Got my application in to Swift. Davis, CA, west of Sacramento. What to expect?

I think when you're coming west on I 80 into Sacramento, there is a Fry's electronics over on the right out there. Well, some trucks park in there, but the reason I mention it is because they do have the small slow cookers in there, I bought a little 100 watt crock pot and plugged it into the little 400 watt cigarette lighter plug in inverter to cook canned stuff. Only problem was that the wiring got very hot and I could smell preburning plastic.

They sell an even smaller crock pot than the one I have, it is designed for the size of 1 can of soup or raviolis or whatever you want to put in there. I may buy that one next time myself and see if it doesn't do the meltdown.

One of my favorite dinners out here is so simple-- Campbells Hearty Bean and Ham soup and a small can of cream corn, or carrots and peas or green beans etc mixed together in the crock pot for about an hour. Couple slices of bread and butter and some cottage cheese and chug of milk chaser and that's dinner for me lol.

Breakfast is about an inch and a half of grape nuts in the bottom of the bowl with raisin bran on top then 2 of those little fruit packet things and milk.

I should mention I do have a small generator on board and an air conditioner. Last week at home I brought the coffee maker out on the truck--got tired of paying $1.84 for a lukewarm 12 hour old nasty bitter truck stop coffee and $2.54 for a large decent coffee at McD's. There's nothing like that fresh coffee aroma wafting through the truck as it brews about half an hour before the alarm goes off.

In between all that I usually buy a 1 foot long Subway sandwich, eat half now and stick the other half in the fridge for later. Very spartan diet and spartan lifestyle. Have to, most of my money goes to the ex, then the IRS lol.

 

You're on the Swift thread so more than likely it is a Swift guy talking to you. Scottie is a Swift owner operator. He may have a regular fridge in his truck, I don't know, but most of us have a coleman plug in to the cigarette lighter type of cooler that we refer to as a fridge. You used to be able to get them for $99 at Pilot and Walmart, but I think they run about $130 now.

 

the guy who had my truck before me left a 12 volt ice chest in here so luckily i inherited that along with a cb radio but not sure if the mechanic installed it correctly. either that or nobody talks to me lol. and idk bear you might be in a hard spot on a truck cause scottie has a generator. if you cant eat anything but those three things i hate to turn anyone away from trucking but you might want to stay close to the house

 

Swift has no policy against cooking on the truck. As long as you don't install an inverter connected to the batteries directly, not a big issue. You can buy the inverters that plug into the lighters but watch the wattage. The issue I am seeing is your needs while on the mentor's truck. You will be a guest on his truck, does he want you bringing all that you need into an already cramped space. What will you do when you have all that stuff on the truck and the two of you have a problem that requires you to get off the truck? It happens. There you are stuck in the middle of nowhere with all the extra stuff needing to get to and on a bus to get you back to a terminal or home.

Once you are on your own you won't have a problem, it becomes your space, fill it as you need.

 

Understand that after you get your class A CDL you will be assigned to the mentor's truck for 240 hours driving time, about 6 weeks on average. After you have driven 50 hours the truck moves from solo status to team per the mentor's evaluation of you, if he doesn't think you are ready, it is delayed. In an ideal world that truck would be constantly rolling, but this is Swift, and it isn't an ideal world.

There are a few mentors out there that may have what you need to cook with. They are probably owner ops. I recommend that you call the terminal closest to you and ask to speak to the driver service manager that handles students. Be honest with them about your dietary needs and fully discuss the possibilities of getting this done as you need to. The recruiter will gloss over the problems and just say "I am sure we can get that all worked out down the road". In your situation down the road is too late, you need to know now if it can be done. Your wait for a mentor might be a bit longer than most considering what you need. Good luck.