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.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
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.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Day 10
Day 10
I got the keys first this morning. I found out that a cold truck is a pain in the behind to shift. Nailed all the exercises right off the bat. Later I went into trial and error mode with my setups. I am starting to get beyond the basics of controlling the trailer. After lunch we went to the classroom for a couple of hours of Lifestyle and finance. Here is where they teach you how to be healthy and not make your self broke on the road. LOTS of good advice. We will probably get on the range full time tomorrow so we can be on the road by Thursday. Some of us are ready, others aren't. Me....I think so.
I got the keys first this morning. I found out that a cold truck is a pain in the behind to shift. Nailed all the exercises right off the bat. Later I went into trial and error mode with my setups. I am starting to get beyond the basics of controlling the trailer. After lunch we went to the classroom for a couple of hours of Lifestyle and finance. Here is where they teach you how to be healthy and not make your self broke on the road. LOTS of good advice. We will probably get on the range full time tomorrow so we can be on the road by Thursday. Some of us are ready, others aren't. Me....I think so.
Day 9
Day 9 -
Well everyone seemed off their rythm for the first hour on the range. But we got into it at did more of the same. More shifting, Up and down, alley dock, driver's side pararel, straight line backing, and now we started blindside pararel. Alley dock I just need a few more times and I will have it. The two pararels I am doing good on. It's just a matter of how well I set up. Straight line backing is no problem. I even did some backing between two trailers. My shifting is getting better. Our intstructor use to drive tankers so he is all about smooth shifting and smooth take-offs and and stops. The companies he worked for don't usuualy hire newbies but on his recomendations they will hire out of his class. Good companies so I am trying to atleast impress this instructor.Now for the fun part. We got a visit from our first recruiter. He was from Covenant. He had some good things to say BUT he was trying to hard to have this "no BS approach". His approach only came off as arrogance to me anyways. Thanks to a thread in this board "Questions to ask recruiters" I made a few that seemed to annoy him. I think my instructors got a kick out of that. well I got get ready for today, I will go into more detail later.
Well everyone seemed off their rythm for the first hour on the range. But we got into it at did more of the same. More shifting, Up and down, alley dock, driver's side pararel, straight line backing, and now we started blindside pararel. Alley dock I just need a few more times and I will have it. The two pararels I am doing good on. It's just a matter of how well I set up. Straight line backing is no problem. I even did some backing between two trailers. My shifting is getting better. Our intstructor use to drive tankers so he is all about smooth shifting and smooth take-offs and and stops. The companies he worked for don't usuualy hire newbies but on his recomendations they will hire out of his class. Good companies so I am trying to atleast impress this instructor.Now for the fun part. We got a visit from our first recruiter. He was from Covenant. He had some good things to say BUT he was trying to hard to have this "no BS approach". His approach only came off as arrogance to me anyways. Thanks to a thread in this board "Questions to ask recruiters" I made a few that seemed to annoy him. I think my instructors got a kick out of that. well I got get ready for today, I will go into more detail later.
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