Comments By James P.

I think what we need to convey is "when done correctly." If your timing is good, it should come out of gear than go into the next as smooth as butter on a hot biscuit. If you jam the gears, than you'll damage the transmission.

I'm at orientation for Decker Truck Line, and it was mentioned that they currently have a mix of 13 speeds and autos, but all the new trucks they are getting are autos.

I'm interested. If nothing else, a series of articles touching on the subjects you notice that give people the most trouble (time management, HoS management, trip planning, attitude, discipline, etc.) would be great. I would love to tap the fount of wisdom of top drivers.

I learned on a 13 speed, and I love them. I'm not much of a fan of 10 speeds, but others prefer them. It's not that bad. 13 speed is like a 9 speed with a splitter for high gears so you can get a little more out of them. If the side splitter seems like too much, you could always shift it like a regular 9 speed I'm sure.

I got to do a road drive today. Maaaaan was it fugly! I could've sworn I never drove a day in my life. I think I also sweated enough bullets to stock the Marines in Iraq. They didn't have me test out on anything, but I have my certificate of completion for my 40 hour refresher, and come Monday I can email my recruiter and get set up for orientation. I just need to remember to keep my cool, and not let the frustration get to me. Hopefully my road test at orientation will go smoother.

Congrats man!

Day 4, hour 32 in the books now. Whew! Trying to relearn pre-trip after it ran off screaming from my memory 2 years or more ago, relearning parallel, and the school method of offset has my brain about fried at this point. I'm still excited about driving again. I'm trying not to let frustration get the best of me when it tries to set in. I keep telling myself that I have to learn this stuff because I don't want to hit the fleet a substandard driver, and fall into bad habits again. It'll take time and practice, but I'll get there. Tomorrow is my last day. First half of the day I'll be working on my skills again, and after lunch it's drive time. I'll be nervous getting out in a rig again after so long, but I'd rather get my confidence back now so I can pass my drive test when I go to orientation. Nervous, excited, and tuckered out! Y'all get it in the barn shiny side up, and I'll catch you on the flip flop.

James, sorry I thought you were a newbie. I am with you Man...learning parallel is a royal pain.

No worries. I got my CDL-A in 2012 when I went through Central Refrigerated's company sponsored training. I drove company for about 3 months before foolishly leasing. A classmate that got a million-mile trainer, and picked his brain for all it was worth was going to lease, and he made it sound stupid easy. He wasn't trying to convince me, but was simply telling me his plans. I accompanied him to the O/O div., and of course they did sell it to me. I lasted about 4 months before I realized how over my head I was. I took a year and two months off than drove about 4 months for SRT. They weren't a good fit for me, and I knew I should've left in orientation. Until recently I was one of those guys that blames the company for everything and never looked into the mirror to see what I could fix myself, do to fix myself, or both.

Having found this site a little over 2 months ago, it has really opened my eyes and now I'm looking to drive again. This time I actually started to research companies. In that process one instantly shone above the rest for me and that is Decker Truck Lines. Since I've been out of a truck since June or July 2014 they want me to take a refresher. I'm all too happy to do so because I know I'm as rusty as a bolt that's been submerged in water for ages. I want to show up in the best condition that I can so I can make the best of the training period I'll have there. I want to start on the right foot this time, and hopefully make one full year straight. I also plan to pick y'alls brains and vent from time to time when I get my own truck. I look forward to y'all keeping me straight and honest. That's what I love most about this site. Y'all shoot straight and don't hide anything. Just what I need.

Day 3 of my 40 hour refresher course is now in the books. Parallel is starting to click, but it's aggrivating still. I figure I can pass my skills test anyway. I'm trying to get it down the best I can, because even though I never ran into a situation that required it when I was on the road before doesn't mean I won't this time around. Now to study the junk out of pre-trip.

So... Today was "interesting." Started with some classroom time going over pre-trip, then we went to the range with our pre-trip papers. The instructor walked us through just the outside, and engine portions before breaking us up into study groups. That was the good part of the day. The bad part is when getting back from lunch I got to practice my skills. Parallel parking can die in a fire. I don't know who thinks it's still useful to know, but I want to kick them in the shin and throw their stapler across the room. I did do better at the awkward way they have me do the offset though. Parallel can still die in a fire.