My husband is driving on a paper copy of his CDL right now, he has 60 days to transfer it to his home state. He will be dropped back off at the SLC terminal after his 4 weeks of training to take yet another test (he's not sure what kind or what for) and then will be assigned a truck to come home with. They're going to try to find him a load from SLC to CA for him to come home with, then after he drops the load, he comes home, calls them and that's when his 4 days at home starts. His trainer told him that because of the extra 2 weeks for training he could technically ask for up to 8 days off at home. We can't afford for him to do that, though. I don't know about where/how he has to park the truck. He's going to have to park it at a truck stop, though, about 2 miles from our house. There's no way that thing is coming up our driveway or turning around at the top. My husband was told to talk to his disbatcher after he gets his truck and ask to run the western states only (CA, OR, WA, NV, UT, ID, AZ, MT, CO, NM, WY) and that they'd probably let him since there are so many guys who won't haul into CA.
My husband said the food was alright. They have a cafeteria where you can buy food. The only meals they paid for were 2 meals a day for his 3 days of orientation after his training was done. They handed out meal tickets that you could use in their cafeteria. They do have a shuttle, you just call and tell them where you want to go. However, it was a little busy. He was on it for 2 or 3 hours one time just to get to wallyworld. He made friends with some of the truckdrivers who were there and would bobtail it over with them if they were going out. They do have a DVD player there, but it's in the common room and you have to take turns with everyone else who's using it, just like the one and only computer. They're running the trainer and hubby team miles. They're allowed to run 14 hours a day each. The trainer told him that he's supposed to run about 35,000 miles a month while training. And since you're getting paid a "salary" while you're training, your trainer gets paid for the miles you run. Hubby's trainer is clean, nice and has lots of experience. He ran 17 years for Werner, 6 years for someone else and he's been an O/O trainer with Central for about 2 years. His name is Robert (Bob). Sorry, don't know his last name.

HTH anybody who's considering going to school at Central!

Yesterday I went to DMV here in Oregon. It seems they will not accept a temporary license from Utah. They will only accept a hard plastic license or the Utah DMV needs to fax them the test results. 3rd party testing is not accepted either, according to the person I talked to. I hope this person just didn't have all the information. He, at the DMV, said the only document I can hand-carry in to do a transfer is a hard copy plastic license. They won't accept anything else from me. The saga continues. Hopefully, I will run into someone from Oregon and find out how they did it. Until then, I'm back in a holding pattern with Central.

Just talked to a recent student from Oregon and got the deal on licensing explained to me. Looks I'll be taking a leap of faith with Central. Looking forward to meeting anyone that will be starting with Central in the June 4th class. Jim

Hosegurl seems to have a handle on the original questions.

As far as the hard copy of your license, you will recieve one in the mail at your home address 2-3 weeks after you pass your tests. That is the one you take to the DOL. Go for it dude these guys have been there done that. Basically it will be like transfering your drivers license from one state to another, just more expensive.

Oh and the dvd player is shot(it was a cheap piece of crap anyway), so if you have a laptop or some other way of playing your dvd's.....

Hey Jim,

where in nevada are you from, I am from las Vegas...I have a flight leaving from Las vegas to SLC on the 3rd... Gonna be in the June 4th class as well...Are you gonna take the bus, drive ???

I got my ticket on orbitz for 128.00, if you are gonna fly, then grab a ticket ASAP because almost all flights are booked for the 3rd going to SLC already!!! I was gonna start the 21st or 28th but no seats were avail on any flights!!!! Just a heads up...I couldn't handle a bus ride for 10+ hours with a bunch of strangers and not being able to smoke!!!!!

to horsegurl and rdsknsfan thanks for the answers, maybe I should rent a car while I am there so I can get places after school??? I will look into that...I do not want to cruise around for 3 hours just to get to wallyworld!!!!

And I just purchased a dell XPS M2010 laptop and have tons of DVD's so at least I will have some movies and internet while there, thank god...

I'm from Vegas but I've been up here in Oregon doing some trout fishing...while I still have the time. I left you a PM, give me a call if you get a minute. If I don't talk to you before class starts I'll see you there. Jim

Well, had to cancel my flight due to my computer being too big for carry on luggage and you can not check laptops in, plus airlines will not cover it if it gets lost or stolen, so new travel plans are being made...

I will give you a call tomorrow Jim...

How is routing handled at Central? Do they give you a route and expect you to follow it verbatim? Do they penalize drivers, if for some reason, they deviate from the route? I heard they charge drivers $1 per mile if you deviate from the given route. Any Central drivers know the real deal on this?

I have been there more than 1 year, and do deviate for the following reasons.

1. Traffic or an Accident

2. Or time constraints.

If it is a major deviation, I will call them to tell them what I am doing.

I have never had a problem. I routinely used i76 in pa over i-80 and back roads. They send you i-80 to avoid tolls, but I needed to make time so I run i-76 which saves 2hrs in a trip over 80 to 322 to harrisburg.

K

Have you heard anything about this $1 a mile charge? I read on another forum someone saying Central will charge for being out of route. Would like to know if this has happened to anyone or heard of anyone getting jacked for this charge.