Hello from east tennessee

This is some stuff to REALLY think about before hand. It is a lot harder on you, your family, and your home life than you think. When I went through orientation when they asked if any of us were married, they said that all of us that raised our hands would be gone in a year. I myself went out with a 4 year old daughter and a wife at home with the plans of putting in some time OTR to get the experience to get a good local gig. It was hard on my family and myself, being home maybe 4 days a month. It was very hard on my wife. With in a year I was off the road and being a fulltime dad raising my daughter solo. My wife couldn't handle it and went her own route. It can and does work well for some families, but not all by any means. If you do decide to drive, even regional and not being gone for long times, I would strongly suggest having some good in depth talks with your wife. Make sure you both understand that it isn't all great most of the time, unlike a lot of recruiters may make it sound. It can be rough.
For myself, I went through Swift to get my CDL and drive. I went to there school in Lewiston, ID and drove for close to a year. Back then your school was paid for my them if you stayed a year, it may be different now. There are a lot of negative comments about Swift out there, along with many other companies, I didn't have a problem with them at all. Anything negative I had to say was with the life of driving, not the company. I am actually looking into going back out with Swift now that my daughter is older. You just need to find a company that fits for you. take all the good and bad opinions with a grain of salt, look into what works for you, and figure out where you fit in well.
Good luck with whatever route you decide to go

 

Crete Carriers has a terminal in Lenoir City and take students from certain schools. They have dry van, reefer, flatbed.

 

Crete/Schaffer is a really good company but be sure to give them a call first before going through school if you are interested in driving for them. The only accept students from certain accredited schools.

 

Chompi is right. I wouldn't recommend this field to those that are married,especially with children. Now the married part alone might not be much of an obstacle if she/he does not have a demanding career, they can ride with you. Most carriers do have a rider program but do have restrictions such as age of the rider and the time that you are with the company. You say that you have experience in the automotive mechanic field, you might ought to considered field on working on the big rigs. With the clamp down on the Big Rigs by the DOT and the CSA scores. There will be a big demand in that field.

 

Ive been talking to a lot of Maverick drivers, they seem to really like it. If you go flatbed there is a good chance on being home almost every weekend. Also, for Thanksgiving a couple drivers I talked to were home for the holiday. They got home on a Wed night and are home until Monday. So that is a good quality time home with the family. I have a gf and don't know yet if I really want to be gone all week and only see her two times a week. But I am only making 8/hr and can barely afford to eat, let alone pay bills. So I am looking at driving for Maverick. They also have very nice equipment, all their trucks are autos.