The day has arrived ....

I have been lurking on this forum for almost 4 years and the day has finally come that I make a post and seek some advice.

I have decided to finally shift gears and move into a career that I have been interested in for a long time. I love to drive and traveling in general, decided it is time to get paid for it.

It all started when I kid, I called them "shoo trucks" because of the sound the air brakes make. Even had a few toy trucks, one in which I would ride. Literally I would sit on the trailer and ride it around the house. Now that I am in my late 30's it is time to make the leap from the little toy truck into a real one.

I have decided that the best thing for me and my family is to attend a local technical college to obtain my CDL. I have already contacted the school and I am currently in the process of obtaining the funds to attend, a family member is going to finance it. They limit the class to 7 students and they have two instructors and two road testers. The course is 8 weeks and each student gets 1,000 miles of driving time, which I feel will help prepare well for my new career. This will enable me to have a little more freedom of where I work rather than being a slave to a company for a year or more to pay them back for school.

Now on to obtaining a job after school. The school does have a list of employers that hire their students, there are a few on the list I am interested in and a lot that I am not. I plan to start applying and contacting companies somewhere between 4 and 6 weeks into the program.

Here is my interest list in no particular order:

Prime ( From what I hear they have the best training program out there )
TransAm ( Pay is not great but they make you really comfortable on the road )
H.O. Wolding ( Have not heard much about them, looks decent based on info on their website. They were on the list from the school. )
J & R Shugel ( Have not heard much about them, looks decent based on info on their website. They were on the list from the school. )
Stevens ( Who am I kidding, I just like their big black trucks ... seriously though I have heard more good about them than bad )
Crete / Shaffer ( I heard they hire recent graduates but have not found any indication on their website, says they want at least 4 months experience. )
CFI ( Have not read much on their Student Driver program, but have not heard not many bad things about them in general )
Knight Transportation ( They have a terminal near me in Lakeland and they are on the list from the school )

Obviously based on my list I am most interested in pulling reefer. My understanding is there is always freight in reefer even when other divisions are slow ... everyone needs their food! I am mainly interested in OTR but will take suggestions for regional companies as well.

If anyone has some advice or suggestions I will appreciate it very much. I know the great @Chinatown will be around soon with some great suggestions for me too, being a lurker here for so long I can probably guess at what companies he will suggest but will greatly appreciate him chiming in anyway .

Surprisingly pay is not at the top of my list, but it will be considered during my decision making process. I know I will not get paid much my first year and I am willing to work my butt off to get that much needed experience and earn that raise.

What I am looking for in a company is great equipment, passenger policy, pet policy, easy home time and maybe a fridge or ability to add one. I do plan to eat out of the truck, truck stop food is expensive and sometimes revolting. My mom will be my main passenger ( at least she says she is ), she can cook up some great food with a hotplate, George Foreman grill and a crock pot .

 

I am really willing to pull anything as long as I get some experience. I have read horror stories of waiting days for a reefer load/unload so I understand what I might be getting into with them.

 

She can make pretty much anything. She might just take you up on that offer ... LOL.

 

Oh yeah. I am married, my wife is ready for me to go now ... we are have been together almost 18 years and been married almost 13 years. We do have a daughter, who is almost 13 years old. She is ok with it too.

 

I believe Wolding is Dry Van too and I will be OK with that. I have a friend who drives for Roehl in the dry van division and he loves it. I live about 20 minutes outside their hiring area here in Florida or I would go work with him there.