Sunday, April 6, 2008
I'm in the club!!
Well...... and the results....... I passed!!! Did good on all areas. Strted with pretrip which was done inside a garage which was good because it's rainy here. After that was the skills in which I only had a minus 4 points. I had three pull ups in alley dock and I wasn't close enough to a square on one of the pararrells. Then I started the road test in pouring rain. Right out of the gate I got nervous and forgot what gear I was in. So I was grinding like crazy until I came to almost a stop and slammed third. Whew! She didn't tell me to turn around, so once my nerves were calmed I wasn't grinding anymore. The only thing she mentioned at the end was that I didn't look enough on some interesections and my shifting was rough at first but improved through the whole trip. I made sure and had three SMOOTH downshifts to go back to the test site. When I got back from school I had a phone message from a company and my orientation is next week. I am now in the big rigs club.
Day 16,Today started off great. I was the first one in the truck. Took it around the range a few times to warm it up. Then on the road we went. I got to drive in this industrial park right off I44. I did better this time and making good improvements. After the others drove we headed to Prime's headquarters. We got a full tour of all their facilities. I got to sit in a new FL Century. Their place is massive. Everyone seemed nice and the recruiter wasn't pushy at all. I ignored all the bells and whistles and concentrated o different things about Prime. I will be giving then an app this week. One of three on my list. Afterwards we got a free lunch in Prime's cafeteria then we headed back to the range for more backing exercises. I got all four skills done perfectly without pullups at the end of the day. Perfect. We went over pretrip and called it a day.
Day 17,Started as usual a couple of rounds on the range then on the road. Me and another person did better today. The third student didn't. She had trouble with shifting, shifted and had to stop in intersections, had rolling stops through stop signs, and other such mistakes. The thing our instructor said was that a person needs to get out of "four-wheeler mode". Approach stops, intersections and turns differently and slowly. We ended up taking a break at Transland and took a tour of their place. It's a small company with dry-van and flatbed that has about 185 trucks. Our instructor worked for them and had nothing bad to say about them. They are on my list of apps. We got inside a 2008 Peterbilt and looked around. Nice Truck! After the break we headed back to the school and listened to the Coca-Cola recruiter/manager give us his sales pitch. Unfortunately for him everyone in the class is wanting to go OTR. After that we headed to the range to abuse some orange cones. I nailed all four skills test items with no pull ups or barrier passings. The teachers both told us that since it was good friday that everyone would have today (friday) off. But they got together and two students are going a half-day today because they need the extra attention. One of them is the woman in our truck and one from the other truck. It felt good to hear from the teachers that we were doing good enough at this point. Right now the mistakes I am making is just breaking a couple of Four wheeler habits. Everyone have a good weekend and Happy Easter!!
Day 18 Did more of the same. Listened to another recruiter. All of us are coming along nicely. I have more confidence and I am controlling the truck better.
Day 19. Warmed up on the range at alley dock till the CFI guy came. After the recruiter's speech we were on the road. We had to get 8 tires replaced on the trailer so we walked to the T/A at exit 88 on I44 where we had a two hour lunch. After that we hit the road course and did pretty good. I have a lot more confidence in the real driving world in this thing. I only missed a downshift once but recovered nicely. I have a question for the more experienced drivers: We are being taught to NOT shift while turning or going through an intersection. I am watching truckers left and right do it though. Is that no shifting rule just for the DOT test (like double clutching) or everyone "breaking the rules"?
Day 21,Yeah I know I skipped day 20 but I was tired and it was basically the same thing. Today was different. We practiced skills and then we headed out to the Ozarkian hills into Branson. Then we drove to Springfield Peterbilt and looked around. We got inside a 386 and a 387. NICE trucks! Ate lunch at exit 88 truckstop and then we headed back. Did more skills and it was my turn to pre-trip. The instructor said I would have passed just like I did it today.
Well this was the last full week. Everything is coming together. Not only am I doing the skills test part well I am understanding why I do well or what my mistake was. I am learning the pivot point of the trailer. A fellow student gave me a tip on my parrerel set ups and now I am nailing them all the time. Out of the three of us in the Freightliner two of us are ready. One still needs a lot of work and she is going to get some extra practice time tomorrow. Today we did skills in the morning and then we hit the road. Our total trip was 175 miles today. We went to Branson then came back and went to MT. Vernon. We stopped at the T/A at yardstick 46 and then we hit the road again. Then the incident happened. We took the outer road east to the next exit to get on I44. This is to avoid the traffic jam that occurs at the TA. I went over the overpass and was on the ramp to get on 44. There was a truck ahead of me when I had to stop to wait for traffic before I can turn left. I turn left and I see the the truck had stopped on the shoulder right before the on ramp lane ends. I am gearing up pretty quick and was at 7th when I noticed that the front of his truck was in my lane, He hadn't parked all the way on the shoulder afterall. My choices: If I dart out in the freeway I risk a huge accident being rearended by other 18 wheelers who are doing 65mph+, or risk Hitting the guy on the right who is parked wrong. Here's what I did: In one instant I looked left as I hit the brakes. Both freeway lanes are filled with other big trucks. So I didn't go out.Then I watched my right while I am braking. I stop just before getting to the parked truck. Meanwhile another 18 wheeler behind me sees my dilema, he waits for traffic to clear and then bolts out to the freeway but keeps it slow to let me in because I have to move around the parked truck. As we passed it I looked at the driver and it looked like his truck shutdown and he was on the CB. This all happened over about 5 seconds of time.The instructor said that I did very well in handling the situation. The way the parked truck was angled there was no way we could tell that he was still out partially. Since I was careful coming up beside him and was not going full force I was able to correct in time without endangering anyone else. We got back to the school and did more range time on our skills. As I was leaving today he said that I was doing real good and I had nothing to worry about. I have only three days left. Monday is a normal day, Tuesday we will watch some of the night students take their test. Wednesday I have a dentist appointment and then Thursday my CDL test. Bring it on I can't wait!!
Day 23 and 24,Monday and Tuesday were basically the same. Road practice and skills practice. Tuesday some got to witness members of the night class do their test. They came back and said that we are overprepared for the Pretrip. On my skills at one point I hit all of them without any pullups. My road performance is decent. I should be ok as long as I don't get nervous. Everyone in the class tested today. Except me. I had to have this laser gum procedure at the dentist so they moved my test to tomorrow. I will go to the school and drive the truck to the test site. I don't know how the others did. I will find out tomorrow.
Day 17,Started as usual a couple of rounds on the range then on the road. Me and another person did better today. The third student didn't. She had trouble with shifting, shifted and had to stop in intersections, had rolling stops through stop signs, and other such mistakes. The thing our instructor said was that a person needs to get out of "four-wheeler mode". Approach stops, intersections and turns differently and slowly. We ended up taking a break at Transland and took a tour of their place. It's a small company with dry-van and flatbed that has about 185 trucks. Our instructor worked for them and had nothing bad to say about them. They are on my list of apps. We got inside a 2008 Peterbilt and looked around. Nice Truck! After the break we headed back to the school and listened to the Coca-Cola recruiter/manager give us his sales pitch. Unfortunately for him everyone in the class is wanting to go OTR. After that we headed to the range to abuse some orange cones. I nailed all four skills test items with no pull ups or barrier passings. The teachers both told us that since it was good friday that everyone would have today (friday) off. But they got together and two students are going a half-day today because they need the extra attention. One of them is the woman in our truck and one from the other truck. It felt good to hear from the teachers that we were doing good enough at this point. Right now the mistakes I am making is just breaking a couple of Four wheeler habits. Everyone have a good weekend and Happy Easter!!
Day 18 Did more of the same. Listened to another recruiter. All of us are coming along nicely. I have more confidence and I am controlling the truck better.
Day 19. Warmed up on the range at alley dock till the CFI guy came. After the recruiter's speech we were on the road. We had to get 8 tires replaced on the trailer so we walked to the T/A at exit 88 on I44 where we had a two hour lunch. After that we hit the road course and did pretty good. I have a lot more confidence in the real driving world in this thing. I only missed a downshift once but recovered nicely. I have a question for the more experienced drivers: We are being taught to NOT shift while turning or going through an intersection. I am watching truckers left and right do it though. Is that no shifting rule just for the DOT test (like double clutching) or everyone "breaking the rules"?
Day 21,Yeah I know I skipped day 20 but I was tired and it was basically the same thing. Today was different. We practiced skills and then we headed out to the Ozarkian hills into Branson. Then we drove to Springfield Peterbilt and looked around. We got inside a 386 and a 387. NICE trucks! Ate lunch at exit 88 truckstop and then we headed back. Did more skills and it was my turn to pre-trip. The instructor said I would have passed just like I did it today.
Well this was the last full week. Everything is coming together. Not only am I doing the skills test part well I am understanding why I do well or what my mistake was. I am learning the pivot point of the trailer. A fellow student gave me a tip on my parrerel set ups and now I am nailing them all the time. Out of the three of us in the Freightliner two of us are ready. One still needs a lot of work and she is going to get some extra practice time tomorrow. Today we did skills in the morning and then we hit the road. Our total trip was 175 miles today. We went to Branson then came back and went to MT. Vernon. We stopped at the T/A at yardstick 46 and then we hit the road again. Then the incident happened. We took the outer road east to the next exit to get on I44. This is to avoid the traffic jam that occurs at the TA. I went over the overpass and was on the ramp to get on 44. There was a truck ahead of me when I had to stop to wait for traffic before I can turn left. I turn left and I see the the truck had stopped on the shoulder right before the on ramp lane ends. I am gearing up pretty quick and was at 7th when I noticed that the front of his truck was in my lane, He hadn't parked all the way on the shoulder afterall. My choices: If I dart out in the freeway I risk a huge accident being rearended by other 18 wheelers who are doing 65mph+, or risk Hitting the guy on the right who is parked wrong. Here's what I did: In one instant I looked left as I hit the brakes. Both freeway lanes are filled with other big trucks. So I didn't go out.Then I watched my right while I am braking. I stop just before getting to the parked truck. Meanwhile another 18 wheeler behind me sees my dilema, he waits for traffic to clear and then bolts out to the freeway but keeps it slow to let me in because I have to move around the parked truck. As we passed it I looked at the driver and it looked like his truck shutdown and he was on the CB. This all happened over about 5 seconds of time.The instructor said that I did very well in handling the situation. The way the parked truck was angled there was no way we could tell that he was still out partially. Since I was careful coming up beside him and was not going full force I was able to correct in time without endangering anyone else. We got back to the school and did more range time on our skills. As I was leaving today he said that I was doing real good and I had nothing to worry about. I have only three days left. Monday is a normal day, Tuesday we will watch some of the night students take their test. Wednesday I have a dentist appointment and then Thursday my CDL test. Bring it on I can't wait!!
Day 23 and 24,Monday and Tuesday were basically the same. Road practice and skills practice. Tuesday some got to witness members of the night class do their test. They came back and said that we are overprepared for the Pretrip. On my skills at one point I hit all of them without any pullups. My road performance is decent. I should be ok as long as I don't get nervous. Everyone in the class tested today. Except me. I had to have this laser gum procedure at the dentist so they moved my test to tomorrow. I will go to the school and drive the truck to the test site. I don't know how the others did. I will find out tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Day 15
Day 15,
Well dang it. I was on my way to school when I reached the outer road it's on when I see one of the teachers and a couple of service vehicles blocking the road. I guess the road was really flooded and she had to be pulled out by the fire department. She is ok but her vehicle wasn't starting. The other teacher turned us around and said we had the day off. It's been raining here like crazy and it's flooding everywhere so I am not too surprised. The bummer is I miss out on some truck time and the recruiter from CFI was supposed to show up today.
Well dang it. I was on my way to school when I reached the outer road it's on when I see one of the teachers and a couple of service vehicles blocking the road. I guess the road was really flooded and she had to be pulled out by the fire department. She is ok but her vehicle wasn't starting. The other teacher turned us around and said we had the day off. It's been raining here like crazy and it's flooding everywhere so I am not too surprised. The bummer is I miss out on some truck time and the recruiter from CFI was supposed to show up today.
Day 14
Day 14
Instead of class at 8am I went to the DMV and got my hazmat written test done. Only missed one question. So when I have my CDL-A I will have tanker, doubles, triples, and Hazmat endorsements. Yay me!! Went to class everyone was on the range. After some backing exercises we wnt on the road. Went over the areas where the DOT will test us on our raod course. Pulling the trailer around is not a problem with me but I still need to get my down shifting down and control my speed around turns when I don't have to stop. Like a rolling right turn etc. After a quick meal on the road we went back to the range. It was my turn on the pretrip and I did ok. Conway/CFI will have a recruiter tomorrow so I am curious about that. CFI is one of the companies I am looking at. Looks like tomorrow I will experience the big rig in the rain. Until next time....
Instead of class at 8am I went to the DMV and got my hazmat written test done. Only missed one question. So when I have my CDL-A I will have tanker, doubles, triples, and Hazmat endorsements. Yay me!! Went to class everyone was on the range. After some backing exercises we wnt on the road. Went over the areas where the DOT will test us on our raod course. Pulling the trailer around is not a problem with me but I still need to get my down shifting down and control my speed around turns when I don't have to stop. Like a rolling right turn etc. After a quick meal on the road we went back to the range. It was my turn on the pretrip and I did ok. Conway/CFI will have a recruiter tomorrow so I am curious about that. CFI is one of the companies I am looking at. Looks like tomorrow I will experience the big rig in the rain. Until next time....
Day 13
Day 13,
A day late but just got my internet back on. Went to class yesterday at 1pm. We went in later to experience night driving. Did pretrip and then we did some backing practice. Also did some blindside alley docking. At about dusk we got in the truck and headed for Lebanon, MO. Didn't do much in town driving. On the highway I am doing well. My downshifts are getting more consistant. The important part is plan ahead and not panic if you screw up. If you miss a gear, control the truck and rpms and find the gear. I am sure shifting will be easier once one can float the gears. Something I have noticed. Today and yesterday I have been on a stretch of about 200 miles of I44. (I went to Joplin in my minivan tonight) A couple of jobs (nondriving) a couple of years ago had me on I44 all the time so I would see a lot of trucking companies. It seems like I wasn't seeing the same ones as I used to. Sure there was the usuals CFI, Prime, Schneider, swift, Werner, Covenant, but I saw a lot that I haven't seen or heard of much. I also snagged a trucking magazine and saw all kinds of companies that were new to me. I wondered why that was.Well Monday I am going to the DMV before class to get my Hazmat written out of the way. Til next time
A day late but just got my internet back on. Went to class yesterday at 1pm. We went in later to experience night driving. Did pretrip and then we did some backing practice. Also did some blindside alley docking. At about dusk we got in the truck and headed for Lebanon, MO. Didn't do much in town driving. On the highway I am doing well. My downshifts are getting more consistant. The important part is plan ahead and not panic if you screw up. If you miss a gear, control the truck and rpms and find the gear. I am sure shifting will be easier once one can float the gears. Something I have noticed. Today and yesterday I have been on a stretch of about 200 miles of I44. (I went to Joplin in my minivan tonight) A couple of jobs (nondriving) a couple of years ago had me on I44 all the time so I would see a lot of trucking companies. It seems like I wasn't seeing the same ones as I used to. Sure there was the usuals CFI, Prime, Schneider, swift, Werner, Covenant, but I saw a lot that I haven't seen or heard of much. I also snagged a trucking magazine and saw all kinds of companies that were new to me. I wondered why that was.Well Monday I am going to the DMV before class to get my Hazmat written out of the way. Til next time
Day 12
Day 12 -
This day went quick! This morning a student did her pretrip. It took awhile. A recruiter from Transland came by and gave us her presentation. From what I have heard locally and from our instructors I will be giving them an app. After the recruiter time we finished the pretrip and went on the range to do some last minute shifting practice. The instructor announced that we would be on the road after lunch. Woo Hoo!! During lunch the instructor needed to get fuel so I went with him to kind of see how he shifted on the real road. It payed off. I was the first one to drive out in our group. We basically went down to Lebanon and back. When we came back we did some skills test exercises. My set ups are getting better. Tomorrow Class starts late. We are doing some night driving. Gives me a chance to do some errands and maybe take my Haz mat test.
This day went quick! This morning a student did her pretrip. It took awhile. A recruiter from Transland came by and gave us her presentation. From what I have heard locally and from our instructors I will be giving them an app. After the recruiter time we finished the pretrip and went on the range to do some last minute shifting practice. The instructor announced that we would be on the road after lunch. Woo Hoo!! During lunch the instructor needed to get fuel so I went with him to kind of see how he shifted on the real road. It payed off. I was the first one to drive out in our group. We basically went down to Lebanon and back. When we came back we did some skills test exercises. My set ups are getting better. Tomorrow Class starts late. We are doing some night driving. Gives me a chance to do some errands and maybe take my Haz mat test.
Day 11
Day 11,
Got some major range time today. All is going well. The instructor may have started to lose patience with another student today. Don't get me wrong, the teacher is EXTREMELY patient but he seemed to get a little frustrated towards the end of the day with her. He thinks we can be on the road tomorrow. (Maybe)We were also told that testing wouldn't be until April 2nd or 3rd. The students in the second truck got to go on the road for the first time. One thing I would like to mention. Every now and then while watching the others I get to thinking. Trucking has all these hurdles. First you have school, then testing, then applications, then orientation to a company, then the company's screening process, then their road test, then their training, then if you are lucky and don't screw up you become a driver. And then you hope the company is good because you want to stick with them for a year at least to learn the ropes. Not to mention all the changes that have to be made at home and how it affects my family and such. Sometimes I think it's a huge weight on one's shoulders. But then I remind myself this is a major change, probably the boldest move of my life. I just hope I get to the other side.
Got some major range time today. All is going well. The instructor may have started to lose patience with another student today. Don't get me wrong, the teacher is EXTREMELY patient but he seemed to get a little frustrated towards the end of the day with her. He thinks we can be on the road tomorrow. (Maybe)We were also told that testing wouldn't be until April 2nd or 3rd. The students in the second truck got to go on the road for the first time. One thing I would like to mention. Every now and then while watching the others I get to thinking. Trucking has all these hurdles. First you have school, then testing, then applications, then orientation to a company, then the company's screening process, then their road test, then their training, then if you are lucky and don't screw up you become a driver. And then you hope the company is good because you want to stick with them for a year at least to learn the ropes. Not to mention all the changes that have to be made at home and how it affects my family and such. Sometimes I think it's a huge weight on one's shoulders. But then I remind myself this is a major change, probably the boldest move of my life. I just hope I get to the other side.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
