Comments By Traffic Jam (SunnyWalker.net)

I forgot to mention in the post above that the student who parallel parked the truck for the first time is from Ethiopia. There is somewhat of a language problem but this guy is actually an incredible driver. He remembers everything the instructor says and he does not drive with us every day.

I think he will pass this Tuesday also and that will be really a neat opportunity for him. He is lots of fun and today he and I were sitting in the back seat of the Semi and he grabbed the box of paper towels and began to pull on the one sticking out the hole. He pulled and pulled and had about 15 feet out and I said "_____, what are you DOING?!?" He stopped and told me that his hands get sweaty and he wanted to take a towel with him to drive (we were parking and it was his turn). Imagine my laughter and his chagrin! I told him to just rip off a couple and he promptly did and looked at me real sheepishly. Oh I tell ya, this truck driving thing is lots of fun and lots of good friends and memories and I am still in TRUCK DRIVING SCHOOL!!!

Our team even has a chant. Some of it goes like this: "Chhhhh, Chhhhhh! that's our call. Move the shifter through them all!" and so on and so forth. Lots of fun!

-Dave

Today we went to drive and this was kind of extra credit. Had a blast and watched one student parallel park the truck using our instructor's method and he did it first try! He was very happy and we all celebrated with high fives! It was a short day today as we just drove from about 6:45-11:00 AM.

This was a good day for my driving also. I parallel parked it great and my shifting was AWESOME DUDE!!

This evening I went to a outdoor concert in downtown Midland, TX at a nice park there. It was Benny and the Jets and it was an awesome and enjoyable concert. Fun! There were many people there and two of us truck driving students myself, and another and his spouse, and our instructor and his spouse. Benny did it up good and we all thought he was Elton John up there on the stage.

The Midland College Transportation program (Truck Driving School) is adding a defensive driving class to the Truck Driving School that all classes will take after this. I learned this today and it sounds like it will add more quality and substance to the classes on Truck Driving. Perhaps I can return to take this portion of the class also. I think it would be pretty good. We were driving one day and my instructor remarked how I covered the brake pedal at many intersections, etc., when cars where present to pull out and all. So they are aware of this and looks like it will be a real nice addition for future classes.

Brett and gang: I submitted two apps today as I am in my last few days of the school. One to Crete and one to Schneider. My back up is Werner who has already accepted me with a pre-approval for orientation after the school is over with. I hope one of these two will consider me seriously to drive for them.

I have been studying the log book portion of the High Road training and I have to tell you it is just terrific. It includes explanations on hours of service also and I really appreciate it all. This week I hope to return to the HazMat portion also and really go over it so I am read for Tues test at our local DMV. Here in TX we are required to wait to take the HazMat endorsement until we pass our CDL driving test. This I hope to do on Tuesday!! Glory!

Thanks again to Brett and this website for all the encouragement, help and training!

-Dave

Thanks Old School! Was planning to make that the first thing on the list for log book. If I get it there I will stop with it and it'll probably be real good. Will look at it and study it tonight.

Today we were out on the roads and I drove on I-20, on hwys, roads and streets. At the end of the day I drove the truck into Midland and onto Midland College campus and Wow! First one to do that! It was kind of neat! We had Pizza in Big Spring today for lunch and did a lot of shifting practice on the hills and such. Cornering is coming along and when the entire day was over and we left it felt good. I then drove over, along with a couple of Coca-Colas(!!) to the DMV and went over and over the course that is laid out for obtaining one's CDL. We have drove it and will do so some more but I wanted to reinforce the streets and all. I am not from Midland and it is not my "enviroment" and so wanted to really scope it out on my own. Hey, its all about "setup" right?!??

If you come to Midland College at Midland, TX for a CDL and the Truck Driving School I can recommend it to you. All the instructors do a fine job at teaching. I have had "Bryan" and do not have any interaction in the truck with any of the other instructors. Bryan has been very professional, thorough and complete and so I recommend him to you if you are planning on coming to Midland College.

This week the Director of the Truck Driving School asked us all over to the main bldg., at lunch time and we looked at a hugh simulator they are going to put in place. It was real fun when our instructor got in the drivers seat. We kind of yelled out, "Right, right! RIGHT! MY RIGHT NOT YOUR RIGHT! MORE RIGHT!!" etc. Ha, ha, it was fun. The simulator seat would move and shake and stuff like that and so it seemed as if you were really in a truck. It could be programmed to put you into a skid, in snow and ice, summer hot weather, etc. pretty interesting machine. I asked the Director what the thing cost and it ought to be pretty good, the price was pretty good! (as in real huge price).

OK. thati's it for today. Today was Tuesday and I have tommorow and Thurs and week 3 will be complete. Week 4 is only Mon and Tue so here we go!!!!

-Dave

Roy E.: hey I am applying to Schneider also and so would love to continue to read about your experience. I hope you'll continue to post here. Thanks and good luck!

-Dave

Today was the 2nd day of the third week of our Truck Driving School here at Midland College, Midland, TX. Our instructor took us out on the freeway and Hwy. We also spent some time on some back roads practicing dock parking. We also did a lot of shifting today over and over again and went up and down some hills near Big Spring, TX. This was a simulation of large hills and to get some idea of the needs for these types of situations. All in all I thought I did real good and have come quite a ways since the first days of classes and driving. Now I am pretty confident on parallel parking, dock parking, straight-line backing, setting up for various situations, sizing up traffic and cornering needs. Of course I recognize I am quite inexperienced and hope when I get on with a company I will be match with a good mentor for a few weeks.

I had high hopes for Crete but I don't think its going to work out. They sing a good song on their web site about student drivers but in the end only accept students from the schools they "recognize" (have some kind of deal with). Ours is not on the list so that's probably out. Next is Schneider which I think will just be fine and so hope something comes of that opening.

I talked to one of the Schneider recruiters today and they asked me to submit an application a week before our school is finished so this Friday(6/28/13) I'll forward a app. If worse comes to worse, ha, ha, I'll take the Werner pre-approved orientation approval and go with them and not look back. I figure wherever I go I am going to stay with them for at least one year. After that I will evaluate where I am with the company, pay, benefits, etc. But until then I am going to hustle and do my best to be the best little truck driver they ever had.

I continue to make mistakes on my log and this kind of worries me. I am going to be looking at lessons on log keeping wherever I can find them. Maybe some extra tutoring will help. It's funny, at first glance the log book seems about the simplest form I have ever filled out! Oh well. I think there is some stuff on this on this site and so will look around and read and study it and also go to Youtube. I know there is some on there. The reason I put it off is that it is just not the most exciting video to watch. I mean, you go to Youtube and between the videos on different companies and all the reviews and truck wrecks by the time I work through those I am tooooooo sleepy.

Here is a question and I ask it because I will probably face this in the near future. What are the four most important things to remember when it comes to working with/for a mentor/trainer driver for the duration of the company "training"?

Thanks.

-Dave

My instructor (I am currently enrolled in Truck Driving School at Midland College at Midland, TX) told me today that when I make up a "kit" to throw in a chain and strap and hookie thing that can be placed on the front of some tractors (if mine is set up that way) for towing. SO, if I am in a bind in a parking lot or something of that nature I can get a friendly other truck driver to give em a tow out of the spot. This is because every time you call the company for something like that it goes down as some kind of "incident" and then eventually this can work against you. This was just a suggestion and I thought it sounded pretty good. -Dave

Dear Tim: Here at Midland College it is a four week course of study.

I enjoy reading your posts and hope you will continue to share your experiences here on Truckingtruth.com Man, you might see a big difference when you go to class. My experience was that many of the others were struggling with Combinations, General Knowledge, and Air Brakes and I sailed through these tests. And then the one on Tankers I came away thinking it was "childs play". The training here was what did it and this gave me a lot of confidence AND made it more fun! You gotta have fun!!!

Good luck to you Tim! I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

-Dave

Thanks Brett. I have calls into Crete and Schneider. I also have a pre-approval for orientation upon completion of Truck Driving School/CDL from Werner.

Today we did more driving around town with emphasis on shifting (coming along great!) and cornering and some practice on parallel parking (I put it right in there!!!). My area of concern right now is cornering and cornering in traffic! Wow! That is a biggie!!! Making the turn without clipping the imaginary vehicle! Whew, sweat, sweat, concentrate!

But I am having a blast and we are all doing real well in the truck. The instructor is just a heck of a fellow and he is real good at what he does and is real encouraging.

Today after lunch we were out in the parking lot and us three where in our truck and we looked out at the semi next to us and saw it was on fire! So we all jumped out and three fire extinguishers later and a lot of water and it was out. We separated the tractor from the trailer, by . . . get this . . . pushing it! Ha, ha! Never thought a bunch of guys could push a Semi Tractor!

Well, that's all for today and I appreciate everything Truckingtruth has helped me with and given to me. I will always give credit compliments to this site. And I am not through using it and am planning on starting a review tomorrow and also wish to start to study the HazMat portion in a serious fashion.

Thanks again, Brett!

-Dave

TEXAS is a great Country to drive in! I feel sorry for you folk who have to drive in the USA. Come on over to Texas and drive!!!!!!!

Smile!!!

Whahoooooooooooooooooooo!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaawwwwwwww!!

How 'But Them Cow-BOYS!!!?!?!???

This is their year!

(We thought the Spurs were going to pull it out of the hat, oh well. We still have to Rangers to go GET 'EM AND GO FOR THE WORLD SERIES. YEEEEHAAAAAWWWWWW 2013!!!!!!!!

-Dave

Well, it was explained to our class that the oil field cannot get enough drivers and so are taking on "student drivers".

Brett: I read your information on how to obtain info on the company's safety and compliancy records for various things via their Motor Carrier Number on the FMSCA website. I looked up five different companies and found that the company with the best "grade" was Schneider.

Unsafe driving: 8.5% HOS compliance: 7.7% Driver Fitness: 37.8% Con. Subs/Alcohol: 0% Vehicle maint.: 41.8%

Could the number for Cont subs/alcohol be because of them letting these drivers go? I mean, it seems quite remarkable to me that they would have ZERO drivers with problems in this area? If a company had any amt in this category would that then mean that they retain the driver?

Thanks! -Dave PS. I compared Schneider to Crete, Covenant, Swift, Werner. Schneider beat them all easily.