And so the adventure gets into second gear....

Managed to get a CDL in quick time (3 weeks) and land a job subsequently with Senn Freight in Newberry, SC. I don't even know what moved me to give them a call at the last minute. There isn't much in Newberry. Hell, you have to be a South Carolinian to have even heard of it. How could a podunk little town like Newberry have a carrier with the far reaching freight lanes I'm after ? I'm still stunned that I ran across them. So glad I called.

Today was my last day in my old job of 8 years. Cleared out of my storage unit, shipped all my test equipment back to corporate, turned in my company van, credit card, gas card, etc. Monday starts a week of orientation and securement training. Then it'll be 4-6 weeks in a trainer's truck.

I don't feel crazy at all for doing this. It just feels right. The only part I have any trepidation about is the thought of driving in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco before I have adequate experience. I know I'll be going there sooner or later.

 

Yes. Irregular freight all over the lower 48.

 

I thought I was about to have no other choice. I was about to do what I had to do in order to get started and that was sign on with a mega for a year or so. I had several of them knocking at my door. I kind of liked various companies for various reasons, but none of them provided everything that's important to me.

Maverick has freight lanes that might let me run out west a good bit, but they're exclusively automatic transmissions.

McElroy seems like they may be not quite as big, more of a family atmosphere and has 10-speeds. But they're dedicated around the southeast / mid-atlantic region.

TMC says they run all 48. What they mean is they have trucks that run in all 48. They ain't letting ME run all 48. But they do have very good securement training and competitive pay for rookies.

I was about to suck it up and go with TMC for a place to jump in the pool. Other truckers would snicker at the fake stack but at least you could look cool on the road to everyone else who didn't know better.

Honestly, hauling the same loads week after week with them would get boring to me, especially if I had to run the same routes repeatedly.

The trucks at Senn aren't new. They're a little broke in. They don't have APU's, but that's okay. They don't have cameras either.

Most importantly, I'll get to haul a wide variety of stuff a wide variety of places. Something tells me there'll be some good experience and training in that.

 

So there I was,.....at dinner tonight with the wife. It's the weekend between the big switch and of course she has to express her veiled reservations. She seriously asks how I'm going to deal with the monotony of driving all day. She thinks that would get old quick.

I tell her my job doing diagnostic inspections on surgical equipment got real old a long ###### time ago. It's the same show every day. I don't want to do it anymore. .....No, really. I don't. Even if I had all new accounts to go into, I'm just tired of it. I need to go new places. I need to go far away. I need to do something that pushes me out of my comfort zone and challenges me. I need something that commands my attention, lets me know I'm alive today and kicking ###.


Her response is precisely why I kept my desire to drive a truck to myself for so long. It seems everyone has their own pre-conceived notions and lots of people think it would be about the worst thing they could do for a career. I get it. It ain't for everyone. ....But I ain't everyone. I'm sure I'm geared for this. And in my experiences, life doesn't even begin until you get a little outside your comfort zone.

Hell, before I enlisted in the navy I had every intention of going Marine recon. I wanted to be the point man in a Marine recon unit. How crazy is that ? ....And if not for a smart ### navy recruiter who talked me into some other ideas over a couple pitchers of beer, I'm sure I'd of done just that.

My older sister asked me yesterday if I was scared. I told her I ain't skeered. If I was skeered, I'd of just stayed at the same old job.

Tell you what.... When I'm gone this is what they better put on my epitaph : "There comes a time in every man's life - And I've had plenty of' em."