Does Anyone Know Where I Could Get My DMV.....

Well a major factor was that I really could not tell what was exit signs, how to tell how many miles from one place to another, how to tell where there are truck permitted travel like the toll roads and back roads. I have a Rand McNally Motor Carriers laminated road atlas.

Were you not taught the proper way to read the atlas? Not a shot at you just curious because it is very important.it would be a wall of text to try and explain everything. Also GPS and the maps app on a smartphone help in a big way.

I was only taught to road plan by looking at the atlas and looking for the fastest route possible and then following it that way but don't remember being taught to figure in miles from on an atlas and don't remember them even teaching me how to tell exit signs.

Hey sorry for late reply. If you look at the Atlas along the interstates you will see small white boxes along the blue interstate lines. Next to those boxes are green boxes with white numbers in them. These green boxes are exit numbers and in most states also indicate milage. So a green box with a 1 inside is exit 1, mile marker 1. If you see a higher number further along the blue line, say 50, that is mile make 50 and there are 49 miles between those exits.some states in the northeast are weird about mile markers and aren't accurate in that sense, but that's the gist of it.

Victor, you were home schooled, correct? You, of all people, ought to know how to read the directions on how to use an atlas and then be able to teach yourself how to use it. There is so much useful information in those first sections of the Rand McNally Motor Carrier's Atlas that you could have referenced easily just by looking at it. Have you ever even looked at the "Contents & Legends" page? That one page answers all your questions about how to locate the exit numbers (green boxes), and how to recognize truck routes (they're highlighted in orange). It shows you how to know where the weigh stations are, and where the rest areas are.

You make it sound like you were just flying blind out there! C'mon, I had a lot higher hopes in you. I simply can't fathom why you wouldn't open up that atlas and read the directions on how to use it. Linden knows how to read an atlas, and he's not even a teenager yet.

Victor, I'm gonna be real honest. I'm disappointed in you. You got yourself dismissed because you just weren't applying yourself. It's that simple. They saw no real drive or evidence from you to get in there and make an honest effort at learning this business - they don't need another driver that they have to babysit.

Remember how we talked about you not getting out to G.O.A.L? We said that has nothing to do with your lack of skill, or your lack of practice at backing. It was simply a lack of discipline - you just didn't make yourself take the time to do it. This thing about trip planning is the same problem.

You are a smart guy - very capable of doing this job at the highest levels, but you lack the discipline it takes. You could have spent thirty minutes on just a few pages in those front sections of your atlas and had your eyes opened as to how simple it is to figure that thing out.

You said you couldn't even figure out how many miles were in a trip! Do you not realize there is a really simple to use chart in the back sections of the atlas that gives you that information on just about any scenario you are going to face? You didn't realize it because you never bothered to look at the thing. You can look up Houston, TX to Chicago, IL - here it is: 1,090 miles (took me all of three or four seconds) Here's Long Beach, California to Fargo, North Dakota - 1,858 miles. (bam, information in a few seconds)

I'm not sure what to say Victor. I'm not wanting to publicly humiliate you. I'm wanting you to succeed at this, but it feels like you've ignored or somehow misunderstood so many of the things we tried to teach you about the type of person who succeeds at trucking.

I wish you had a reset button you could push and start again with a new approach. It's not going to matter what type of driving job you get now, or what company you go with. What is going to make the difference is if you change your whole approach and put in the effort to get it right this time. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

I been OTR and now I'm local, I assure you as a local driver your backing will be tested far more often than when you were OTR.

Old School you are like my favorite moderator among a couple others that have taken me under their wings and when I messed up scolded me and then lifted me up again and have given me new hope for the brighter future! C.T. that was a huge help and thank you. Old School I agree I did lack the discipline before I restarted my education to finish up my diploma, there is no doubt about that, but I am learning real quick that discipline pay off big time when it comes to me achieving my dreams and goals in life. I think a whole lot of it was due to misunderstanding you all and then thinking I did and then never requestioning you all so I could better understand. Thats definitely my fault. Old School you will be surprise that, when I went into trucking I had full intentions on becoming as good as you are. I almost did but like you have stated I lacked the necessary equipment called discipline and now that I am gaining it as I apply myself to my studies I can see just how imperative it really was and is that I apply myself intensely on them.

Daniel thank you for that information. Got a technical question, in order to keep my CDL A active do I have to drive a semi truck or can I just drive a dump truck too? There is a whole lot of Virginia construction where I am and they got dump truck jobs, semi dump trucks and such that is related to those that have a CDL A. I am looking for a part time job and then going to go full time after getting done with studies.

Thanks you all and I am still looking forward to many good threads and reading your wisdom!