First Day Of CDL Training At My Local School.

Day... lost count of days... stranded.... food supplies exhausted... hope... gone..... Just kidding... 8 I think? 7? somewhere around there... anyhow. 4/12/2017 So, today was interesting, after last night I spent two hours or so beating myself up over letting that truck roll back at that stop sign last night. Today however I did not stall it, I did not roll it back nor choke the truck out, Still having some trouble shifting mainly due to my lack of experience with said shifting but I am getting better or at least my instructor says I am. I had some issues on a small hill getting it to go into fourth and I think mainly because my feet don't want to get with the program, once I realized what was happening with my feet it all seemed to work out a-o-k, on the hill though which my instructor was impressed by was the fact that while I had trouble shifting the gears there, I was able to get it into third, clutch to friction and not choke nor stall the truck, he said that a lot of new guys choke it out and stall it or roll back, Neither of those things I did... but the night gets better from here, so after lunch right? we did the alley dock... that's a 90 degree monster of a turn for someone who has never moved a trailer in his life before the last week or so... and I want to be a trucker... Hahaha....but I digress, I was having a lot of trouble with it, tried getting the truck into position, failed each time for about seven tries... well... instructor sees this, comes outside and I tell him "I'm having no luck at all" So he told me to move it forward into position. I do, He then tells me after grabbing onto the mirror and walking with me as I back up I'm sitting there thinking "uh... could you not... I don't want to hurt you" but he knew what he was doing far better then I did, he told me when to turn the wheel and where to cut it and how far to cut it and guess what happened.... that trailer slid right into place and it went from an alley dock to a straight line backing... that part at least I could do with no fuss, Go me. Now the real fun begins. We had two hours to do the serpentine backing exercise, one of those hours was mine and the other belonging to my partner O. Well... I could not for the life of me move that trailer right, mind you it was our first night doing anything more then straight line, it took me 99.9% of that hour to get it, well I got it and didn't hit the line nor a barrel, Go me.... I think I also got my CB handle , or at least I suggested it "One hour Serpentine" the instructors and everyone else laughed, It felt really good to laugh after that stressful two hours, At one point about the thirty minute mark I was about ready to throw down my Caterpillar trucking hat I bought two years ago and say F-it for tonight cause it just wasn't happening... Well. Let me just state for everyone doing their CDL training and such, Breathe... I cannot say that enough, Breathe, I was ready to throw down the towel I was so frustrated, I got out, walked around, looked about, took a few deep breaths then climbed my butt back in that cab and I said to myself "Rome wasn't built in a day" as I pushed the clutch down and shifted into reverse. Thinking on it now it was stupid of me to feel that way, to think like that and give up on a dream I've had for many, many years only because of a silly little bit of backing and turning that wheel and on the first day of doing it no less... it's going to be tough I know it, there will be many many days like today ahead of me, but I want this... I want to drive a truck so bad I can taste it and feels so good sitting up in that seat, if a little nerve wracking at first. But I can and will say this, I am still looking forward to going back to school tomorrow, I can't wait, I'm smiling as I sit here and type this cause its my dream, I want it... no.. I need it for many reasons.

Till next time TT, Keep on truckin'

Day, I can't remember >.< 4/17/17 Hello TT, It's been a little while since my last post, Things are going well, I'm getting better and better with every passing day, I still mess up my shifting a tad here and there but the backing exercises are now fun and I enjoy doing them their still a pain but I Don't mind em. We're learning about the trip planning and log books. I'm getting better with my Pre-trip and my coupling and uncoupling. I gotta say its amazing being in that drivers seat, I enjoy driving that rig so much, I can't wait to get on the road and start driving with my company of choice.

Till next time TT

Well TT, Here I am again, Went out with the other instructor today, I gotta say he's easier to learn from then mine, not that mine does a bad job in any way but the other instructor, Iono just did things in a way that where super simple to understand, even for my thick skull. Well we went out on our route tonight, I never once stopped the truck, missed a gear once or twice and dumped the clutch again but only once this time. did more backing exercises, coupling and uncoupling, learned more about log books and we did more on pre-trip. Gotta say I'm having a blast. Till next time TT, Keep on truckin!

Back agian TT, Well, my road portion went good, getting better on the gears, almost had an accident, Guy wasn't paying attention and as I was past the point of no return in my turn, he wasn't paying attention, all I hear is the instructor yell "STOP!!" And I Slammed on the break in a what felt like an instant, almost hit the guy but he was going to run the stop sign, so had it actually went down, it wouldn't of been my fault. My backing was slightly horrible tonight but I think I was just having an off day... Still having fun though TT, Look forward to one day seeing you guys on the road

Keep on truckin' TT.

Well TT, I'm back! It's been a few days since my last post but I got some good news, I did a mock up CDL test on the Pre-trip, 90 Degree alley dock, 100 foot straight line, Off set alley docking, Scored 11 points, Provided nothing bad happens on my road test I think I'm ready. Wish my luck guys and gals, I'll update in a few days.