Start school July 7 2014

I went to the Richmond Academy. Yes, it did happen. The staff there is rightly proud of their first attempt pass rate.

 

Hi, do you have to have a CDL permit to bring to Swift Academy? Thank you and good luck all!

 

Yes, you need your permit. But taking the written tests for that should be fairly easy if you take and re-take the practice tests on here and read your states CDL manual.

I start in Richmond on Monday 7/28/14.

Anyone know if we can wear shorts out on the range?

 

Shorts are generally not permitted, but are at the discretion of range personnel. We were allowed to wear shorts due to the weather.

Our first day was indoors, with an hour or so out on the range at the end of the day. That would be the appropriate time to ask.

FYI, the sun gets HOT out on the range. The range temp can get 20 degrees hotter than the "official" temp, because of the asphalt. I'm sun sensitive, so I wore my "sun shirt"; a lightweight long sleeve white shirt that I leave open. (I wear it like a jacket.) With that, and a wide brimmed hat and sunglasses, I was relatively comfortable.

 

I'm sorry, I just can't resist this....."You be stylin'"!

 

Good luck in Richmond. I'll try and stop in next week also and pay a visit to you guys.

The Lewiston group is a great group. Just like someone said, regardless of where you train, take it seriously and learn everything. I would suggest picking up some 3x5 index cards and start breaking up the pretrip into sections on the cards to study. The pretrip paperwork they give you is not in the best order and you may want to rewrite in on index cards based on how you're going to attack the pretrip inspection testing. For example, a lot of people including myself, start their pretrip looking at the front of the truck and then going in a counter-clockwise direction around the truck, finishing up with the inside of the cab and air brakes section. Regardless of how and where you start your pretrip you may want to study in the order that you are comfortable in being tested.

Lewiston has the added advantage of training out in the mountains. So you will become familiar with driving the local roads and grades, possibly even going up the Lewiston grade in your last week of road training. I think this aspect of Lewiston training is excellent because the sooner you become familiar with driving up and down grades, the better. Plus you have a cool little downtown at your disposal. The bread outlet near the hotel has cheap discounted bread to buy. There is a Cash N Carry a few blocks away - 5 lb. bag of potatoes is cheap and microwavable. There is a nice burger spot downtown and there is a Walmart across the river in Clarkston, WA.

Good luck all of you guys. Hope to meet up with youse sometime soon.

 

Thanks doc! Hey what instructors did you have when you went through Lewiston? Also if you remember was your washington state tester named mike? I'm starting my final week on Monday and test out Friday. It's been a great experience so far.

 

Better yet, the hat was neon pink!