Backwater13 begins Celadon Trucking student training 1/7/13 in Indianapolis, IN.

The students that did not pass the permit exam during the week were shuttled over to the BMV and they took the test again and they all passed. There is one student that had a "medical issue" that is waiting for her family doctor to fill out some paperwork and sent it back in stating that he releases her from the previously treated medical exam and that she is safe to operate a CMV.

I know it's been said before on various threads, but if you have had some medical treatment during the last several years that required further attention, be sure to make contact with your family doctor and let them know that you will be needing him to fax some documentation for you. The key here is that for whatever condition, illness etc. you were treated for, that when you recontact your doctor he will be willing to release you. They may ask to see you again. So you should go there before you come to Indy. Get this done before hand.

In this instance, the family doctor wanted to see the student (patient) again in person. However, after several phone calls from herself and her family they persuaded the doctor to fax the release on Monday for her. This has put her behind on being able to take the exam. She will be able to possibly do some range driving this Monday, but she still has the pressure of having to pass the test on Monday while trying to retain new information that is being presented on a daily basis.

Last night several of us went over to a steakhouse and used our some of our $50 weekly stipend money to eat a nice meal together and it was enjoyable. The $50 stipend was on a Visa credit card that is non reloadable.

Today I am going through the Pre Trip inspection list with accompanying photographs along with the shift pattern for double cluthching and the 4 point break test paperwork. In addition to this we given the paperwork to study going over the three backing skills. They are the straight line backing, parallel parking and the offside backing.

Tomorrow we are going out on the lot. This will be my first time behind the wheel and I'm looking forward to it.

We have about eighteen students in our class. Quality Drivers is the name of Celadon's school. There are CDL Holders in the class that have not driven for several years. All of these students thus far have been going through the exact same experience for the most part of non CDL holders getting their permits and CDL licenses for the first time.

Quality Drivers does have a Refresher Program. I know very little about this. Some CDL holders thought they were coming in for the refresher program and found out they were not. If you hold a CDL but have not driven recently, be sure to clarify whether you will be with the newbies in the Quality Drivers program or will be going through the actual refresher program.

 

Sorry I didn't get back with you Steamer. Stay safe out there and take care.

 

Did my 1 hour of night driving this evening. I have my ten hours now and after memorizing the pre trip inspection during the remainder of the week and over the weekend, I will be ready to take my CDL exam on either Tuesday or Wednesday. 4 point brake test is good. It's been very cold here over the last couple of days and two of the range trucks were not available until around 10 am today.

I was able to do my straightline and offset with no pull ups, get outs or points. Then I used one pull up on the parallel. I'm now better able to back up for the three scenarios and make adjustments or corrections better if I'm too deep in the hole, or vice versa.

Downshifting is much better now and my confidence and ability to control the speed of the truck is much improved. Big difference now compared to the first day I got in the truck and could not downshift the first day. Need to pay more attention to clearing the intersection by checking both left and right and mirrors. Also need to remember to stay in the closest lane for the turns.

Tomorrow several of us will be working our pre trip inspection using a truck on the range. I plan to use the handout provided by Max, his photographs, and additional photographs I will take. We are going to make up some index cards as well. I wonder if pre trip inspection flash cards are available for purchase somewhere. I think this would be a helpful product for someone to make.

Went through some very, very tight turns...had to wait through a couple of green lights for the traffic to proceed on to avoid hitting some curbs and telephone poles.

I was driving earlier in the day as well and was going through a city road (40 mph) but was going about 20 to 25 because of traffic and there was a couple walking down the side of the road. They were #### close to the edge of the road. The lady looked drunk. As I approached (traffic to my left) the drunk lady stumbled and thankfully her boyfriend was between my truck and her because when she stumbled, she stumbled into him and he caught her. If he was not there she may have #### well fell under my tires because it happened just as I was passing them. Crazy ####. Makes me realize even more the importance of seeing stuff like that well before you approach, keeping speed down so in the event someone or something comes in front of me I have time to stop. But in all honesty, I don't know how one could avoid running over a drunk lady that stumbles into the road just as your drive tires are passing. There's all kind of wackos and people walking on the edge of the road and you would think they have more common sense, but ######, they don't.

 

Sounds good. Keep us posted. I benefited alot from the threads of other students and I'm just trying to give back some in regards to the Quality Drivers training program I'm attending so others will have some more information to go off of in the future.

Yes, the Quality Drivers school is located at the main terminal in Indy off of Post road on 33rd street. The website could be referring to the range perhaps but I'm not sure.

They are building a new training facility that will have a new practice range, dormitories and some other things like pool tables, new lounge/cafeteria and such. Class is held in the new building that they built last year I think it was. This is where classes are held for the first week but after the first week for the most part we are either on the range practicing backing skills or driving around Indy and beyond. Construction workers are still doing some installation work around the offices and classroom area.

Most students show up at the cafeteria each morning and then walk over to the classroom at 8 am, then the trainers assign us either range work or driving work with our particular driver trainer for that day.

Today, the trainer allowed another student to drive for two hours while myself and another student worked on our pre trip inspection. I will be studying the pre trip very hard this evening, tomorrow and over the weekend to prepare myself to take the exam on either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. My practice test for the pre trip test I did showed me that I got some serious work to get this weekend.

 

Passed the state test yesterday and then did some more night driving. We did not get back until 10 pm last night. I was completely wiped out afterwards and they gave me and two other students the day off today. I've got my CDL license now! I was very pleased and thankful to the Lord when I passed my exam. We went down to the BMV and I now have the paper license, waiting for the hard license to be mailed to Celadon.

Yesterday evening I drove on a night run again with three other students to get 12 hours drive time in for Celadon. I'm now transitioning from Quality Drivers to Celadon orientation. Tomorrow morning I will be working on the 90 degree back, or alley dock and will now be going through orientation the rest of next week. I'll make more updates.

These last several weeks have flown by.

If you are not licensed in the state of Indiana I would recommend that if you are planning to come to Quality Drivers that you get the Operators Manual from Indiana and begin studying it before coming. Many students are not passing the Indiana operators exam, but are easily passing the CDL permit part of the exam. Quality Drivers does not adequately prepare students to pass the Indiana operators and this is something they are working on. I told the classroom instructor that he should have the recruiter tell students to study for the Indiana operators exam prior to coming so they do not have to worry about it.

I have been speaking with another student and we have decided to run teams with Celadon for the first year. He lives about 1 1/2 hours from the Indy Terminal and I live about 3 1/2 hours from the Indy terminal.

I will be able to provide more information as I will be going through orientation next week. Here is what I've been told that we will go through. This is not complete...

Successfully alley dock 90 degree in less than 15 minutes
Pass the Celadon Driving Test with Trainer
In Class Smith System and STAR study
Complete paperwork
Watch some videos (Prostar International ReGen)
Learn about the Qualcomm
etc...forthcoming...

I plan to get my Hazmat endorsement. One reason is that I will get paid $600 for my week's vacation rather than $300 and I believe we get our first week's paid vacation after 60K miles, 30K miles thereafter.

I've learned that there might be a wait for a trainer during the 6 week OTR training period so I will have to post later how long it takes to get a trainer. They are short on trainers unfortunately and there will likely be a waiting period. Not sure if I will stay here at LaQuinta Inn or go home during that time. I will have to wait and make a decision as I collect more information.