Profile For Noob_Student

I wouldnt know we saw them for a few hours after the snow and ice melted, lol. Dirt and gravel sounds like luxury after driving and standing on packed ice and snow for three days. What i meant was just a feel for the movement of the trailer while moving the wheel. Reaction times for how long it takes the back end to swing around when you turn the wheel, what it feels like to turn hard and back then to turn back and get under the trailer. When i learned to drive a car my dad took me to a huge gravel lot and basically tossed me the keys and said drive around and do stuff and see how it feels.

The more you do it the more you can see how your input affects the trailer. Don't forget to breathe when stuff goes pear-shaped.

I really wish we could just take the tractor one morning and just play around with backing for half a day just to get a feel of how it responds. No cones, no lines, no specific maneuvers just to figure out the movement and how it responds.

Your doing great, and giving me hope after my rough off set day. Hopefully i get some range time if the weather cooperates next week. Dress warm for Wisconsin! If you get to Richfield look for me!

Day 5.

Same morning classroom routine then out to the yard. We got another truck this morning and thankfully some snow and ice melted so we can actually see some lines out there this morning! Trying to back without lines and just cones was pretty challenging for day 1. We do some pretrip i focus on the coupling section and after repetition start doing alot better. Did a quick review of all the outside sections and feel really confident about my progress.

We moved both trucks out for straight line backing one auto and one manual. We test in a auto here in richfield btw which i didnt know so there will be a restriction on my cdl. I hop in the auto first and boom! Perfect. Give it 2 more trys and perfect everytime. We break into groups of 3 and start rotating on the auto and manual. Move to the manual and get those 3 done perfect as well! Had two more series in each truck and all 12 backs were successful had a few pull ups in there after hitting some ice and bumps but feeling good about straight line backing.

That was my first time ever in a manual be it a car or a truck and *******. Im glad we are testing in an auto to be honest. I know after a few days of practice i would get it down but thats one less thing to worry about.

After lunch we started offset backing. Our instructor demonstrated it for all 6 of us in the cab and im feeling confident after my glorious straightline backing demo earlier. I now believe myself to be a super trucker that i read about so often. I already am picking out extra wierd running lights other accessories in my mind and a giant shifter that goes over my head for inside the cab. Its gonna be awesome.

So we've now shut down one of the trucks and will just be running the auto through offset. The other truck will be for more pretrip study and constant repetition. Properly mounted and secure not cracked bent or broken and no abrations bulges or cuts is now the soundtrack to my life people. If my life was turned into a movie firstly it would be a hillarious inner dialouge of craziness and wierd akward situations but at this point of the film the background music would be me saying properly mounted and secure, not cracked bent or broken and no abrasions bulges and cuts.

So on to off set. This didnt go well at all. I started out well and turned hard right and got lined up perfect with the center cone after getting out too look. From there it went to ****. Oversteering and understeering trying to get back under the trailer i managed to finally get it in there in what would have been a pass but it was rough. My second attempt was worse. I didnt complete it. My pullups got me more screwed up then actually helping it was a big mess. I struggle with moving the trailer and understanding the physics of it. My instructor says to just let the trailer guide itself in to the alley after i get it lined up then get the tractor under it and do a simple straight line back after a small pull up. But that never happens. Im stuck at the point of the intial turn and getting my trailer lined up, this is when my brain turns to jelly. Im really considering going home this weekend and buying a toy semi truck to practice. If i do ill post pics of me playing trucks for day 6. With 6 of us going on one truck i didnt get another shot and am feeling pretty down which seems to be a theme for me at the end of each day. I have two steps of it down pretty well in the initial turn and straight line finish i just need the reps to get it all down. Im looking forward to next week to work on those steps and hopefully it goes like straightline backing did. Im back home for a day or so and then heading up sunday to wisconsin to do some pretrip on our own Sunday at the terminal with my classmates.

Next week is super cold with temps in the teens and possibly 10 inches of snow so hopefully we can get some reps.

~noob

Day 4.

We started in the classroom with a review of yesterday and doing our log books. Log books are pretty straight forward when all you do is off duty and on duty so thats going well. Last night i watched alot of pre trip videos and even found a video with no audio, just the parts and you pause the video and name it and say what your supposed to say. We headed out to the trucks and really got into pretrip. We broke into groups of 2s and hit every outside section over and over. Its starting to come together nicely i have the engine and the trailer down very well but do stumble a bit on the coupling area and in cab so I know what to focus on a little extra in the weeks moving forward. Unfortunately with the terrible weather in Wisconsin we only have 1 truck running at the moment and the range is completely frozen over. We started our straight backing in the afternoon following lunch. Ive never backed a trailer before so the physics of it are a mystery to me and i proceeded to demonstrate that fact in real life. My first try i did well i made it all the way down without hitting any cones set my brakes and hit my horn and started forward again. Things went bad from there. I misunderstood the instructor regarding the cone all the way at the front of the range. He said it was centerend on the cones and i assumed it was centered IN the cones. Needless to say as i pulled forward i moved to the left after i cleared the alley and centered the front cone in the middle of the truck. Then everything went squirrelly on me. I couldnt correct myself those 4 feet or so and made a mess of it trying to back. The physics of backing havent clicked yet and i killed a few cones and found myself doing two things. 1. Moving the wheel too fast and the tractor not responding. 2. Moving the wheel too much and the tractor getting all out of whack. We only had the 1 truck going and 6 guys taking turns so we didnt get another shot at it until the end. My last try went similiar to my first it started out well and i made it all the way down and finished then i got into my head again and screwed up on the second with over corrections.

So to summarize pretrip is coming along smoothly, backing is a mystery that needs alot more study.

So day 3 was a humbling experience. We started at 7am and went right into pretrip. Our instructor ran us through everything once and we asked as many questions as possible. We then moved inside the truck and watched him do the interior and brake tests.

After that we broke into grouos and started our own pre trips...... It didnt go well for any of us. After awhile we broke for lunch at a Chinese buffet that was pretty good. And went back to the terminal for more pretrip. I failed miserably on every single area no matter how many videos and study guides ive watched and read. We did this all day in the subfreezing cold and snow which turned into freezing rain later. Miserable. This is why I love our instructor, every single person he listened to he told them great job and at the end of the day reminded us this is day 1. None of us have any experience and we cant expect to be amazing. We'll spend tons of time in the upcoming days going over this stuff all the time for a reason, noone gets its right away and it takes time. As i sit here tonight in my room i have my own notes plus the guide from this site and a list of youtube videos to watch. Weather permitting we will do some backing tomorrow but its agoing to be alot of pretrip, which im excited for. I talked to the instructor and we are welcome to come to the terminal for more practice on the weekends which i will definitely be doing. Ill probably stay up here friday night and do some pretrip with my classmates saturday at the terminal and head home for a nights sleep and some laundry. Im learning a ton and you dont learn until you fail, and we all did today and oddly enough we are all pretty high spirited.

It was a cold miserable wet day with tons of mistakes and failures but it was without a doubt the best day here.

~noob

Day 2.

Started the day at 530 am and breakfast at 615. We left for the terminal at 640am on the dot.

The day started with filling out our logbooks and updating yesterday's information onto todays. From there a quick recap of yesterdays topics and then we started trip planning. I need to invest in a magnifying glass for this road atlas I hadnt realized how old my eyes have gotten along with the rest of my body until i started to look for New Liberty Iowa. Lots of discussions of tolls and the best ways to avoid them as well as major cities and some pitfalls you might come across with poor trip planning. Then we went into basic systems and basic controls. PowerPoint presentation going over all the details. Following that was another powerpoint for shifting and transmissions with alot of class discussion on the topic as well.

Then we broke for lunch at a local buffet which was fantastic. Amazing fried chicken and great cheddar brocolli soup.

After lunch we recapped the previous sections on basic systems and controla and took some quizzes. Then onto the yard. None of us had ever even been in a semi so our instructor took us out and gave a brief overview of the controls and drove ua around the yard a few times. It was an automatic and we all took turns making the Millis 500. This thing is massive and i wont fall into the trap of thinking i drove an automatic around the yard without a trailer with no problems so this is gonna be easy. We did that for a bit then came in and watched a pretrip video and that was it for the day. We got some review homework of trip planning and all met together in the hotel lobby to work out some routes and everyone seems to ve getting it pretty well!

Tonorrow is pretrip out in the yard and manual double shifting, weather permitting of course. We're supposed to get 4 inches of snow and sleet and ice so we'll see what happens.

Ill keep ya posted.

~ Noob

Sounds like you are doing great Pete. How many attempts do you get per day at each backing maneuver?

I hope your wife is feeling better soon!

Ok day 1 is done and in the books! And yes my hand is cramped from filling out all the paperwork. A big thank you to Pete for the heads up on the staying hydrated to combat the cramps.

The day started at 5am because we were paranoid about oversleeping and wanted to be ready. After morning routines we made our way to the hotel lobby area to see what the breakfast was all about around 615am. Breakfast starts at 6:30 here in Richfield but the nice lady had things ready earlier and we were allowed to eat. Pretty good food and it seems something for everyone, your typical eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, cereal, fruit, and juices. As we were milling about it became apparent we were all here for Millis after akward small talk. There will be 6 of us in this class and everyone seems to be a good guy. The instructor ate with us as well and introduced himself, seems very down to earth.

So at Richfield the drug testing is done on site so that was nice. I held it in all morning and was ready to burst so in typical noob fashion it snowed 6 inches last night and the tester is running late.

After introductions and a bit of chat the tester showed up and off i went. Things almost got wierd again for me but i calmly yelled at my crazy brain to not be crazy. So there are a few drivers in the terminal lounge where the tester were waiting on service. The tester asked me to remove all my loose clothes prior to the test and not to run water or flush in the bathroom.

In my crazy mind the phrase " loose clothes" mean all clothes. Why wouldn't it? I still think it does actually, its a terrible phrase to use in my opinion. But i slow my mind down and think about it and decide he probably means my pullover and hat and i buckled my belt back on. Now i will say i did think of my DOT physical disaster (previous post) in that moment of stripping down naked in the drivers lounge but what really stopped me was the look on peoples faces when i unbuckled the belt. I think Im becoming more aware of societal norms and am finally growing as a person.

Anyway, after testing it was a marathon of paperwork. Not much to say about it because its pretty boring.

We went to Subway for lunch and i felt bad for the two girls back behind the counter as 7 large men showed up but they did fantastic.

After lunch we started on the textbook which is gigantic.

We watched a video on FMCSA which was brutally boring and made me miss paperwork.

We also went over drug and alcohol policies.

Learned how to do logbooks and practiced filling them out. We will continue this every day of class.

We also learned HOS ( hours of service) and watched some videos on it aswell.

Got some homework tonight on reviewing some of the stuff we went over today and a few recomended videos on pretrip which like Pete said will mainly be up to us to learn on our own time.

The instructor was great, he was very upfront about the fast paced school and the fact that school doesn't end when we leave the terminal. Studying at the hotel is a must and its on you as the student to get that done. It seems harsh but i love it and he was also very clear about asking for help whenever you need it.

Looking forward to tomorrow. Ill keep everyone posted.

~Noob

Good luck sir the instructor in Cartersville speaks highly of the man in Richfield. Hope you have a great week, be sure to hydrate tonight those hand cramps are serious business.

Thank you for the tip! Probably wont hurt for the drug test either!

Just got checked into the hotel room. Unfortunately I do have a roomate but he seems like a good guy. Completely new to driving like I am so we will both be starting from scratch. He has the same concerns I do regarding backing and memorizing pretrip so the good thing is we can drill pretrip together to learn it easier. Now if only I could remember his name........

They will be waiting to pick us up at 630 am tomorrow and Ill try to keep you guys posted.

Thanks Pete! Backing already!? Thats awesome and terrifying. Was any shifting done or juat straight to backing? Also on the pretrip studying, do they allow you to hang around after class or on weekends to study on your own with the truck in front of you?

Im 38, i actually just finished the wheel of time audio books. I probably read that series 3 times as well, lol. Ive read Brooks, Eddings and Williams but i havent heard of McKiernan, Ill check those out. My favorite series has to be Malazan book of the fallen by Steven Ericsson. I believe its 12 books, all around 800 to 1100 pages so if you haven't read that check it out it will take up some time.

Oh speaking of wheel of time i read a story a few weeks ago that Amazon Prime has greenlit a full series for it!

Probably should have said Amazon prime video greenlit a tv series of it.

Also for History buffs i just found Hardcore History podcasts and am completely obsessed with them.

Im 38, i actually just finished the wheel of time audio books. I probably read that series 3 times as well, lol. Ive read Brooks, Eddings and Williams but i havent heard of McKiernan, Ill check those out. My favorite series has to be Malazan book of the fallen by Steven Ericsson. I believe its 12 books, all around 800 to 1100 pages so if you haven't read that check it out it will take up some time.

Oh speaking of wheel of time i read a story a few weeks ago that Amazon Prime has greenlit a full series for it!

I mainly read fantasy books my problem is I read very fast so i tend to fly through books. I'm actually a little worried about finding new fantasy books I havent read. I've found myself switching to audiobooks of series Ive already read through. The downside of reading fast is lower comprehension so i do pick up quite a bit on rereads. I think I've read Game of Thrones 4 times ........goin on 6.5 years waiting for the next book.

I can only speak for Indiana but i had to get my DOT physical prior to getting my cdl permit. Make sure you put that you are a CDL permit/ or license applicant or holder on your paperwork for the physical ( I screwed this up and it was a headache) Once that is done you can take your CDL permit test with any endorsements you need. Make sure you get an INTERSTATE not intrAstate so that you are legal to operate outside your state. My training will be out of state and I will test out of state. Im actually not sure how this works but Ive been told it does. If i pass i can have it transferred over to my home state.

Thanks for the updates Pete. I do have a question though. How much time have you guys spent on pretrip? Ive been studying the guide on here but I think doing it in front of a truck qould be a big help.

Congrats Doug!

Thanks for posting Pete. I appreciate the diary more than you know with me starting next week. Its good to have an idea of what to expect this close to my start date. I think I also saw a post in general with someones husband starting in a few weeks as well. The low student number sounds like a great thing and fingers crossed for the same next week in Richfield. I know you're extremely busy and take care of studying and sleep first and foremost but if you get a few minutes this diary will be super helpful and I really appreciate it.

Goodluck sir. You seem to have a great attitude i look forward to reading up on your journey if you get some time.