I Got It!!!!!!!!! I Passed My CDL Permit Test!!!

Congrats! I'm glad you finally jumped ;) enjoy, and remember LAUGH! And laugh harder when it sucks, because we have all been there.

Congrats! I'm glad you finally jumped ;) enjoy, and remember LAUGH! And laugh harder when it sucks, because we have all been there.

Thanks Jenny! I jumped pretty far and fast too :) I start school on Monday at Sage. Couldn't wait any longer...I'm patient to a point ;) Also think I found the company I'm going to work for. Got a pre-hire from them. Flatbedding :)

Congrats and happy driving

Hey all!

I'm so very excited because I PASSED my CDL permit test and am the proud holder of a Class A permit :)

Just posting to say thank you, thank you, thank you, for all the feedback and answers to my posts/threads that helped me prepare for the test. Between the HRTP and this forum, I felt like a rockstar on that computer :) I went to a job fair today and an information meeting at the school that I will be STARTING ON MONDAY! So very happy :)

Anyways, from the bottom of my sunshiney heart, thanks :)

Melly

congrates, now the real fun begins!!

Congrates, now the real fun begins

Congrads YOU ROCK STAR !!!!!

Awesome job congratulations

Congrats! I'm glad you finally jumped ;) enjoy, and remember LAUGH! And laugh harder when it sucks, because we have all been there.

Thanks Jenny! I jumped pretty far and fast too :) I start school on Monday at Sage. Couldn't wait any longer...I'm patient to a point ;) Also think I found the company I'm going to work for. Got a pre-hire from them. Flatbedding :)

Flatbedding huh? AWESOME! I hope you like challenging situations!

You know, Jenny's advice to laugh reminded me of something that happened to me the other day... I was hauling some cable reels and was about 15 miles from the receiver when I started to notice rain drops on my windshield. No big deal I thought, it's not too bad. Well by the time the forklift driver was ready to unload me, it was literally a torrential downpour. He pulled up alongside the truck and asked if I was in a rush or if I wanted to wait. I thought about it for a second and decided that if I waited, it would reduce my chances of getting reloaded that same day, so I said let's go for it. Well within about 30 seconds of stepping out of the cab, I was completely drenched. For the next 5 or 10 minutes I ran around the truck undoing chains and putting them away as the rain pelted me relentlessly. At some point I slowed down because I realized that I couldn't possibly get any wetter than I already was, and I just burst out laughing at the craziness of the whole situation. Literally laughing out loud.

When I climbed back into the cab, my clothes made everything wet. All my paperwork, the driver's seat, everything was soaked. I went into the sleeper and peeled off all my clothes, dried off with a towel, and put on a dry outfit. Then I put another towel over the driver's seat and sat down to salvage the paperwork.

The funniest part of it was that as soon as the truck was unloaded, the rain stopped and the skies cleared. And when I called dispatch, they didn't even have another load ready for me anyway! It took another hour before I got a new destination. If I would have just waited 20 minutes or so, I could have avoided the whole situation. I still crack up at the silliness of it all.

Anyway, be ready for stuff like that! Good luck and be safe out there!

Thanks again for all the congrats and well-wishes! Today was my first day of school and I'm so happy my insides are bubbling :)

The Persian Conversion, I am soooo down for a challenge and as long as I can pass that lift-test I'm going to rock it like the Flintstones! I wish I could have been there for that downpour :) I can just picture you stopping and realizing that YEP! You're totally drenched and running around like a chicken with its head cut off isn't going to get you dry any faster! Ha!! Life can be so ridiculous sometimes that all you can do is belly-laugh at the whole stupid thing. I think that's actually what's drawing me to that type of driving. It absolutely sucks when the weather is so hideously yucky, but that feeling of satisfaction of having done your job and done it without incident when the odds are against you is a rush! I remember when I was working iron we had a Target to fly steel on. There were two concrete walls and nothing but open space. The weather was at LEAST 8 below and the wind was howling. But there we were - flying two pieces at a time, just trying to get it done and get the hell out of there. By lunch I could barely call out to the crane operator because my lips and face were so damn numb. I'll tell you what though...Standing back and seeing all the iron up and solid at the end of the day was worth every minute of frozen hell that day.

I'd absolutely love ANY and ALL tips you might have for me so I can be as prepared as possible to start. I know I'll learn a lot during the training period and I've already learned some tricks just from reading the different flatbed threads here on TT. But I have a feeling that the stuff (clothes, equipment, etc) a flatbed driver brings with him/her might be a little different than someone who runs no-touch. Any suggestions? Thanks again! Stay dry... ;)

Get cloths you do not mind having grease and dirt on, while some loads might be clean you might get the odd load that is very nasty as well. Get a couple pairs of heavy duty gloves and have them set aside for different things: IE fueling gloves, strapping/tarping gloves, winter gloves, and truck maintenance gloves. Steel toed boots!!! I use to get mad when I would see drivers with flip flops doing things on the trailer I was helping load, I have seen a crushed foot it is not pretty or something you want. An Arctic lined Carhartt coat for winter as these things are just the best for winter and are great for holding up, I got one on Amazon a few years ago that should have cost me $150 for $80 (and that was in January). You will most likely get a hard hat from the company you work for but I would get some safety glasses as well, and if you really good you can find sunglasses that are actually safety glasses as well. For cleaning up get a big thing of Gojo hand cleaner this does not need water to use, just scrub it on you dirty hands and paper towel it off and your hands will be clean (I used this a lot when I spun wrenches it works). These are things I think of when looking at what I should consider bringing, but everyone is different.