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Doh!

Are you in class right now too? Same school?

So guy, I want to thank all of you who have helped me out on here. I'm off to CR England in Utah, on Sunday. I will say the hardest thing is leaving my family for training. It's hard, but nothing worth doing is usually easy. We've had time apart before for other work before, so I know we can do it. Doesn't change how much it sucks though.

I ended up going back the next day and passed my combination endorsement. So that's all done. I have everything I need to go with, everything is packed up and ready to go a few days early. I've seen it mentioned on this forum to not give up on the study material on this site once you pass your permit, and I haven't. I've made it close to half way through the Logbook Training. I'm not sure how much of that I'll get done before Sunday, tomorrow is going to be busy. Hopefully I can finish the Logbook anyway, anything to make class easier. Only thing that worries me is shifting, and backing up. Other then that I don't think it's going to be too bad.

I leave late Sunday night, I believe it's about a 20 hour trip. Any advice prior to leaving?

Thanks for all the replies!

I actually did use this website for the test prep. I thought I would pass the combination section and was off by a few questions. I should have given it a bit more of study time. I finished it up yesterday and will go back through it once. I plan on going through all of the training possible through here to make class that much easier to understand. It really is a great program on here, a large portion of the questions I had on my tests were on here. I scored nearly a 100% on air breaks.

I'm going to be working towards that today and tomorrow and reviewing. Then watching some videos on youtube to get a more visual understanding of it all. I have a really strong memory, so when it comes to remembering how to do something I know I wont have a problem with that. What I meant as accelerated programs is the time until you go out with someone on the truth, just the general time yous pend in class. I called around to the schools local to me, one of the larger schools (owner owns three schools through out the city) has a month long training program, up to a month and a half though I think the additional time will probably cost you more.

I've read a ton about CRE, and I think a large portion of reason they get bad mouthed so much is because of how many people they have that don't make it through the school. That old saying in "One bad customer tells 10 people" kind of comes out like that. I've talked to my recruiter and from everything I've researched, she's been perfectly honest with me. I will keep you all posted. Thanks for all the replies, and I'm not going to hang out with the people that don't want to be there. I keep more to myself anyway.

Hey guys!

Well, I past two of three tests for my permit. I failed combination and I was suppose to leave today. I'll be leaving next Saturday or Sunday, and I think class starts Monday. I'm drilling this weekend really hard to pass it, and I'm going to keep studying as much as I can. I don't think I'll have any problems with retaking the test come Monday. Now I have a few questions for you guys about training.

So, I'll be going to CR Englands program. Now, I've heard that a lot of these schools, not only CRE, that accelerated schools in general have a really low graduation rate. I heard that they have a 70% to 80% failure rate. Now, I don't doubt that some people when they go there don't bring all the paperwork they need, some probably wont pass the drug screen. Some might try to do drugs there, and I heard it's close to a strip club. That a lot of people go to the strip club and stay up, they don't study. So I know that a lot of the reason people fail is because it's there own fault y qestion is, how hard is the program? If you go into the school with your paperwork in order, with the items they say to bring, a good attitude, having studied the CDL manual a ton, willing to study, how difficult is it?

I've read that you get one day to learn to how to back the truck up, that not much time is really spent on anything. I've had zero experience with a stick shift, never having driven one before. I understand the concept behind it, though last time I attempted it the concept didn't matter. I didn't spend much time on it, I was goofing around with it. What do you guys think? I'm going to give it my best ether way. I just want to know what my shot is and what I'm up against.

Thanks!

Lots of replies very fast!

My son is nearly four. He's young. He wont be in school for a year or two. He has loads of entertainment as it is, and usually does a lot of self entertainment with educational things. For example, we've invested hundreds of dollars into his leap frog leap pad, and the games that come with it. As well as reading books, with that pen thing that reads the words out loud to him. We help him when he needs it, but he does really good with that. I teach him martial arts for something physical, I just started (traditional Chinese martial arts). He's still a bit on the young side to learn and think it's not just playing, but it takes some of that energy away.

I'm not saying the child part would be easy or simple. By the time it comes for him to go to school I'll have enough experience to get something a bit more local, which is the idea. Most passenger policies I've seen are 8 to 13 years old, so he's wouldn't be allowed on anything I've checked into, and I understand that. I also get the idea of that usually someone is sleeping when the other drives. I'm the super light sleeper of the two of us, who wakes up to a pen falling (unfortunately). I also average about 4 to 5 hours of sleep and function perfectly fine off of it, my body just doesn't require a ton of sleep. So caring for our son isn't something I'm worried about and i'm nearly positive it would be better then the situation we're in right now. I can't stand living with in-laws!

I've seen a couple of the really awesome looking trucks with a bathroom, shower, kitchen, and two sleeping areas. Wouldn't think make it difficult to get around with? I mean, if you carry a trailer wouldn't it make where you can deliver kind of limited? They look amazing from the pictures I've seen, but they look as if they add a lot of length to the truck. The space in a normal truck doesn't bother me too much, as the last place we lived in was a house with each of the rooms converted into living quarters. So we had to cook and everything in a 10x10 room, we made it work. If I did end p doing this I wouldn't be doing it right away. I would want a bit of experience, 6 months or so driving first, then to bring her on a ride or two to see if she can handle it. Then give it a shot if it's something that seems doable. I'm asking right now to see the options. This would be around August, so near my sons birthday, he would be about 4 when we did this (if we did).

As far as food goes, I was considering that a bit. Last time when we went on a lop trip in our RV we had meals delivered from a 3rd party service, three meals a day. I didn't add up to being that much more then you would pay for them to make them on your own. They're made more or so fresh, and they're really healthy (they taste pretty good too). We were picking up a week or two of food at a time, but one week of food at a time wouldn't be bad, and they have a large variety of food to pick your meals out of. It's an idea anyway. This, with cooking every now and again using a hotplate mainly. Years ago, when I first came to Oregon, I met a trucker. I forget his name, I think it was Aj, BJ, or jb. Something like that. I remember back them he was talking about being on the road and having a hotplate in your truck and cooking, and how important it was to be healthy. The main reason for doing this is to stay close as a family, and to save some money up while do so. Though it seems like a pretty horrible idea so far, and I really don't want to go into more debt going through this.

Hey everyone!

So, I've been doing quite a bit of reading about this, and I know the general idea is that it's horrible to do. I haven't found much on doing this as a husband and wife team though, so I wasn't sure if that would make a lot of difference. I've owned my own business before (computer repair) and made profit off of it, I'm pretty business minded. I also have right under 2 years of business management in college, so I'm sure that could help. We would be giving up our lease on our apartment if we did this, as that would save us 600 a month in rent alone, not including all the additional bills that go along with renting an apartment. Lets average it at 1,000. So we save 1k a month alone from just not renting anymore and we park our personal vehicles at local families homes.

My thinking was that being husband/wife, the money earned goes to the same household. We could have our son (he's young, no passenger policy that I know of would allow him). I'm not sure if this would be a good idea or not, which is why I wanted to ask you guys. We would love to travel together, save some money in the process, and after a year or two of doing this figure out where we want to stop at. I'll have some experience under me then, which would make finding local work easier. I know I'm ahead of myself a bit, not driving yet. Just considering things.

I passed my DOT physical! My BP came in really good, at about 119/72. They took it twice. The doctor didn't like my weight, he said I could have sleep related problems. He certified me for two years. I was suppose to get back to my job specialist today. My cell phone ran out of minutes today, and the appointment was at 1:30. I wasn't out of the office until after 3 or 3:30, and had to stop to use wifi to get GPS back. B the time I got home it was 4:30 or close to it. Called her four times, left two voice mails, and sent an email or two. I wouldn't be too worried about it, though she said it was really important to get back to her quickly. I'm going to call tomorrow and make sure I get ahold of her. If I'm suppose to be there on the 23rd, I'm not sure how soon I have to leave.... We haven't discussed greyhound a ton yet. Thanks for all the help guys, 'm really looking forward to class!

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

I searched through the forum prior to posting and did come up with a lot. I have a friend who's a doctor who verified pretty much all of it. I didn't chug the water down, but I did drink only water and I will until it's over at least. I took a half an aspirin last night ended up being a little less. About 1/3, so I guess it's close to the mg of a child's aspirin. I'll take another third about 2 hours before going in today. I haven't eaten anything salty, or had any caffeine sense about 5 or 6 yesterday, pm. I leave in a few the test at about 12 my time. Will keep you guys posted on how it goes.

Thanks for the response Lemmy!

I was reading of some ways online to help reduce it. I'm taking into account what I can do the day before. I've read that by the test tomorrow all or nearly all of the caffeine effects will be gone. I'm going to make sure to eat a small breakfast, drinking plenty of water, no salt or caffeine. I'm going to take half an aspirin before bed, as it's said that can help. Going to get a full night of sleep, taking a fair bit of garlic (2 or 3 spoons. one tonight, one or two tomorrow of minced garlic). This is all I think I can really do to lower it as much as possible. Outside of relaxing and breathing. I might do some breathing exercises before bed and through out tomorrow, to help try to even it out. Not sure how much it really works, but I know people swear by it.

Ya, the machine I went to was pretty bad. The Cuff was way to small. I had to jam my arm into it to get it to my elbow. Comfortably it only fit on my upper forearm. I'm not sure how much of a different it will make, but I have read before (and you confirmed with your case as well) that it does make a difference with cuff size. Even if I don't pass, I have read online that if you are above the 140/90, that you will still be certified but only for 1 year (2 years normally), at least this is what I've been reading online. You have a year to get it managed, if not then further action is taken. Hopefully it wont come to that and everything will be within reason tomorrow.

Thanks for the reply!

So, I have my DOT physical tomorrow. I know what the blood pressure requirements are. I went down to the pharmacy to check what mine was, just to get an idea. My BP was 145/86. I know passing is under 140/90. I've read that if you are within a certain range over, as long as it isn't too far, you can still receive your physical card and you'll have to redo the testing within a year. Is this true, or does it change between schools? I'm going to CR England, I'm not sure if they will let it slide without waiting the weeks to see a doctor.

Also, I'm a big dude. I'm 6 foot 7, a fair amount over weight, and huge arms. I hit them gym about twice a week usually, just don't eat the cleanest. I can't get my arm past my elbow into there BP machine at the pharmacy. I read online that the fitting of the cuff makes a difference, I'm just not sure if it makes that big of a difference.

To be in the best shape for my physical tomorrow, to pass the PH phase of it, I've read that drinking a ton of water can flush your system of the caffeine and salts, which raise your bp. I do take in a fair amount of salt, but I don't take in much caffeine. A little coffee and some tea, but I don't drink soda at all. I'm hoping that with the water, no caffeine, no salts, and a light breakfast before leaving that is healthy will help. Along with relaxing and being at ease when the test is being done, I've read that is a big part of it too. Any suggestions? I know it's a bit soon with it being tomorrow and all.

Thanks guys!