Looking For Insight.

Inhale....annnnnd exhale. Ok! Here we go. "Hi,I'm Dave by the way"

I'll keep this as brief as possible. After searching for countless hours about 8 months ago and never taking the plunge, I'm back once again. Lurking several forums looking for answers so I figured why not give a shot and make a post, and maybe some of you guys and gals can throw me a bone.

Brief history, I'm 28 years old, married, ex musician, certified personal trainer, clock puncher at a dead-end 9-5 and soon to be first time father. No criminal history, and besides a couple of tickets when I was teenager my MVR is clean.

Just about as far back as I can remember I've wanted to drive a truck, but for some reason or another I never really pursued it. My grandpa was a trucker but sadly passed in an accident before I was born. Perhaps I got too entangled in everyday life and let it fall to the wayside. Being the musician I was and still am, and having the "self-employed" mindset from a young age I traveled around and pursued music and made enough to get by and also did smart things like getting a lot of tattoos in highly visible places like my hands and neck. Nothing "offensive" but even now so many years later I get passed up on "normal career" jobs even though I'm more then qualified. So after working odd jobs and ultimately this dead-end job I'm currently in, I started to revisit the idea of obtaining my CDL while daydreaming as a mill operator during long 12 hours days for little pay. When I say low pay, I mean BARELY breaking 20k for the entire year if I stay at my current place of employment.

I know of 3 ways to obtain your CDL. Paying out of pocket "ha year right", going to community college "not happening" while I work full time and having to drive 30 miles to the nearest CC that trains you, and lastly the most undesirable "company paid program". Obviously my go to option would be the company paid program with the inevitable signing of a contract to work a certain period of time. To be 100% honest, my goal is NOT OTR. But if it's got to be done just to get my CDL and experience to get to my ultimate goal, then so be it. My ultimate goal would be putting my required time OTR , then coming local and possibly getting on at Old Dominion, Estes, or ABF or possibly something regionalor dedicated. I'd like to ultimately be home daily, or at least on the weekends. I have a couple of buddies that drive. One drives day cabs for HEB, and the other drives for OD. One got his CDL through gradually training with HEB but it took a LONG time to get to that position, becasue the line is long. The other was able to barrow the money from a family member to get his CDL through a private establishment and lucked into a position at Old Dominion.

So my question is, does this seem like a feasible plan? Sucking it, going OTR to gain the experience and obtain my CDL, and then going straight to regional, dedicated, or LTL work? Even something like tanker work intrigues me. Obviously I would have to obtain my hazmat endorsement. But I guess my real question would be, when in company paid school, if you're in a school that's say a few hours away from your home, are you able to come home on the weekends? When you're on the road with a trainer, are you out the entire 4-6 weeks? Or do you get home time somewhere in there?

When you're finally out there solo, how often can you REALISTICALLY expect to get home time? I've read various opinions on this I just want a ballpark figure, as this is something I want my wife to fully be aware of. I also know of all of the horror stories of the "megas" but I also know you can find the negative is just about anything, so I take everything I read with a grain of salt. Being positive truly is a mindset regardless of the situation. I've found that out the hard way over the years. If anyone knows of any companies that have company paid training in Texas I'd appreciate the heads up. I know FFE is based in Texas if I'm correct (probably not). Thank you all for the opinions and taking the time to read this extremely long post.

 

Bakerman, I actually just talked about this recently with my buddy who works at OD. He said they sometimes start you on the dock and if you're interested in driving they will work on training you. But it's one of those things where the timing has to be right and they have to have a position open but it is an option IF it were to work out right.

 

Sorry it was so long Ssand Man, I just didn't want to leave anything out. I will definitely check out Millis. Thanks for the heads up.

 

Understood. Could you elaborate a bit Tarzan?

 

Does not sound like my cup of tea. I appreciate the insight there Flexin.