Finally on to final phase

OK so I cleared every hurdle put in front of me during the process of school and attaining my CDL with Swift. Now I have received my driver code and am just waiting for mentor assignment. Everybody keep your fingers crossed for me.

 

I am excited. Just nervous about the mentor I will be assigned. I will update throughout the process.

 

Ok I now have my driver code, mentor, and schedule as to when we head out. Heading out Monday morning. My mentor is a dedicated Costco driver that gets home every weekend. We spoke on the phone for about 30 minutes and it sounds like a good fit.
For me it is a mixed blessing. Nice to start out regional, but when I get cut loose I am OTR and driving the same routes during training is not going to do much for my trip planning and terrain skills. I am looking forward to starting and keeping my attitude pointed positive. So far so good.

 

First week out incident free and actually learning alot. My mentor is a Costco dedicated driver so I have only been between Morris, IL and the Minneapolis area so far. No horror stories or bad news to report this week. For everybody just starting out training or thinking about starting, do your research and "know" what you are getting into and with who. That means more than listening to disgruntled ex truckers or employess of certain companies. There are ways of getting facts over opinions, you just have to do the work.

 

Home for the holiday. 60 hours down 180 more to go before I get my own truck. Everything going great. Plenty of backing. 23 so far. Most done at night and all have been angle backs from 45 to 90. And 2 parallel blind sides. Hopefully I will get to more than the Costco distribution center and TA in Morris, IL. And an FYI if you are going to stop at tha TA in Morris it is undergoing renovations. Only 3 working showers. So either shower at 1am or wait two hours.