Davey And CDL

Brett: Thanks! Yes, I watched other drivers, instructor included, do the manuvers and I did learn a lot from that. Also, this morning first thing we went to the yard with the Semi. Then the instructor had to leave to go back and get the third Semi (there were two where I was plus another instructor). Before he left he told me I could practice straight line backing and parallel parking. I practiced the straight line and then did two perfect and I mean perfect parallel parking manuvers! I thought, "where is the instructor when you really want them!" (ha, ha). So it was a good day and we also started driving and shifting on a circular area in the lot. Tomorrow, Friday we hit the road.

Also today I have really got down the coupling and uncoupling routines and the "verbal air brakes test". These were two I had been working on and now have them down. So an encouraging day when it is all looked at. Much thanks to Brett and the others who have given me encouragement and help on this sight. I am 60 yrs old and always held a desk down and am not mechanically inclined. Thanks!

See what I mean??? One day you're kinda tripping all over yourself, the next day they're doing a photo shoot to put you on the cover of "Awesome Trucker Magazine"! That's just how it goes.

You just have to keep your head held high, never doubt yourself, be eternally optimistic, and keep working hard at it every day. It's simply a matter of time and it will all come together nicely.

Wow, if you've always had desk jobs all these years, what an amazing lifestyle change you're getting ready to dive into! I hope you have a ton of fun out there. Of course there are going to be plenty of ups and downs - there is for everyone - but life on the road is an amazing experience. You're going to find that a week or two on the road will bring the equivalent amount of memories and experiences as a year of normal life at home. I can't tell you how many times I'd think back to something in the recent past and think "That was maybe two months ago?" and then realize "OMG that was like two weeks ago!" You're just so busy and constantly bombarded with ever-changing traffic, weather, scenery, people, and cities - it's a flurry of activity most of the time.

It's "A desk with a view" as I've heard many times.

Wow, that's something to look forward to for sure!

This week our instructor has been telling us about keeping our logs up to date and all. He remembers truckers on the CBs asking "What town are we in?" or "What town was that ____?" and what they are doing is trying to re-construct their logs. We talked about this and today we were driving over the road(I drove for three hours!!) (Not all at once). Any way towards the end of the day, sure enough, I (ME!) asked him "what town were we in?" So we all had a good laugh over that one!

Also we drove partly over the course the DMV uses and parallel parked on their site where they have a couple of cones up. And it just popped in there pretty good. Also my shifting needs work but its coming along. So all in all a great day. To top it off the other two men in our group did real well also and so we celebrated by having a Texas Tradition-RIBS!!!!!!! Bar-B-Que RIBS for lunch! Hey, this is a great Truck Driving School!!! (Smile).

Wow, learning to drive a rig and chowin' down on some ribs. I mean, is that as American as it gets or what????

Dave, I am enjoying your posts. I live in Uvalde, and I will be most likely attending CDL school in or near the south Texas Eagle Ford Shale field. I will not be surprised if I see recruiters for the oil field as well. I really would rather go OTR , at least for a year or two. I am quite certain that the oil field work required when not on the truck, especially in the South Texas heat, would not agree with me. I actually love colder climates. One job I would probably like that a fellow was doing and talking about on the other forum is hauling crude from oil field to port facilities, but they hire only experienced drivers I believe. Just like OTR, in the oil field, you have to pay dues too I reckon.

Well, it was explained to our class that the oil field cannot get enough drivers and so are taking on "student drivers".

Brett: I read your information on how to obtain info on the company's safety and compliancy records for various things via their Motor Carrier Number on the FMSCA website. I looked up five different companies and found that the company with the best "grade" was Schneider.

Unsafe driving: 8.5% HOS compliance: 7.7% Driver Fitness: 37.8% Con. Subs/Alcohol: 0% Vehicle maint.: 41.8%

Could the number for Cont subs/alcohol be because of them letting these drivers go? I mean, it seems quite remarkable to me that they would have ZERO drivers with problems in this area? If a company had any amt in this category would that then mean that they retain the driver?

Thanks! -Dave PS. I compared Schneider to Crete, Covenant, Swift, Werner. Schneider beat them all easily.

Yeah, that zero must mean they don't have any current drivers that have failed recent drug tests.

Schneider is a well-run company I can tell ya that. They're great with new drivers, super focused on safety, and they have a ton of fantastic opportunities right across the board - local, regional , dedicated, OTR , etc. Definitely keep them high on your list of companies up for consideration. You might find companies that suit you better, but Schneider is really solid.

Thanks Brett. I have calls into Crete and Schneider. I also have a pre-approval for orientation upon completion of Truck Driving School/CDL from Werner.

Today we did more driving around town with emphasis on shifting (coming along great!) and cornering and some practice on parallel parking (I put it right in there!!!). My area of concern right now is cornering and cornering in traffic! Wow! That is a biggie!!! Making the turn without clipping the imaginary vehicle! Whew, sweat, sweat, concentrate!

But I am having a blast and we are all doing real well in the truck. The instructor is just a heck of a fellow and he is real good at what he does and is real encouraging.

Today after lunch we were out in the parking lot and us three where in our truck and we looked out at the semi next to us and saw it was on fire! So we all jumped out and three fire extinguishers later and a lot of water and it was out. We separated the tractor from the trailer, by . . . get this . . . pushing it! Ha, ha! Never thought a bunch of guys could push a Semi Tractor!

Well, that's all for today and I appreciate everything Truckingtruth has helped me with and given to me. I will always give credit compliments to this site. And I am not through using it and am planning on starting a review tomorrow and also wish to start to study the HazMat portion in a serious fashion.

Thanks again, Brett!

-Dave

Today was the 2nd day of the third week of our Truck Driving School here at Midland College, Midland, TX. Our instructor took us out on the freeway and Hwy. We also spent some time on some back roads practicing dock parking. We also did a lot of shifting today over and over again and went up and down some hills near Big Spring, TX. This was a simulation of large hills and to get some idea of the needs for these types of situations. All in all I thought I did real good and have come quite a ways since the first days of classes and driving. Now I am pretty confident on parallel parking, dock parking, straight-line backing, setting up for various situations, sizing up traffic and cornering needs. Of course I recognize I am quite inexperienced and hope when I get on with a company I will be match with a good mentor for a few weeks.

I had high hopes for Crete but I don't think its going to work out. They sing a good song on their web site about student drivers but in the end only accept students from the schools they "recognize" (have some kind of deal with). Ours is not on the list so that's probably out. Next is Schneider which I think will just be fine and so hope something comes of that opening.

I talked to one of the Schneider recruiters today and they asked me to submit an application a week before our school is finished so this Friday(6/28/13) I'll forward a app. If worse comes to worse, ha, ha, I'll take the Werner pre-approved orientation approval and go with them and not look back. I figure wherever I go I am going to stay with them for at least one year. After that I will evaluate where I am with the company, pay, benefits, etc. But until then I am going to hustle and do my best to be the best little truck driver they ever had.

I continue to make mistakes on my log and this kind of worries me. I am going to be looking at lessons on log keeping wherever I can find them. Maybe some extra tutoring will help. It's funny, at first glance the log book seems about the simplest form I have ever filled out! Oh well. I think there is some stuff on this on this site and so will look around and read and study it and also go to Youtube. I know there is some on there. The reason I put it off is that it is just not the most exciting video to watch. I mean, you go to Youtube and between the videos on different companies and all the reviews and truck wrecks by the time I work through those I am tooooooo sleepy.

Here is a question and I ask it because I will probably face this in the near future. What are the four most important things to remember when it comes to working with/for a mentor/trainer driver for the duration of the company "training"?

Thanks.

-Dave

Dave, go through the log book section in the High Road Training Program