The New Guys Story

I now have my CDL with Hazmat, Tanker, Doubles and triples!

I drove my last four hour driving session with Bob, my instructor this morning. We went over the same 25 mile course that the CDL road test covered twice. We broke for lunch and then the examiner came to the range. It had been foggy and cold in the morning. By noon the sun came out and it was a perfect day for a "road trip"!

I got 100 on the pretrip inspection, but lost a point on the alley dock when I put the trailer in crooked and was over by a few inches on one side. On the road test we went over mostly windy, narrow back roads which tested my ability to properly manage my lane positioning and keeping the trailer from encroaching into the other lane or past the fog line. I only had four points deducted on my road trip portion and got my envelope to take to DMV.

I've made the final arrangements with Schneider National Bulk Carriers to start training in Harrisburg, PA next week. Another milestone in a dream that I've had for some time now.

I'm stoked!

Category: General

As of Friday December 23 I've completed all of the classroom work and 8 of the 11 four hour driving sessions. I drove the Kenworth which shifts easily for two hours on the range practicing shifting and backing, backing, backing! I can consistently hit the two alley dock slots on our course. The concept of "steering the trailer tandems with the tractor drives" seems to be sinking in for me.

I asked my fellow student Thomas to switch trucks with me so that I could practice backing the Freightliner with the 48 foot van trailer. The first few times I drove the Freightliner my shifts were pretty rough. When I drove it on Friday it seemed like a different truck, not hard to shift at all. what a difference a few weeks make.

I went to Asheville for a drug test and full physical for Schneider. The doctor was this sweet and funny young lady who was explaining all of the things that she was checking on me. When the assistant first checked my blood pressure it came out 146! Then she tried a large cuff and it came out 138, passing but borderline. The doctor told me tosit in a chair and RELAX for five minutes. She came back and checked my pressure...126!! So I've got a clean bill of health and a new two year DOT medical certificate.

I've been prehired by Mcelroy (flatbed), Colonial (reefer), Schneider (tanker), and I'm waiting on Averitt Express who actually came to school to interview me, US Xpress who flaked out on getting some required form to me, and Roehl who is taking their sweet time.

I'll make my final decision next week. I'm really leaning toward Schneider because I want to drive tankers. I've read comments about not starting out with tankers but I know that Schneider has an excellent training program and coupled with the training I've received at Sage, I think I'll be OK.

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

Category: General

Saturday 12/17 - Drive number five

Today's four hour drive completes twenty of my forty four BTW driving. We took the black KW T600. It shifts and drives very nice.

We went up some narrow two lane country roads, on and off I26 West and I25 North and South, thru the small city of Hendersonville. Nice drive. Up and down some medium sized hills. Wayne, my instructor advised me to keep an eye on keeping the left wheels of the rig six inches from the center line to keep centered in the lane on the narrow roads. Turns in town to practice lane management.

After three hours we came back to the yard and I spent the last hour between practicing the alley dock that I will do on my CDL test and an alley dock into a simulated truck stop parking space. My backing is improving. I at least understand the inputs necessary to get the trailer where I want it. Now I have to practice my countersteering to more smoothly position the trailer.

My next drive is Monday from 1900 to 2300. Should be interesting!

Category: General

I drove on my first four hour road session Tuesday afternoon in our white Frieghtliner pulling an empty 48 foot van. We spent quite a while making a 12 mile circuit on a local four lane divided highway. I felt fairly comfortable except for when I was doing the turnarounds my downshifting wasn't that great. I was instructed to slow to 35, downshift from 10th to 7th, slow to 15, downshift to 5th and if clear make the turnaround in 5th, otherwise stop for oncoming traffic and start in 3rd. A few times I started out and was bucking the truck as I accelerated. Tom the instructor let out with a load "Yee hawww!" He's pretty cool. We have some very narrow streets in the little nearby towns. I was watching my mirrors like a hawk and did't hit anything. No class today due to the ice storm. I am scheduled to drive again Friday and Saturday. I hope I drive the KW. It is much easier to shift.

Category: General

After Schneider initially told me that there were no openings in bulk division, I emailed a SNI bulk division trainer that I had written to on Pumpkindriver.com and she told me to call the bulk division operating center manager directly. He told me that he would contact recruiting and ge back to me. An hour later he called me back to tell me that corporate would be calling me back soon and "Welcome aboard"! Once I finish my Sage training and get my CDL at the end of December I will go through SNI's three week CDL school, one week of bulk training in Dallas, then out for two to three weeks with a bulk trainer.

I am very happy to get this opportunity to go directly into bulk. After one year or so I would like to hire on with a food grade tanker company like Jim Aartman out of California.

Category: General

I'm quite satisfied with my first week of training.

Friday was my second four hour driving session. I pre-tripped our Kenworth T600 hooked to a 48 foot flat bed. Tom, our lead instructor gave me easy to remember tips on doing the in cab portion, air brake, tug test, trailer hand and service brake tests.

He had me do the "Dale Earnhardt" around our large pratice course by myself for about an hour. The Eaton Fuller Roadmaster 10 speed was much more forgiving than our Freightliner's Rockwell 10 speed. I was doing OK, but Tom got in with me and he observed my shifting. I had been getting into the clutch too soon and staying on the throttle as well. He drove a few laps and showed me how I could easily improve. He would put light three finger pressure on the shifter toward neutral, completely remove his foot from the throttle, then in one smooth movement, bump clutch to shift to neutral, bump clutch again into the next gear. Downshifts, he added bumping the throttle to 1600 RPM. When I got back in the drivers seat my shifting was much smoother and I understood it better.

Tom also helped me greatly on alley docking. My foward setup was fine but once I started backing more than 25 feet I would get lost.

He broke the maneuver into five parts for me and I was able to hit the dock opening each time even though I wasn't lined up as nicely as I would like.

Here's how he broke it down for me.

1) Initial setup - Drive forward 100 feet through cones until tractor side mirror is just past alley entry, turn hard right and go 50 - 60 feet until now the dock is directly behind the truck, then hard left about 50 feet to a stopping point with the trailer at approximately a 30 degree angle.

2) Start backing - Idle in low reverse until I can see the Right trailer support halway in the mirror - STOP - The trailer is now at approximately 45 degree angle.

3) While still stopped, turn hard left and back until the trailer is lined up straight behind the tractor. STOP.

4) Check the mirrors and see where you are in relation to the alley entrance. Straighten the tractor wheels and back until within 10 - 12 feet of the entrance - STOP

5) Evaluate correction necessary to properly enter the hole and turn the wheel hard to make the adjustment. Continue backing and adjust as necessary to straighten the trailer in the dock.

Sunday morning will be my next session and I look forward to applying Friday's tips.

Next Friday will be my first local road drive.

Next week recruiters from Roehl and McElroy will come to school. My application is in process with Roehl and I will have the chance to get more information about them. I will have a one on one interview`with the recruiter from Averitt Express next Thursday.

I'm still leaning towards McElroy but I applied to Colonial out of Knoxville, TN. They are a small (350 trucks) company that boasts of a 8 percent turnover rate for new drivers in their first year.

I hope to have at least four pre hires and make my decision among them in the next four weeks.

Category: General

Monday and Tuesday were classroom instruction, videos, and numerous tests. Tom Amacher the lead instructor is very knowledgeable and keeps it interesting. Tuesday afternoon to my surprise was the first of my eleven 4 hour driving sessions.

After showing me the pretrip procedure on a Freightliner with an empty van trailer, Bob another instructor, demonstrated proper vehicle operation and shifting using double clutching. I was happy that even though many shifts were not real smooth many were quite smooth. Downshifting requires the most coordination. I drove in a large circle pattern, then Bob demonstrated proper coupling and uncoupling procedures. He then demonstrated the alley dock maneuver which I had trouble with once I started backing. I did manage to hit the simulated dock twice though. He had me do a forward serpentine then told me to stop the truck. He then said OK do a bacward serpentine. I started to put it in reverse when he told me that he was just kidding!

I am VERY pleased with all of the staff of Sage Technical at Blue Ridge CC in Brevard, NC. I feel that coupled with a good carrier to start with that I have a better chance of surviving my first year and being safe.

Thanks to Zach and Nutley for your encouragement. My respect for the experienced hands grows each day.

Category: General

I have applied to Roehl, Averitt Express, US Xpress, McElroy, and Schneider. Having all of your records, employment history organized can speed up this tedious task of entering the same information into numerous application forms.

Schneider called me back 24 hours after applying online. The only reason I would hire on with them was if they had an opening in their bulk division. They didn't, so I told them to call if an opening came up.

McElroy called me about four hours after faxing my application to them. The lady told me that I was pre-hired and to fax my DOT long form and ten year DMV printout to them. The director from school called to congratulate me on getting a prehire before I even start school!

I was impressed with what I learned about McElroy. 38 cents per mile to start. Seven weeks training program. Two at terminal for load securement, learning to back spread axle 45 and 48 foot flatbed trailers, four weeks with a trainer, then an evaluation week before being assigned your truck. Home every weekend, smaller company (600 trucks). Southeast, Midwest, and mid Atlantic freight lanes. They are at the top of my list along with Averitt Express which does mostly LTL freight.

I've been working out extra hard figuring that I've got five more weeks to get into top physical shape before doing it on the job.

I'm almost positive that I am going to go with a flatbed carrier. The down side is tarping and climbing on top of the load.

The upside is no touch freight, no lumpers, few delays at shippers and receivers, which with the new Hours of Service rules can really minimize your productivity and paycheck.

Over the last few years I've been buying trucking related gear such as the Burton 12V stove and coffee maker, inverter, Coleman RoadTrip 12V cooler, CB, sturdy boots and clothing, rain gear, laptop with Delorme Earthmate GPS. I tried out the Delorme system in my van last week. It is WAY COOL. Not truck route specific so any trip planning has to be checked against your motor carrier atlas for restricted routes, low clearances, etc. But it is vey nice. It shows a split window with the map above and your next turn in a window below. As your driving is will show the miles to your next turn decreasing and as you approach it will give you voice directions.

That's all for now. Monday starts my regular classes. I was glad to attend the one day last weeks so that I know the instructors and my classmates already.

Best of luck to all of you

Category: General

Hello to all newbies and wannabes!

I'm writing this blog to tell my story of becoming a Class A driver. I hope that you can benefit from my experiences as I
go from wannabe to newbie to experienced driver.

About me -

I'm a 51 year old man, divorced, living in beautiful western North Carolina. I worked as a sub contractor in the Information Technology field for over 30 years. Since 2000 I was getting laid off due to budget cuts and outsourcing about once a year and I wanted to get out of a cubicle into something stable, challenging, and outdoors.

I'm enrolled in the Sage Technical CDL course at Blue Ridge Community College in Brevard, North Carolina. It's a very
good program 150 hours of instruction which includes 44 hours of behind the wheel time one-on-one with your instructor.
The driving instructors have been-there-done-that and are very patient. I highly recommend Sage training.

Planning and preparationBecause I've been wanting to make this career change for years, I've been doing my best to prepare for the day when I finally made the decision to go for it.

The MOST IMPORTANT thing is to get your finances in order. Pay down debt, save every dime. Not having the stress of money worries will reduce the overall stress of learning a new job.

Whatever your situation, do the best you can.

Get your personal records organized

Birth certificate (you need a certified copy which you can get by writing to the county where you were born)
DMV history - get a 5 year history from them for a small fee. Take care of any outstanding tickets or warrants NOW!

Job history - write down ALL of your jobs for the last 5 years. Include company name, address,phone number, start and end dates, reason for leaving

Medical history - if you've had any surgeries, medications, etc get a doctors letter stating that you are OK to drive a truck.
Go to a drug store and check your blood pressure for free. If it's over 140, see a doctor for medication.

Criminal background - get documentation for any felonies, misdemeanors, probation, etc and prepare to write an explanation

Educational records - GED, high school diploma. If you don't have a GED you can get one through the One Stop Centers.

Personal references - some companies ask for two or three non relatives. Get them and write it down.

Drugs and alcohol - This is a highly regulated industry with random testing. If you've got a problem with either drugs
or alcohol, think really hard about getting into some other industry.



Use available resources

If your employed or especially if your unemployed, check into your states One Stop Center. You can call your states Unemployment Department for the number. They have all kinds of help. You can get CDL training paid for through the Workforce Investment Act. They have computers, phones, faxes, counselors, and more.

Check out the trucking forums and blogs

Classadrivers.com
Truck.net
pumpkindriver.com

USE THE SEARCH feature!Take the information with a grain of salt.

Talk to drivers

Go to a truck stop and ask drivers if they would give you some advice

Call trucking company terminals in your area and ask if you can visit.

Category: General