hey, stay in touch and let us know how you're doing. i have to do the alley/dock thing because its in the skills exam when you test in ohio. and... i need to know how to do it when i go to work. i dont go back to school until mid march due to some issues at home. clark state was kind enough to take them into consideration and let me finish later. i hate that i wont be graduating with the people i started out with but thats life.
interesting about the carrier in cols that you worked for.
thanks for the info

Backing is one of the most difficult things to do in the job of trucking. The skill comes with practice, practice, practice. My dad drove for over 30 years and never got good at it, but he only did it when he had to. I took a job where I was doing drops intown Philly and for two years all i did was back a 53 with an extended hood into places designed for 40 ft or less trailers and on the occasional day i would go into Washington D.C. and deliver where the docks were designed for 32 ft trailers and single axle tractors ... time, patience, perseverence, practice and you will get better at it.

Hiya, thanks for the vote of confidence on my backing. I'm sure it will come with lots of practice but my issue is the fact that you dont have but a week of backing skills practice in school before you take your cdl exam. thats what concerns me most of all. i've done lots of riding and "go forward" driving but never backed much. i go back to school mid march to finish up and take the exam. i want to be as mentally prepared for it as i can be, if you know what i mean.

Backing will become second nature to you after a while...soon you'll be able to carve a potato with your rear tire...it will come with time...

Remember to back in as you pull out...with one easy motion....

thanks for your advice, i try to remember all the good stuff i'm being told.
my entire backing thing is that before i take the cdl exam, i only have one week of backing at school and thats freaking me out.
any help is much appreciated... again thanks.

practice makes perfect dude and a little patience helps
always watch the trailer tires and just put them where u want them u will be ok

we shall see, i go back to school on the 16th...

Went back to school, wanted to cry everyday I had to back and back and back and back. But I got over it and could back thru all the skills. The road was great! Loved it! Did well!!! 'Cept for one thing, I had problems going from 5th to 6th and 6th to 5th... Otherwise did great. Had an instructor who loved his cell and texting but other than that I learned things from him that I'll never forget.
Went to take my exam and failed the pretrip. Had a MAJOR meltdown and failed it. Then took the backing skills, killed a cone which took points off but otherwise did OK, then the driving and I was good on that. The examiner was the least help, the least friendly guy I ever saw. Had to wait a week to come back and take the pretrip over which I did. I had the greatest person to give me the exam and passed with flying colors. So, now I am the proud holder of a CDL class A with all endorsements.
Now... I figured I worked hard at all this and it was also my birthday. So, I bought myself a little big truck. A 1994 Peterbilt 377. A work in progress...
Look at my thread in the owner operator area. Luvtheroad's new used 1994 Peterbilt 377. Here's where the fun begins and the things I learned at school and before school come into play.
Thanks for reading this and if you're going to school and have any questions feel free to get with me.
Take care!
PS I was the oldest and the only lady in my class, lol.

luvtheroad,
from your experience, what's your overall opinion of clark state community college?
I have been thinking of attending there, and was wondering if you had any opinions or advice.

Here is my opinion and what I consider to be some important things about going to Clark State...
First of all, what you need to research is what carriers will accept the school you are thinking about attending. For instance, Crete will accept the schooling from Clark State but there are many others that they do not recognize. So, make sure the carriers that you're thinking about going to will accept the school. In my opinion, and I am certainly not the expert, community colleges might be better to go to. I know that Clark State's course is longer than certain schools in the central Ohio area and more companies will accept the training.
Now as to what I think about Clark State... The classroom teachers were the best. One thing that I learned in the classroom that will stay with me for the rest of my driving career is mountain driving. The first time I ever drove through the Rockies, I remembered everything that I was told in the classroom.
Moving onto the backing and driving experience. You've got a week to learn the backing and yard skills. Some people pick it up right away and some don't. But you have the basics.
The road work will teach you the basics of downshifting and just the driving in general. Again, a week. There are a lot of little things that they don't teach you. We were told that we would learn them when we went to a trucking company. Pretty true to a point.
Most of the instructors are pretty good and really want you to learn. If you feel that you and your instructor aren't doing well together, you need to let someone know. My instructor was pretty busy texting and telling jokes to the guys.
You really are there to be prepared to pass the CDL exam, not to learn to be a driver. That's the focus with them and from what I have heard, almost all driving schools. So, keep that in mind when you pick a school. Am I unhappy with my selection? No, not at all. But, again, I have no other experience with any other school. I will tell you that I had two trainers here at Werner that came from another well known school and they were good drivers and excellent trainers.
If you have specific questions that you want to know about Clark State, just let me know and I'll answer them as best I can.

Here is my opinion and what I consider to be some important things about going to Clark State...
First of all, what you need to research is what carriers will accept the school you are thinking about attending. For instance, Crete will accept the schooling from Clark State but there are many others that they do not recognize. So, make sure the carriers that you're thinking about going to will accept the school. In my opinion, and I am certainly not the expert, community colleges might be better to go to. I know that Clark State's course is longer than certain schools in the central Ohio area and more companies will accept the training.
Now as to what I think about Clark State... The classroom teachers were the best. One thing that I learned in the classroom that will stay with me for the rest of my driving career is mountain driving. The first time I ever drove through the Rockies, I remembered everything that I was told in the classroom.
Moving onto the backing and driving experience. You've got a week to learn the backing and yard skills. Some people pick it up right away and some don't. But you have the basics.
The road work will teach you the basics of downshifting and just the driving in general. Again, a week. There are a lot of little things that they don't teach you. We were told that we would learn them when we went to a trucking company. Pretty true to a point.
Most of the instructors are pretty good and really want you to learn. If you feel that you and your instructor aren't doing well together, you need to let someone know. My instructor was pretty busy texting and telling jokes to the guys.
You really are there to be prepared to pass the CDL exam, not to learn to be a driver. That's the focus with them and from what I have heard, almost all driving schools. So, keep that in mind when you pick a school. Am I unhappy with my selection? No, not at all. But, again, I have no other experience with any other school. I will tell you that I had two trainers here at Werner that came from another well known school and they were good drivers and excellent trainers.
If you have specific questions that you want to know about Clark State, just let me know and I'll answer them as best I can.

Rc4 is your name Russ and did you ever live in Columbus?

Thanks for your reply, luvtheroad. Crete is on my list of companies i have been thinking about applying for. Any idea what central refrigerated (or any other companies that come to mind) think about clark state? So far i have taken all my written tests , except for the hazmat. Plan on starting school next tuesday at clark state. Nope, never lived in columbus before. My name is Steve, and i live around dayton.

Do the hazmat even if you don't do anything else. It makes you more marketable and it's one of the first things that any company will ask you about. Don't worry that you will carry bombs or explosives LOL, you won't. There are things like certain types of paint, etc that are considered hazardous.
Crete and USXpress are two good ones in my opinion.
Just do your homework in regard to any company you're going with. Make sure they are solvent, making money and not terribly in debt.
Look at their equipment, how old is it and what type of repair.
Benefits like insurance, hometime and anything else you can think of that is of a benefit to you
Where do they run? Can you get the area that you want?
What type of training do they offer you when you get out of school? How long is it and how much do you get paid while you're in training?
We all work for reward, how much during training, how much when you are on a truck of your own, and what are the pay increases? Bonus' such as fuel bonus, on time, etc.
Will they give you any type of reimbursement if you paid your own schooling? Sign on bonus?
Don't be afraid to ask about all of those things. Believe me none of the companies will be shy when they want to know about you. Make a list of what you need to know. If they don't want to tell you then you need to look elsewhere or the recruiter doesn't know have them find out. This is hopefully your career and you need all the info that you can get to make a good decision.
Don't get roped into leasing or buying a truck from the company until you're really sure that this is what you want to do.
Next Tuesday? Wow, that's great! Best of luck.

we used marks (black electrical tape) on the trailer headboard as reference points (air hose connection, rivet lines, etc) for when to start turning the truck along with using the side marker/turn light on the passenger side of the cab at the sleeper. Watch your cones too. Did a lot of "get out and look" many times. I'm always one of those "better to be safe than sorry" types of people. Just remember to take it SLOW and use LITTLE movements. Once you figure out where the trailer has to be, and at what spots you need to start turning it at, it will get easier and you'll nail it every time. One other thought, maybe have your trainer parallel park it once, while they are doing it you watch the headerboard in the mirrors and make mental reference points for yourself. Hope this helped.

thanks for the tips, i can always use them... backing isnt my forte, yet. the longer i am out on the road and more times that i get to back hopefully the better i'll be. just takes time and confidence.

I had fun with backing. The best part of the whole school experience for me was going out and bumping docks. Did a couple of offset bumps, one of which was VERY tight and ended up leaving the tractor at an angle. Although they don't require it any more I even attempted the serpentine backing. Took me a couple times to get the hang of it, but didn't do too bad at first either. Like you said, it takes time and confidence.

the instuctor at the school i was at actually was too worried about texting and telling jokes to the guys on our truck. I didn't get the backing right away so I think he pretty much gave up on me. But I got it enough to pass the CDL with a little help from some driver friends who gave me pointers like yours.

On Backing, my ex-wife was the best I have ever seen, when she first started driving she ran local in Chicago for her first three years of driving truck. we ran team for our first two years of marriage, I was trying to hit a dock in L.A. in a Classic XL with a 53' trailer, and after thirty minnutes of bumping the building being 6" off of the door and missing parked cars my clutch leg was shaking I asked her if she could get up out of the bed and put it in the door, she said ok so she got behind the wheel an I steped out she pulled up, and backed up, pulled up backed up and pulled up and backed up and she was there. When I met her she was 27 and at the top of the pay scale for Schider all 5'4" of her I still miss my Vicki.

Two questions:

1. How much are Trucking COMPANIES charging per barrel (or per mile) to haul Crude Oil in Texas?

2. How much are HAzmat drivers being paid to haul Crude Oil in Texas?

Point A to point be is 75 miles (roundtrip 150). About 1500-2500 barrels pumped daily from meter.