Starting Swift orientation On Monday Wee!!

Well I am here at the hotel till wed my mentor had a family issue and had to get back home ASAP So I am able to give you guys an update on my training. My mentor has been running me hard. He is saying less and less on each run letting me handle most of the steps, from writing all the preplan info down to putting all the macros in and dealing with shipping and receiving people. Learning a ton and I do fill the pressure but I am still holding steady. I do miss sending in the arrived at shipper sometimes and I found out the other day you do not have to be hooked up to an mt to send in the mt marco.

Teaming is a lot of sleeping and driving learning how to work in food and showers witch is good for improving my time management skills. Learning new things by the day. Need better habits with sending in macros on time, witch will come in time as I still have to deal with 20 others things but getting better. My mentor has thanked me many times for picking up on things fast, being safe and being able to learn from my mistakes.

About the truck stop too good to pass up food issue, we went by Wal-Mart and stocked up on foodstuffs so we don’t have to just eat truck stop food witch I still nibble on from time to time. We eat out of the cooler witch helps with the weight issue and the wallet really well. I have been able to shower at least every other day no more then 2 days without a shower, so anybody reading this it’s possible to stay clean and fresh with clean cloths most if not all the time. My mentor did try to push on the showers but I just stopped at a truck stop while he was sleeping and took a dam shower. I get back to the rig he tried to say something, I said something back and that was the end of it. Just stand up for yourself and as long as it was reasonable stop the mentors can say or do nothing but turn over and go back to sleep haha.

As far as the driving part I am learning how to not get so tired while driving it took some adjusting to drive thru the night and I did have to stop and take a short nap from time to time but its getting better and I am able to drive a full 10 in the day time no problem. There are stressful times, tatems not wanting to unlock, stay unlocked or slide, trailers not being were there suppose to be and rude shippers, recivers, clearks and cashiers, preplans that have already been accepted written down and planned for being taking away for no reason and sometimes you and your mentor will not get along, but by the end of the day both parties will be chatting and laughing at each others jokes, that is just the nature of trucking and two strangers living with one another in such a small space.

I am still glad I got in to trucking and I still hope I am able to drive with a clean record for many years to come, I have already seen more of this beautiful country in this short time then I have in my entire life and still have a ton more to see and experience. That is all I can think off atm I will update this thread when I am able. God bless

 

I and a handfull of others did not have to do any driveing test while in orientation. But others did have to go out and do a small drive test. I belive it has to do with how long ago you passed your trucking school driveing test, I tested out AIT Fri and was in Swift orientation that Monday, I did not even need a new Medical as the one I got while in school was still vaild for Swift.

Per diem they have a small section about that. They tell you how it works but its up to you if you take it or not, Swift does not push it at all. Over all for me orentation was filling out paper work watching videos, more paper work, more videos and paper work.

 

Will I am at 195/240 completed. Learning a ton. Ready to move on to solo getting tired of sharing a truck. LOL mentor and I are still getting along but you can tell were getting tired of each other. This morning as my mentor was waking from his 10hr break he told me he had a dream that we got in to a fight. I laughed and asked who won, He said it did not matter and dropped it. He does things that bug me but I don’t make a stink over it and will not discusses it on this forum as I will be out of his truck sooner then not.

I do things that bug him, mostly don’t drive as fast as he wants me to. He is the trucker that likes to go 10 to 15mph over the speed limit, I don’t like doing that and will only go as fast as traffic or a couple over depends, and that seems to get on his nerves, as I told him ohwell. (he did not like me telling him that either LOL.) But we are both being professional and I will make it thru the 240 No problem.

Got everything under control except my backing. I still have not got it 100%. I am able to back up ok in the bigger lots but in the small lots I am still not able to get the trailer in the hole. I will work hard on this but as OTR I don’t get to back to much. And a lot of times my part of the driving day is just driving and not delivering. As long as I can get this backing under control then I am good to go solo imo.

Getting to see a lot of the country , Saw traffic go from 60mph to dead stop truck in front of me locked up went to the left across two lanes of traffic ended up almost going in to the ditch but kept the truck on the rocks and got back up on the road. I asked if he was doing a break check and his response was yea a small one and laughed, He did get warnings from other drivers they were saying the traffic stops rather fast guess he did not hear them over the cb, even I had to step on it rather hard to stop safely. Saw a dump truck go up. The back tires caught on fire was amazed how fast a metal truck can go up in flames. Well that is all I have for now will updated again when I can. God Bless

 

OK well I made it. I am now a Solo driver. Tested out in Laredo TX, And I thought Dallas was hot and muggy LOL. Well it was an experience and was not easy. But I had a mentor I was able to get along with and stay with him for the whole 240+ hours and not have to go thru 2 or 3 mentors like I am seeing others having to do on this forum.


There are going to be times when you get very stressed but those times only last for so long then your back on a road for 200+ miles and able to chill out and just drive relax and enjoy the sights. About all the bad mentor reviews I see on this forum, IMO I believe people are getting to uptight with the mentors they have and just fly out and drop their mentors trying to find a better one. I don't believe you're going to find a better mentor there all going to piss you off one way or another, most Swift mentors are just doing for the extra money and that is IT.



Just deal with the guy unless you're in real harm (I.E bluebonn first mentor) stick with it get the 240 done with and get your truck. For example my mentor would constantly piss in his truck in a bottle even if there was a bathroom nearby, I.E in TS parking lot, in front of his own home. He just was too lazy to put on his shoes and get out and go to the bathroom, every time he did this it stunk up the truck something awful, I never thought someone's piss could stink sooooo bad. Each time he did this I had to make sure the fresh are vent was turned on and the smell would fade in a minute are so. It was disgusting.


I have pulled to the side of the road went around and did my thing but never inside the truck nor will I ever do that. But I dealt with it and reminded myself to get them hours done with asap each time he did that. That was just one issue I had with my mentor, enough on that subject. SO about getting my truck as you all would have probley guessed once I tested out I was sent back home to Vegas since nobody had available trucks for me or my Friend that tested out at the same time at the PHX term. No trucks in Laredo, Dallas or Phoenix. So I was put on a 34 hour bus ride back to Vegas.


5 buses and many stressed hours later I made it home with my sanity and luggage still in my possession. So while I am here, I went ahead and took my DMV hazmat test to get my hazmat endorsement, so I have that now. Spoke with my DM and he advised me WHEN a truck does become avail he might have to send me to Memphis TN to get it. OMG not another bus ride. I really don't want to have to take a bus, I would rent a car and drive but most rent a car places don't let you do one way rentals and National rent a car the only one I can find that will let you do one way rentals says you must have a major CC not tied to a checking account, and I don't have a major cc. Buying a plane ticket would be fine but that needs to be planned out weeks in advance, not practical to buy a plane ticket less than a week in advance.



So with that I am doomed to have to ride that darn buss once again. Got my home stuff taken care of and will call my DM again Wed to get an update on were my truck will be if one is available at all. So that is that. I blogged about my school and my first 240+ with swift. Hope my recorded experience will give some an insight into the first month starting with Swift. I learned a lot from Truckers Report.com so I thought I would do my part and give something back weather this blog is read or not I did my part. Thanks for reading stay safe everybody and God bless.