because you will experience a drastic change in lifestyle. Many folks cannot abide what they have to go through to be a successful truck driver. Your sleep patterns have to change. There's the long separations from family, and isolation that trucking entails. Your eating habits have to change - if you don't want to resemble a hippopotamus in a couple of years. Then there's stress - traffic, manuevering a huge vehicle in tiny corners - and frankly on a two-lane highway with no shoulders and a steep drop off the side you have exactly one chance to get it right. And I guarantee you will be scared to the point of not needing a laxitive the first time you drive on ice/snow/howling cross-wind.

You WILL drive at night.

You WILL drive in inclement weather.

You WILL do your job outside in 110-degrees or 10-below-zero.

No one is going to demand that you drive in dangerous situations or conditions beyond your ability, but there are limits to what can be tolerated. At least one guy who posted here last winter did agree to leave because he couldn't deal with winter driving.

There are a lot of folks who cannot deal with this, and your post about "training when its nice out because I don't wanna do it when its narsty" reminds me of many folks who couldn't last a year. What I'm getting at is this is a good time to do a reality check, and make sure this is something you really want to do. Coming to any training company for what amounts to "a free CDL" can be rather expensive if you decide to reneg on the quid pro quo.

 

Thank you! I appreciate your brutal frankness. But that post wasn't me... I have no romantic notions of "being on the road" and all that blather. I EXPECT to go thru hell, and expect I will..
BUT... I also expect to earn a decent living for the first time in a few years and maybe even bank some money. My overhead at this point in life is really low. No more kids. No more child support. No more allimony, etc. I live "low rent" by choice. I expect to make it! Period.

Oh, I still haven't seen BJ and the Bear or Smokey and the Bandit. Are they any good?

 

Its required that you see Smokey and the Bandit. Lol