Humbled. But Ready!

I've backed a few trailers into actual receivers (target, kraft and lane foods) in my dad's truck. It's been a few months and I've did it mostly on his instruction I'll be rusty at first but I think it'll come back and I'll have a leg up there. I'm actually not worried about any tests or maneuvers at school or on the road. I'm worried about making a miniscule mistake or forgetting to do something and it is an auto fail or worse gets someone hurt on the road. 😞😵😔

However I've overcome many obstacles in my life and this is just another on my journey.

And I also know routine is the key and will be my best friend to not make a small mistake. I can honestly see myself being a 10 year veteran (with his own fleet of trucks might I add ;) ) and I'd still stop every 150 miles and do the most elementary checks even if I know things are OK just to be sure. Which I noticed alot of Veterans get slack in their pre and en route and post trip inspections (my father included) your guys take on this?

And thanks for the support everyone! 😊😊😊😊☺😀😁

With the knowledge you have you should be just fine! When testing out, there was no slack on the pre trip. Study hard and it should be no sweat. We could miss 20+ points, but with being prepared missing more more than 5 points would be strange.

Here are some automatic fails to be aware of:

- rolling backwards or forward

- running over the curb

- entering an intersection when it has turned yellow or red. If your tractor is in the intersection before it turns yellow you are fine.

- shifting over railroad tracks or in a 4 way intersection with lights

Be prepared and you will have this!

With the knowledge you have you should be just fine! When testing out, there was no slack on the pre trip. Study hard and it should be no sweat. We could miss 20+ points, but with being prepared missing more more than 5 points would be strange.

Here are some automatic fails to be aware of:

- rolling backwards or forward

- running over the curb

- entering an intersection when it has turned yellow or red. If your tractor is in the intersection before it turns yellow you are fine.

- shifting over railroad tracks or in a 4 way intersection with lights

Be prepared and you will have this!

Great. Thanks for the Info. I'll keep those in mind. How long was your schooling? And from the way you talk I assume you passed and are working as we speak. How are things?

Great. Thanks for the Info. I'll keep those in mind. How long was your schooling? And from the way you talk I assume you passed and are working as we speak. How are things?

It took me 3 weeks and a day. The inspector could have failed me, I was that close. If you notice in the state CDL manual, the inspector can take into consideration your attitude and how safe a driver he feels you will be, and I feel that saved me from going to plan B.

Plan B was to head home, buy some road time at a trucking school, then pay to use their truck to test out. Cost would have been $350 for four hours and $60 for the CDL Inspection.

I don't know how many road hours you'll get at swift, but don't expect a lot. Mine was minimal.

I have been on the road with a trainer for about 1 1/2 weeks. He's getting much needed home time right now. I have about 40 road hours and my shifting is much improved. I am leaning towards an automatic though. There's enough things I have to deal with, taking shifting out of the equation will just make me safer.

Great. Thanks for the Info. I'll keep those in mind. How long was your schooling? And from the way you talk I assume you passed and are working as we speak. How are things?

It took me 3 weeks and a day. The inspector could have failed me, I was that close. If you notice in the state CDL manual, the inspector can take into consideration your attitude and how safe a driver he feels you will be, and I feel that saved me from going to plan B.

Plan B was to head home, buy some road time at a trucking school, then pay to use their truck to test out. Cost would have been $350 for four hours and $60 for the CDL Inspection.

I don't know how many road hours you'll get at swift, but don't expect a lot. Mine was minimal.

I have been on the road with a trainer for about 1 1/2 weeks. He's getting much needed home time right now. I have about 40 road hours and my shifting is much improved. I am leaning towards an automatic though. There's enough things I have to deal with, taking shifting out of the equation will just make me safer.

Yeah man you got lucky but things worked out , good! Id actually feel safer in an stick for some reason haha especially on curves and downgrades. and I don't want to see option b either man, I will do my best and make every rep count that I get at swift training school!

Once they see you mean business they will keep you moving. About a month after I started OTR I suddenly had very little wait time between dispatches.

Generally the home time goes 1 day off for a week of driving. Drive two weeks (the absolute minimum) get two days at home. Three weeks = three days off. You're the one who asks for & sets the date. (Don't wait for anyone you ask you if you want to go home - won't happen!)

Two suggestions, and I seem to be the only one with these: get a toy semi truck to take with you. It really helps to see how backing up a 53' monster works.

I haven't heard back from anyone about this one: Get the broom. Hold the "stick" end on your hip with one hand. Now walk around the house, and do no let the broom bump into anything. You have to walk in large curves. That's how you need to drive with a trailer on the back. See if you can figure out the trick to make a U-turn around a tree, dragging the broom along.

How was your swift school experience btw ? did you feel rushed or did you get all the time and help you needed? did you feel prepared after leaving school?

And yes I actually have a few toy semi's ! ill play with it . your second method , its unconventional for sure! I like it , ill try and get back to you on that one!

Deonte, welcome to the family bud! I also went to the Salt Lake City school about 2 months ago. Hopefully you'll get to stay in the Crystal Inn, or at least Sleep Inn, you do not want the Ramada Inn at all. Crystal Inn is a 4 star hotel, it's very nice bud, you'll like it. You can expect to be there about 3 1/2 weeks total which includes orientation.

You first 3 to 4 days(Monday to Wednesday or Thursday) will be in a classroom doing your drug screen, turning in your permits and your dot physicals and going over material you already studied when you got your permit, you'll go over training truck rules, yard rules and etc. Also keep a receipt of your DOT physical you had to pay for, take it to SLC with you and turn it in, they will reimburse you for that. Thursday or Friday you'll go out to the yard behind building 2 and you'll start doing pre-trip practice and straight-line backing. Saturday, depending on how many students are in your class, and how many other students from other classes are out on yard you'll probably go out to Rookie Road and learn and practice your shifting. For the next two weeks you'll be doing Industrial Park driving, City and Mountain Driving, and offset and parallel backing, it's pretty easy as long as you remember to hit your marks.

You'll get Sundays off and random days through the week depending on how many students are out on yard with your class and other classes. After your two weeks you'll be testing on a Thursday or Friday, you'll test your pre-trip first, then your A.L.E brake test which is automatic fail, then you'll do your straight-line, offset, and parallel backing test, after that you'll do your road test and be done. You get 3 strikes before you get sent home, so my suggestion would be study your pre-trip good and don't mess up your A.L.E brake check test that way you go into your driving test with all strikes available.

If you pass your test on Thursday or Friday you will start orientation Monday, you'll do another drug screen, and watch a lot of slideshows and videos. Tuesday you'll get a lot of your paperwork signed and receive some books on Hazmat , Tandem sliding and etc. Wednesday you'll sign more paperwork and your training coordinator will come in and talk to you about what you have to do while you're out with your mentor. At 4pm you'll receive your driver code and Comdata card, and also a piece of paper with your mentor's name on it and his cell phone number. You'll then be released and you'll go call your mentor and talk to him, he will tell you when he will be there to pick you up. 9 out 10 times he's probably already there and you'll leave right away, or you'll leave the next day.

Your first 50 hours in truck it will just be you driving and your mentor will be in passenger seat. After those 50 hours you'll start driving team for another 150 hours, you'll also have to do 42 backing maneuvers in that time frame. After that you'll go back to SLC for upgrade, you'll do a short 60 question, multiple choice test, and you'll do another road test, then you'll get assigned your truck. While with your mentor you'll get paid $9.75/hour while your BTW(Behind the Wheel), all other On-Duty time will be paid minimum wage for Utah which is like $7.75/hr I think. So try to drive as much of your 11 hours a day as possible so you can get better check. Also on your second day on truck with your mentor you can get an advance if you choose, you can withdraw $105 a week but it takes 24 hours after you receive your Comdata card for your card to be ready.

But enjoy it, drive as much as you can. You'll hear a lot of crazy stuff about "dumb" Swift drivers while your on the road, everyone will be watching you, but don't let it get to you. Remember this is your starting point, just get your experience.

Oh, and when your on the yard practicing your backing maneuvers you'll see a lot of guys scared to jump in truck and go, jump up and jump in that seat if they are stalling, get all seat time you can because I've seen 40 student classes, when I left SLC school they had 2 classes on the training pad, one class was 50 students and one class was 65 students, there is only like 10 trucks out there to train in. I got lucky when I started, I only had 15 students in my class on day 1, by the time we got out on training pad we had 9 students in my class so seat time wasn't a issue, but it's very rare classes are that small.

And you'll run into a big guy, with beard, his name is Grizz, he's a really good trainer. Also Nate and JR are good trainers too. Pack plenty of sunscreen because it gets hot out there and drink plenty of water. If you can get to WYNCO which is a Wal-mart type store, you can get Gatorade and food really cheap there, WYNCO is right across street from Wal-mart. They have a van that runs to Wal-mart at end of each day after class. In building 1, which is where you'll spend your first 3-4 days and orientation is a cafeteria, they serve really good food there, they have coffee, bottle drinks, monster energy drinks, they have everything down there. Also while in orientation you get free breakfast and lunch at cafeteria.

Building 2 is out by training pad, they have Swift Store and drivers lounge in there, you can also go in there and buy drinks and food, shirts and hats, whatever you need. Enjoy it, keep us updated on your progress, if you want to know anything else just send me a message and I'll shoot you an email. I just finished my OTR training with my mentor a couple weeks ago.

Oh, and when your on the yard practicing your backing maneuvers you'll see a lot of guys scared to jump in truck and go, jump up and jump in that seat if they are stalling, get all seat time you can because I've seen 40 student classes, when I left SLC school they had 2 classes on the training pad, one class was 50 students and one class was 65 students, there is only like 10 trucks out there to train in. I got lucky when I started, I only had 15 students in my class on day 1, by the time we got out on training pad we had 9 students in my class so seat time wasn't a issue, but it's very rare classes are that small.

And you'll run into a big guy, with beard, his name is Grizz, he's a really good trainer. Also Nate and JR are good trainers too. Pack plenty of sunscreen because it gets hot out there and drink plenty of water. If you can get to WYNCO which is a Wal-mart type store, you can get Gatorade and food really cheap there, WYNCO is right across street from Wal-mart. They have a van that runs to Wal-mart at end of each day after class. In building 1, which is where you'll spend your first 3-4 days and orientation is a cafeteria, they serve really good food there, they have coffee, bottle drinks, monster energy drinks, they have everything down there. Also while in orientation you get free breakfast and lunch at cafeteria.

Building 2 is out by training pad, they have Swift Store and drivers lounge in there, you can also go in there and buy drinks and food, shirts and hats, whatever you need. Enjoy it, keep us updated on your progress, if you want to know anything else just send me a message and I'll shoot you an email. I just finished my OTR training with my mentor a couple weeks ago.

Great , great ,great info man! You knocked this post out of the park. All the information was what i was looking for and VERY helpful and you shed some light on alot of things. Thanks alot! But yes feel free to email i do have just a few more questions!

Oh, and when your on the yard practicing your backing maneuvers you'll see a lot of guys scared to jump in truck and go, jump up and jump in that seat if they are stalling, get all seat time you can because I've seen 40 student classes, when I left SLC school they had 2 classes on the training pad, one class was 50 students and one class was 65 students, there is only like 10 trucks out there to train in. I got lucky when I started, I only had 15 students in my class on day 1, by the time we got out on training pad we had 9 students in my class so seat time wasn't a issue, but it's very rare classes are that small.

And you'll run into a big guy, with beard, his name is Grizz, he's a really good trainer. Also Nate and JR are good trainers too. Pack plenty of sunscreen because it gets hot out there and drink plenty of water. If you can get to WYNCO which is a Wal-mart type store, you can get Gatorade and food really cheap there, WYNCO is right across street from Wal-mart. They have a van that runs to Wal-mart at end of each day after class. In building 1, which is where you'll spend your first 3-4 days and orientation is a cafeteria, they serve really good food there, they have coffee, bottle drinks, monster energy drinks, they have everything down there. Also while in orientation you get free breakfast and lunch at cafeteria.

Building 2 is out by training pad, they have Swift Store and drivers lounge in there, you can also go in there and buy drinks and food, shirts and hats, whatever you need. Enjoy it, keep us updated on your progress, if you want to know anything else just send me a message and I'll shoot you an email. I just finished my OTR training with my mentor a couple weeks ago.

Great , great ,great info man! You knocked this post out of the park. All the information was what i was looking for and VERY helpful and you shed some light on alot of things. Thanks alot! But yes feel free to email i do have just a few more questions!

Email me at Jrodallred27@gmail.com if you want to know anything else or need anything. I have 2 really good mentors that you can go with after you graduate too so you dont have to worry about getting assigned a bad one.

Hey guys an update as we speak I'm on the bus to salt lake. I've been on it for 2 days now and man is my rear sore . Tomorrow at 10 pm I'll arrive.