It seems like the second week just flew by. It was really intensive, both for parking maneuvers and for driving practice. We would spend the first hour of every morning practicing pre-trip inspections together. It was the time to ask questions of the seniors and instructor and just make sure we not only knew the part and possible problems, but where the part was and what it looked like. I didn't now anything about engines (other than how to check/fill fluids in a car) before I got here.
I did end up recording the pre-trip inspection (71 things, each with a description of possible damage/defect to look out for), the four-point brake check and the parking brake check. I learn better when I hear something... .also, it frees up my hands (no clipboard/paper to hold) so that I can literally have my hands on the truck parts I'm describing. I will have it all memorized by the end of the week, no problem! I listen to it last thing before I go to bed and first thing when I get up. Kinda glad I'm single.... not sure listening to a twelve minute recording of truck parts would be the most romantic way to end an evening.
After our pre-trip inspection practice, juniors (my class) would spend the rest of the morning on the school range practicing parking maneuvers. I'm much better at parallel parking than offset parking... but my off-set parking is coming along. I'm more worried about hitting a cone on the parking part of the test than I am about messing up on the driving portion. You have to pass the pre-trip, brake inspections and parking maneuvers to even get to the driving portion of the test.
After lunch, we would be divided into groups of three and then we'd go out on the road with an instructor. At first, we were on a small loop of side streets out by the airport. From Wednesday to Friday, we were driving in town. I drove for 1.25 hours on Thursday in every type of road that comes up on the CDL driving test: highway (on/off ramps too), city, school zone, lots of stoplights, hills, S-curves, etc. My downshifting still needs work, but I did okay. I have yet to even hit a curb with my trailer! It was a little unnerving. My palms were so sweaty that I was stuck to the steering wheel like a gecko.
On Thursday afternoon, I signed all the paperwork for my school loan. Since we had to each sit down with the head of the school individually, I thought it would be a good time to ask him about something that had been bothering me:
School is supposed to be from 7am to 5:30 pm every day (Seniors have an additional 4 hour night driving session on Monday of their final week). We have never once stayed past 5pm. On Thursday, my driving group got back to the school right around 5pm and no one was using the parking trucks on the practice range, so I climbed into one... thinking that I could squeeze in another half hour of parking practice. I was told by an instructor to get out or the truck because it was time to go home.
CDL training is three weeks long. So if school costs about $6,000. Fifteen days of class means that we are essentially paying $400 per day to go to school here. If the school is promising a certain amount of hours of training, I want those training hours. I paid for them. I took out a loan to pay for them.
When I went in to sign the loan documents, I told the head guy about being asked to get out of the truck and he asked me for the name of the instructor. I explained that all of the instructors dismissed us at 5pm. He said that he knew that the instructors stayed until 5:30, but not that they were dismissing us early.
I really like the instructors at my school. I don't want to get anyone in trouble, but I want to get my money's worth. And I'm not so confident in my driving and parking abilities that I don't think some additional practice time would go amiss. Missing half an hour per day for the two weeks of driver training adds up to 5 additonal hours I could have had to practice.
I'm glad I said something about it, at any rate.
We haven't learned how to couple/uncouple the tractor and trailer yet. Looking forward to learning how to do that. Also, just more time behind the wheel.
Last weekend was so short (we had class on Saturday to make up for Labor Day) and it's so nice to have a full two days off. Other than listening to the pre-trip and brake inspections on my iPod, I haven't done much school-wise.
I have been reading up on various trucking companies on TheTruckerReport.com. So much valuable information. I have pre-hires from eight companies, but there are two that I am especially interested in. Sad to say, I will probably end up working for the company whose orientation starts the soonest after I obtain my CDL. I've been unemployed for nearly two months now and money is tight. I can't afford to sit around and wait.
My poverty, but not my will, consents!
The guys in my class are really great. I've made a buddy, whom I'll call Pete for the purposes of this blog. He's really nice (and we have the same weird sense of humor) and since our driving abilities are about evenly matched, we make a good team. He makes school a lot of fun. I really hope we stay in touch after we graduate.
The first day we did pre-trip inspections, I asked an instructor why we didn't inspect the trailer brakes (tandem axles). He responded "we never talk about those". As soon as he walked away, I turned to Pete and said "The first rule of trucking school is we do not talk about our tandem axles! The second rule of trucking school is WE DO NOT TALK ABOUT OUR TANDEM AXLES!" It's now a running joke with us.
Monday is going to be a long day. We're seniors now, so in addition to our normal 7 to 5:30 schedule, we have our night driving session 7am to 9:30pm is going to be a looooong day.
Going to relax tomorrow (Sunday) and listen and read through my pre-trip. I need to get that down solid.
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