Edwardsville, KS Orientation Jan 28

This will be my one and only fully sappy post. Since nothing really happened today but leaving home and checking into the hotel.

Today started like any other; I awoke in my bed to sound of my dog snoring, my fan blowing, and the warmth of my wife curled up next to me. Now here we are 16 hours later; I am in a sleeping bag on top of a "nicely" made bed in fear of catching something, the smell of smoke covers everything even though it is a non-smoking room and I am 244 miles from a bed that I very well might not see for the next 6-8 weeks. In the days leading up to this I made my wife promise me she wouldn't cry when I went to leave, worried that she would get all emotional and make me start crying. But as I was standing there in the door way holding my daughter and realizing the countless laughs and smiles I am going to miss, the tears started falling. As I hug my wife and say my goodbyes the doubt starts setting in. I drive away watching my daughter and wife wave to me in the window, I can barely see from the tears streaming down my face. I have no choice but to ask God for guidance that I am doing the right thing. As I feel the miles separating me from the better half of my heart, I can't help but notice that in my rear view mirror I see gray overcast skies with some rain showers mixed in and up ahead in the distance I notice the cloud cover breaking up and the sun starting to poke through the clouds. The farther I go from my happy life, the more the hole in my heart grows but as if God is telling me that it is just the dawning of a new day. Then the clouds break and the sun is blinding in my windshield. Everyone who has ever been up extremely early before knows that it is always darkest before the dawn. Well the dawn has come. While I will miss my family and even break down again like i did half way here when I got a text message from my wife telling me my daughter is at the top of the steps yelling 'dad', I know that the steps I am taking will ensure that my family can remain financially secure for years to come. My new motto for life is With great sacrifice, comes great rewards!
This ends the sappiness of my blog. I will focus on the process starting tomorrow I have three long days ahead of my that will only get longer when I start driving.
Mark Fantroy
Soon to be - Driver
www.markfantroy.com

 

Today's blog is guaranteed NOT to be the most interesting blog that get posted on here, in fact with the exception of tomorrow's it has a shot to be the worst, so please do not judge this blog by the next two days. I am in the middle of Swift Orientation, while very informative there is only so many ways the instructor can make boring training videos fun. The day started at 5:00am, even though my alarm was set for 6:00am. After getting ready, I headed downstairs for the free continental breakfast (which as disappointing as the rooms are) turned out to be very good! To bad it was DOT Physical day so I couldn't really enjoy it! I headed to the terminal at 6:45am in order to make sure there were no hiccups in finding where I was supposed to be. I got there around 7:00am and got to sit around until 7:30am when it started. We spent the first hour filling out paperwork, including all the stuff for the physical, and around 8:00am they started taking us back for the drug screening. After the drug screening, it was off to the nurse for height and weight, eye test, hearing test and vital signs. As we are going one by one into the rooms for the nurse, drug screen and doctor; they are showing all the required videos that are no fun for anyone. Once the doctor signed off on my medical card and the movies were over, we started doing some of the "training". It seems they have an unusual but effective way to address safety, we spent a large chunk of the day watching videos of crashes and then while it would normally look like it was not the drivers fault we broke it down to address the new category that professional drivers face. While it might not even be your fault you can still get tagged with a preventable accident.


For instance in the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVaBJBQKs1g the driver at the end was not at fault, however he should have been going slower and paying attention. He got charged on his Driving Record with a preventable accident.


We also covered our HAZMAT training which I paid close attention to since I do have my HAZMAT and that was very useful.


Tomorrow, we are working on paper logs and E-logs, during training we do both. We keep the paper logs and the e-logs for the experience. I also found the company store, I could get into some serious trouble in there! I have decided that when I get assigned my first truck I will by the die-cast model to match it.



Another piece of advice when staying at cheap hotels: get yourself one of those light sockets that adds an outlet since they don't have enough power outlets, with one of those I can now charge my phone right on the bedside table.

Mark Fantroy
Soon to be - Driver
www.markfantroy.com

 

we all though it was not preventable, but he broke down the video and said that when the car first spun out he had time to slow dowb but didnt. Right before impact the tractor jerked to the right, which he said was an indication that was when he slammed on the breaks. If he had been looking 12-15 seconds ahead and going slow enough to stop for the conditions the car would spun off into the woods. Again moat of us kinda left with the feeling the lesson was no matter what they will find a way to hit you with a preventable accident.

 

Day 4
Well today was a big day, during orientation they run all the background checks and employment verification, while I wasn't worried I was told not to relax until I get my driver number. Right around 4:00pm they gave all of us our driver numbers, which means I'm officially working for Swift! One person left right away with a mentor; another person (who happens to be my roommate tonight) got the contact info, spoke with his mentor and will be heading out tomorrow. The rest of us have to go back in at 9:00am and work on our required classes until the student driver leader comes in and finds the rest of us mentors. Hopefully I will be headed out tomorrow; I got my fuel card and training packet. In addition to my 240 hours, I have to complete 40 backings before I can be released to go solo; and on top of that (and a list of other things) my mentor will be scoring me on at different milestones behind the wheel. The first milestone is when I reach 50 hours behind the wheel, up until then we drive with the mentor riding in the right seat the entire time. He then gets to decide if he feels safe with me driving alone and we start team driving. He sleeps while I drive and when he drives I sleep; the truck doesn't stop except for fueling and showers. We also did the e-log class today, while we are training we have to keep paper logs in addition to keeping the e-logs so that we get the experience in case the Qualcomm system ever goes down. Getting excited now! I am hoping tomorrow is the day I get to head out on the road and then the fun posts begin. I will be posting pictures and videos of my travels, but that is all for now.

Mark Fantroy
Soon to be - Driver
www.markfantroy.com

 

Well I get to sit and wait at the terminal until I get a mentor, it does give me time to complete all the online training that is required before I finish my 240 hours though! I only have 2 left.

Mark

 

Well today was a lot more interesting, I got to sleep in until 7:00am since I didn't have to be at the terminal until 9:00am. #I got to the terminal and turned in my receipts for gas for the trip in and for my HAZMAT endorsement; then it was a lot of sitting around waiting. #There is a long list of classes that have to be completed before the end of our 240 hours, and I had them all done before noon. #Then around 2:30pm the training driver manager came out and introduced me to my mentor, Stan. #Stan told me he had to replace a mud flap and then we were hitting the road. #I ran out to my car and grabbed my bag, loaded up, we pulled out of the terminal right after 3:00pm headed to Fremont, NE where we were going to spend the night at the drop off location. #We drove nonstop and about a mile before the drop, we pulled into a Walmart so I could get some food supplies since he has a cooler. #When we got down to the receiver they came out and said they wanted to unload tonight (while it was only 4 degrees) and in the morning it was going to be below 0! #So we let them unload and then headed on to our last stop in Lincoln, NE. #We will unload in the morning then pick up a load and head to Memphis, TN. #My mentor runs a dedicated account, so we will be picking up just outside of Memphis and delivering to multiple stops between New Orleans and South Dakota, but mostly Memphis to Nebraska with stops in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. #For obvious reasons I will never say what I am hauling, so to keep it simple from today until the day I retire, I will be hauling random food items. #Like today I have a trailer full of potatoes!#

As far as my mentor goes (so far) I am counting my blessings because he really seems to want to teach me what I need to know. #Plus with multiple stops per trip I get plenty of chances to back. #I will be training on a 2013 International that rolled over 50,000 miles today, so I consider myself #### lucky. #Tomorrow morning I get behind the wheel and with the exception of the one pick up we hope to get, it will be straight back to Memphis. #Starting tomorrow I will be keeping a running total of miles driven and adding it to the bottom of my post.

From Lincoln, NE, good night and stay warm!

Mark Fantroy
Soon to be - Driver
www.markfantroy.com

 

Since things are getting busier, and I am not having the sit around time I used to I am not going to be posting everyday. I will spread them out and just keep a notepad so I remember some things. if you want to keep up with it you can visit my website and follow my facebook page. www.markfantroy.com www.facebook.com/MarkFantroyDriver

Thanks,
Mark