Swift School Diary (Memphis) Starting 11/2

DAY 9

So today is a pretty big day: Backing Skills Evaluation day. I feel rather confident in myself for my skills, including the 90 degree. The overwhelming majority of the rest of the class, however, does not. Everybody is getting sick now and some people are isolating themselves to try preventing sickness. But considering everyone has to put their cell phones in a small box before going out to the range, it's a feeble effort.

I came back to my hotel room last night to find a man more than twice my age napping, haha. Turns out he has road training to finish, so they let him come back in the middle of the week, but I guess he'll be gone again in a couple days anyway.

That's pretty much it for now. I'll probably make a short post later tonight to tell you how my evaluation went.

DAY 10

I passed my backing skills evaluation! By some miracle, I managed to complete all my skills and only get one point (you are allowed to get 10 points before you fail). Most of my class wasn't as lucky though. Only 8 out of the 34 of us left managed to pass. The ones who failed get another chance to pass it today, and the ones who don't have to stay an extra week and try again.

So today will just be pretty chill, a little practice time on the range before road training starts in a couple days. And I'll keep my eye trained on that access road for Errol today, haha.

DAY 10

I passed my backing skills evaluation! By some miracle, I managed to complete all my skills and only get one point (you are allowed to get 10 points before you fail). Most of my class wasn't as lucky though. Only 8 out of the 34 of us left managed to pass. The ones who failed get another chance to pass it today, and the ones who don't have to stay an extra week and try again.

So today will just be pretty chill, a little practice time on the range before road training starts in a couple days. And I'll keep my eye trained on that access road for Errol today, haha.

Congrats! Wasn't a miracle, practice, practice, practice. Keep your eye on the prize.

AdkMatt is training his eye:

I'll keep my eye trained on that access road for Errol today, haha.

I won't be back to the terminal till sometime Sat. morning. Then Monday morning.

But you got the hardest part of your training over with. You'll have a road test for your road training, just don't let the tandems go over the curb on right turns and you'll ace that one, too.

Thanks Matt for posting this journal!! I will be following along as you continue posting. I signed up for Swift training in Colorado Springs and start tomorrow. It's a 16-day program and I already have my permit and two endorsements, but I'm nervous as ever. The High Road Training Program was sooooo helpful when studying for my written tests. The trucker's forum and various blogs on here have been super awesome as well. Wish me luck with my training and good luck with the rest of yours!!

DAY 13

Oh man, that was a nice weekend. Saturday, we were in the classroom to take a hours of service and trip mapping/planning test. Had yesterday off to lay down and watch crime dramas all day.

So today is the first day of road training. I assume we're going down to MS or AR to find a desolate road to learn double-clutch shifting. I'll let you know how it goes :)

DAY 14

So yesterday was the first day of road training. Luckily there were only 3 students to our truck. I managed to pick up shifting waaaay faster than I thought I would, well enough when us 3 all had a turn, the instructor picked me to jump on the highway and take us back into town. I have to admit, once I had everything nailed down, it was really fun (I hope that's a good thing.)

My truckmates didn't care as well though. One decided he wasn't going to give commentary at all (which really ****ed the instructor off) and was constantly losing his gears when it was time to slow down. The other talked all the time but he would make simple mistakes (like starting a downshift at a high rpm) and would continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited to drive again today. Only difference here is now the trailer will be loaded.

DAY 14 (continued)

Today was pretty awesome We had our final pre-trip evaluation today. This was what I was most worried about, even more than backing the 90, haha. I went through the whole thing and only got one single point (missed the indicator light on the side of the cab). The instructor was also secretly scoring me as we drove around downtown Memphis. He told me if I drive like that for the final eval, I wouldn't even get 10 points. And the nice kicker, after being told that my DMV test would probably be delayed at least 2 weeks, I was informed today that I am testing THIS FRIDAY. WOOT!

DAY 16

Today's going to ve a pretty big day (and tomorrow even bigger). We're going to finish our road training, get our night driving hours in, and take the final evaluation to graduate school. Tomorrow, I head to Jackson, TN to get that CDL. I'm not even sure why I'm awake right now. So we can do our night driving, the instructor isn't picking us up from the hotel until 9 this morning. After all this, it'll be orientation time early next week. So stoked that we're finally here.

Good luck tomorrow.

Remember, the stranger (examiner) in the passenger seat is used to all the tension, so you can relax.