I'm not going to repeat the why's and how's of my decision to become a trucker, but if anyone wants to read the background it's on the Newbie's Forum in the "Greetings From Grey County" thread. What I intend to do here in this thread is keep a blog on the daily happenings of my new career, right from the first day of my AZ course - which starts tomorrow.

I don't mind saying that I am filled with a mixture of anticipation, dread, doubt and excitement as I get ready to launch the third career change of my life. Since making the decision, I've been roaming the internet and lurking on several trucking forums trying to get a rough idea of what's in store for me in this industry. It is very apparent that trucking is in a big slump just like every other facet of the economy now, but I do see more and more jobs being posted each day as the analysts start broadcasting that we're on our way out of the recession. I'm stubbornly hopeful that someone will want to hire a newly minted AZ Driver with a hell of a lot of life experiences behind him, but at the same time keenly aware that there are literally thousands of experienced drivers out there looking for work, too.

To that end, I've already spoken with the recruiter at Kriska, thanks to a friend of mine who drives for them out of their Prescott terminal. She gave me some very good advice and information, including the suggestion that I apply for my FAST card right away, so as to make myself more attractive to potential employers once I graduate. I did so a few weeks ago and received notification last week that the application was approved. Next Tuesday I have my interview booked at the Fort Erie FAST Enrolment Center for the final steps in processing and obtaining the card.

I've also been browsing through the textbook that Transport Training Centres of Canada gave me back when I registered for the course. As I had suspected, there is a heck of a lot more to trucking than just shifting gears and backing trailers up to docks. Some of it (like the logbook rules and regulations) I'm having a hard time figuring out, but the rest of the material seems to be fairly easy to grasp. I'm looking forward to actually driving a rig, too. I've never been intimidated by machinery or vehicles of any kind and can pretty much drive anything out there. Hey, I used to drive a 40 tonne tank in the military and could balance it on the knife edge of a sand dune, so a Kenworth tractor hauling a long trailer isn't all that scary to me.

Every time a truck rumbles by when I'm out riding my motorcycles, I find myself looking at the driver's door to catch the company name displayed on it. I've bookmarked several of the trucking company websites within a two hour radius of my home and regularly check them for updates on employment opportunities. I resigned myself very early in my decision that I will not be home every weekend and what little home time I will get won't be consistent, but you do what you gotta do to survive and I hope that eventually my wife and I will get used to it. There's always the chance of getting a dedicated run with a local company some day, but I figure for at least the next three years I'll be at the mercy of the dispatcher's whim as to where I go and how long I'll be there.

And so tomorrow it all begins, at 8am in a classroom. I won't be getting much sleep tonight.