CFI Company Sponsored Training Through Truck Dynasty Driving Academy

4-28-17 Day 5: Today started out cold with thunderstorms. At school I found out one of my two classmates quit. So, today there was only three students. We all started out with pretrip practice. I did ok. I have to get the script down and speed it up. Then we each got a truck to practice on the yard with. I started with straight backing and got that down pretty good. The rest of the day was frustrating. I spent the rest of the day working on offsets. I just could not get the moves down. I'm sure I'll do better on Monday. It really sucks to be doing this in the rain, dampness and mud. As difficult as today was I know I will get it. It helps to know that many other people have had the same problems and they are now very good drivers. We are off for the weekend, so the next post will be Monday. There are supposed to be 7 or 8 new students on Monday. That's all for now.

Hey Scott. I applied to CFI and will find out Monday if I'm off to training. Odds are looking good. Glad to hear your progressing well. Annie is my recruiter. She's been spot on with everything. Went and got my CDL permit yesterday. Hazmat as well. Passed the first time out. The High Road practice tests helped me immensely!! Be well.

Lance

Hey Scott. I applied to CFI and will find out Monday if I'm off to training. Odds are looking good. Glad to hear your progressing well. Annie is my recruiter. She's been spot on with everything. Went and got my CDL permit yesterday. Hazmat as well. Passed the first time out. The High Road practice tests helped me immensely!! Be well.

Lance

That's great to hear. She is my recruiter. She is very nice. If they take you they will welcome you with open arms. Good luck to you. Congratulations on getting your permit. They will probably take you. Be prepared to leave within a few days of them accepting you. You will need to be able to give them 2 grams of body hair. I have an interesting stripe shaved across my chest. I don't care as I have no one to impress.

5-1-17 Day 6: Today was ups and downs. First off it was in the low to mid 40's all with wind all day. The last hour the wind died, the sun came out and it warmed to the mid 50's. We started the day with pre-trip. After an hour or so of that we took two trucks to the range. We started with offsets and stayed on that til lunch. I still had problems with it. After lunch we started on parallel parking. I worked on blind side all afternoon. I got it pretty good. They told us that as we were circling the yard, to practice shifting gears. They said we could go up to third gear. I was able to get a little better on my shifting. They also told us they are taking us Friday for our first shot at our CDLs. They don't expect us to pass all three parts, just get some out of the way. I know I'll be ready for pre-trip by then. Who knows, maybe I'll pass the whole thing. We still have to do the whole 4 weeks of class. At the end of the day, as I walked back in the building, my phone rang and it was my recruiter. She wanted to make sure I didn't drown in the floods we had Saturday. I though that was super nice of her. We also had another CFI past student stop in. It seems CFI is very quickly changing their fleet to T-680 automatics. I could be with a trainer who has one and then go straight into one. Time will tell. Let me successfully finish school first. I did not count how many students started today, but two are through CFI. It still amazes me how many people jump into trucking with no research and have never heard of this site. That's all for now.

Hey Scott. Been waiting for your update today. Glad to hear all is going well. I've been studying the pre-trip for the past few weeks. Alot to remember, but doable. I talked to Annie today, I'll find out if I'm a go tomorrow afternoon. My fingers are crossed. I've read that I'll have to have my Hazmat within 120 days if I'm accepted into school at CFI? I passed it when I went for my permit. The Hazmat questions were more difficult for me then the rest of the material for my permit. I look forward to reading your posts.

Be well.

Lance

Thanks Lance. That's good to hear that you spoke to her. She is great. Did you get your Hazmat background check? In most States you need that before you can test for it. I'm going to add my hazmat endorsement when I go home. I got my letter from DHS the other day and in NC you must have that before you can take the hazmat test. Keep me posted as to if you get into CFI. As far as pre-trip goes it will be much easier when you do it on the truck. Good luck.

5-2-17 Day 7: Today it didn't rain. It started out in the low 50's by 9:00 am it was warm and sunny. Off came my hat and sweatshirt. We started with pre-trips. Had my first official school test. I missed a bunch of stuff. Lots of studying tonight. After pre-trips we went to off sides. I finally did that without help. Then I moved back to parallel. Did a couple of blind sides then went to sight side. I did those with almost no problems. They are same as blind side, just easier. By that time it was lunch. After lunch I was sent to learn alley dock. I watched my classmate do a couple, then I tried. It was not that difficult the way they showed us. The biggest problem for me is learning how to fix my mistakes. We worked on that the rest of the day. While doing that the new students were learning straight line and offset. We found out they are taking us to DMV on Thursday or Friday for our first shot at our CDLs. The school wants us to pass the pre-trip as a minimum. I think I should be able to pass the whole thing. That would be awesome. We'll see. Tomorrow and Thursday it is supposed to be pouring rain again. We may end up out driving again. That's all for now.

Awesome. Good luck with the test and let us know.

Awesome. Good luck with the test and let us know.

Thanks and of course I will.

5-3-17 Day 8: Another cold rainy day. We started out road driving for the morning. I did much better on my shifting, although downshifting is still a little bit of a challenge. We drove for the morning. After lunch it was out to the yard to practice. I worked on my offsides, then did an alley dock and some parallels. By the time the three of us finished all of that it was time to go. It was a good day because things are finally starting to click. Tomorrow, I'm getting picked up earlier than normal because we have to be at the test site by 7am. I'm looking forward to it. I hope I get bananas tomorrow. Wish me luck. That's all for now. As always, I'll answer any questions.