Question:
Started my official trucking career 30Apr03. Kind of ironic this was also the date of my official retirement from the Navy. Anyhow let me update you on CRST:
01May03 Met trainer in Oklahoma City, he was in a rush to leave heading northeast to NY. Since I was not watching the Weather Channel I did not know of the impending storms hauling from the west to east right behind him.
(Lesson #1- Always watch the Weather Channel, this comes into play later)
Enroute to Nichols, NY about 45 miles east of Binghamton, NY.
02May03 Arrived in Nichols, NY about midnight local time, Delivery date was between 0300-0800 on 03May03. Dropped the trailer in the distribution center and headed for the truckstop around the corner for the night. Miles- 1360
03May03 Picked up a MT trailer from said distribution center in Nichols, and headed to Bradford, Pa for our next load to pickup at 0700 05May03. Deadhead Miles - 165
03-04 May 03- Spent time with trainer going over Qualcom, Backing Manuvers, Trip Packs, Hazmat and general trucking knowledge. Overall very happy about my trainer, very concerned about safety and wants to ensure I have a very good handle on how to safely transport whatever I have in the box.
05May03 Picked up a live load in Bradford Pa at 0700-0800, Left a little after 0800 for our next live load in Akron, Oh. (Lesson #2 Always watch how they load your trailer, we have 3 pickups with this load and the forklift driver decided to place these 11 skids on either side of the trailer leaving about 2 feet between skids in the middle. Not a good idea. Trainer and I spent about 10 minutes staggering the skids for a more secure load)
Needed to pickup in Akron, Oh before 1500. Got into Akron at 1330. Picked up 2 more skids there. Now on our way to Kokomo, Ind for a pickup at 0700 on 06May03. Took our time getting to Kokomo on hwy31. I did all the driving that day, with trainer in Jump seat. Arrived Kokomo about 2200 and settled in for the night.
06May03 Kokomo, Ind Michaels Distribution Center. Arrived at 0630 for a 0700 pickup. Backing into this garage, I say garage because it was a recessed deck into the garage off a side street with not a lot of room. Did a 90deg docking move and got it in there with 2 pullups. Not bad for not doing this in 20 years.
Picked up 9 more skids. Trailer full with 25000 lbs enroute to Lancaster, Ca. for a delivery 0800 on 08May03.
Decided to shutdown in Joplin, Mo for a few hours due to all the storms developing, alot of rain hail and tornados in the neighborhood. Dispatch was notified that we were shutting down and was highly supportive. This did not effect our delivery time.
07May03 Ran into alot of wind in NM and AZ running across I40. Had a dust devil pop up in the center median and attempt to move my trailer about 5 feet, other than that it was just darn windy, 35 or so mph.
Arrived Lancaster,Ca about 2330 my time (Central) and settled in for the night.
08May03 Delivered at 0800 in Lancaster.
Miles- 2560
Dispatch BT us down to Carson, Ca to pick up a MT trailer for our next load, think it was about a 100 miles or so. Got next dispatch at 1330 to head to Santa Clarita, Ca going to Tampa, Fl. Trainer is going on hometime and I decided to stay with this trainer other than take a chance getting someone I don't get along with, oh well 6 days at home will do me good. We get loaded at 1630 (Hazmat Load)(Flammable and Corrosive) and after verifying all Hazmat instructions and routes we are authorized to take (Trainer insisted I do this, Kudos to my Trainer) we are off, almost. Found out whoever had this trailer before us failed to notify maintenance that the trailer had a blown diaphram on one of the trailers brake drums, did not know until the 30000 lbs was placed on the back. Notified Maintenance, night crew, and waited. After about a 7 hour wait road crew shows up and fixes diaphram and we are off.
09May03 0130 left Santa Clarita, Ca. Took I10 across. Damn I didn't know I10 in Texas was 880 miles, ouch.
10May03 arrived in Covington, LA about 1330 to be dropped off for hometime.
Miles- 1890.
So far real happy with CRST.
Downsides-
sleeping in back on crappy roads, I40 thru ARK, I10 thru LA. Two maintenance issues on trailers, lights on one (fixed ourselfs with onhand spares) and brake on the other one.
Upsides-
Trainer is great!
CRST is very safety conscience, with all the storms going on in the Midwest all members of CRST staff in Cedar Rapids stated via Qualcom and phone if you are not comfortable driving in the weather pull over in a safe spot and park until they improve. They then stated that they will move delivery time if needed. Makes me feel better.
Trainer is going to release me at my 21 day and not force me to go the whole training time. I do have some previous experience. I will let yall know what is going on the next time I am on hometime.
If you have any questions I am home for 2 more days and I would be happy to answer them.
John

Answer:
I waver off and on again about getting into trucking and--as much as I like my space--CRST's 20/10 program with 3 drivers as a team seems to be the only one that would get me the home time I want.
I also would consider U.S. Xpress and Swift (simply because I almost always see several of Swift's trucks go by where I live every day). Schneider hasn't sounded too horrible, but I'd want more than 11 days to learn how to drive a semi before hitting the road.
I like how Shuffler describes Werner, but I NEVER see a Werner truck in Central MN. I don't while my days watching the interstate, but I'm on in for at least 6 hours per week on average commuting to one of my jobs.
Where I live, there aren't too many jobs that would pay well even with an advanced degree and moving to a large city would merely make my increased income end up in increased outlays for rent or a mortgage--an item I don't need where I live.
"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy."

Answer:
Glad to hear that things are going well for you.

Answer:
I sent you an email.