Well starting Swift orientation On Monday 26th. Passed my driving test today. Will be going to the DMV tomorrow to get my paper CDL. If you want here is a review of the school I went to. (Silly willy forums will not let me post any links so just go and read my first post if you wish) Been lurking in the Swift forums since February. Was trying to find out what new start I wanted to make after I was fired from call center (Decided not to name my last employer) after two years of working there. Made a stupid mistake and paid the price! 100% at fault and took the punishment. Was out of work for about 9 months living off a small trust so I was able to keep bills paid and money in the checking account. I wanted a different career as call center work has been flooded with people with masters and bachelor degrees and I cannot compete with some dude with a masters degree willing to work for what I would work for with just a high school diploma. I looked at all kinds of stuff from joining the pipe fitters and welding union to trying to be a steady cam operator and everything in between. I was praying hard and for many days and one day somehow I came across Bluebonn post and started reading from page one. Took me till the 32nd page to believe this was a real post and not some troll. Anywho things started to click for me. I am single no wife or kids nothing holding me back and if I am going to sit for 10 hours a day why not have widows instead of sitting inside a cubical which is what I have been doing since 96, call center work. So with the support of my family I decided to start a new career in truck driving. I did pick Swift for a numbers of reason but mainly to be honest nobody else would take me because I was out of work so long and the fact I was fired from my last Job. So I will work for Swift and get the money back that I paid for school and then see what doors are open to me at that time. I will not have any way to keep updated post on this forum as I will not have a laptop to start with. But once I start getting some paychecks in and saving up some cash hopefully I can get one. But until then I will update whenever I can get access to a computer and internet. As I said been lucking in these forums since February and have learned a great deal. Wanted to say thank you for being active on the forums as you have helped many people I have no doubt. God bless all of you. Drive safe everybody.
well matey all the best to ya on your new career just hope you like traveling at 60mph cause thats all they'll let you do.
Na I can do 62... But you will get better fuel mileage than most who pass you. Just enjoy the ride you cannot really get there any faster and have fun with the Elogs. they are a ##### when you get to the last hour you are allowed to drive.
Good luck. I have an eerily similar history as you do and while this lifestyle has its drawbacks it also has some great days. Keep a positive attitude and you will do well trucking.
Well made it thru the first two days of orientation. Lots of paper work and videos to watch. Have more stuff to carry on an already tight load, trying to pack light as possible. So tomorrow I should be getting my driver code and get with a mentor. For those of you that are looking at this and wanting to do flatbed wait time for a mentor is over 3 weeks now and they have stopped taking people till the back log has been taking care of. I am going van so I believe I will get a mentor no problem. So far so good, no surprises. Right now the only thing I am worried about is trip planning. I have a trucker gps and a 2012 ranMcNally truckers road atlas, but I have not had time to try out the gps so I dont know how to work all the gadgets on the thing. But I do hope my mentor is not a dick or some whack job. I want to learn all I can so I am open to learning and taking in ideas and suggesting. I will update again soon as I am able to. Thanks for reading this, God bless, you all drive safe.
After reading bumpinbumpers post I hope to get a mentor, He was not so lucky right of the bat. I am in the PHX terminal wonder how they are doing on mentors, Oh well if I do I do if I have to wait then I will wait.
Got my drivers code today. Got a mentor that will be picking me up on the 1st. Spoke with him shortly over the phone, He is getting baptized tomorrow a very good thing, better late then never. He will be picking me up on the 1st about 6am and I will be on my way. Swift has put me up in the hotel till then. I will have to go to a sim class 7am tomorrow but the class is only two hours long so I guess I will just hang out at the hotel and relax before I hit the road on Friday. I must admit I am a bit nerves but I believe I will do fine. My roommate just got off his trainers truck and will be on his was to pick up his truck tommorrw morning and he said his experience after his first mentor was great and he learned a lot from his second mentor, the mentor did try to keep him after his 240 was done. He went past his 240 by 20 hours, but my roommate said it was his fault for not keeping track of his hours. Not much more to say going to take a shower and watch some TV. Will update when I can. Thanks for reading, God bless all of you and you all drive safe.
good luck with your jurney i had to have two mentors skip out and not call befor i got one and so far he is one kool guy teaching me a lot and just lets me do my own thing but when im in a pinch he just sits there and tells me to calm down and relaxe you got this and i pull out of things with good results but i have a lot more experience then most doing local stuff in the so cal desert for 5 years but becouse i have no otr experience i have to have the mentor and for 240 hrs but once you get rolling it goes buy fast
Well I am out and driving with my mentor. We both get along so that is good. Swift has been keeping the loads on us so I have been able to get them driving hours in fast. Been learning a lot getting some heavy loads in. My first load right out of Phoenix was a max weight load right at 78k. We go to shipper they took there time. Once done I went to raise the landing gear and it would not go up.. Crank would turn and just make loud popping sounds. So we call on road we were only 15 minutes from the main term in Phoenix so they go there with in 30 minutes. They got the landing gear to go up. Went to weight the load and we were over on the drives with the tandems moved all the way forward. So we had to go back and have the shipper rework the load. Had to unhook and drop landing gear for second time, but thankfully the gear went up that next time. Had to drive up and down steep grads so I got the fast track learning on how to keep your speed going down hill and what its like going 15mph up the hill LOL. And that night stopped first time in truck stop sleeping in truck a grandma lot lizard wakes us up knocking on the door. I said no thanks she was nice said sorry for wakening me up. Haha My mentor said he has never had a lot lizard knock on his door till that night. Got that load dropped off, second load was just as heavy so each hill I came across involved some shifting work the truck is only 400 hp so there was lots of down shifting. But over all I have been learning a lot. As I said mentor is cool he is protective of his rig he gets upset when I grind gears mostly happens when I am trying to double down while coming to stops some times I get it smooth as butter some time well not so smooth. Down shifting while truck is on a down grade causes me the most problems. My up shifting is almost flawless my driving is good. My backing well I am still working on that. My mentor fills safe with my driving to start teaming once I hit 50 hours. I am at 37 atm. But over all many things I am taking in, But a lot of repetition so I will get better with time, hopefully with my backing LOL.. I have gained 3 pounds since leaving home So I guess I need to ease off the on the good old comfort food witch you find a lots of while on the road. Not much else to say atm I will keep this thread updated when I can. God bless.
