My OTR Blog

I have decided to write a blog of my trucking adventures that I will try to update weekly. Here is the first instalment. Be warned, the first one is a long read as I go back to the beginning of the process of getting into triucking.

https://otrduanedrivingadventures.wordpress.com/2015/09/27/and-so-it-begins/

 

The text would not be a problem, I am just wondering about the pictures.

 

The Process

My journey to becoming a truck driver, (I will not use the word professional just yet as I have a long way to go before being considered a professional) I guess started after a bicycle crash at Sun Peaks Resort in B.C. The crash left me with two broken wrists, one needing surgery, three cracked ribs and a slightly dislocated knee. As you can imagine, I was not very mobile for several weeks, mostly being bed ridden. All the time lying in bed let my mind relax, as I had nothing to do or concentrate on. It was during this time that past incidents in my life started to haunt me and so became my journey with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

It took a little bit of time before for my PTSD to have an effect on my real estate business but it all came to head in January of 2014 where I could no long function and sought out help. Over time, I knew that there was a good chance that I would not be able to continue selling real estate and that was confirmed to me by two of my doctors in June of 2014. At the recommendation of my doctors, I took on a part-time job deicing aircraft starting in October of 2014 to slowly reintegrate myself into the work force.

Deicing aircraft was an interesting job using a big truck with air brakes to spray fluid onto airplanes. As the deicing season progressed, the more I became interested in heavy equipment so I thought, why not look into becoming a heavy equipment operator or truck driver. I started to do research on both occupations and there seemed to be a lot more opportunities in the trucking field so I did more research on that field of employment. Before going to far, I had to check with my wife as well as my medical team to see if they supported me going into trucking.

Having been given the green light by both my wife and medical team, now it was time to choose a truck driving school that would prepare me to work for a very good transportation company. Unfortunately in Ottawa, there were only two schools to choose from for my training. I visited both schools to get a sense of what they were like and one was, in my opinion was behind the times and their presentation was very poor. The school, Transport Training Centre of Canada seemed much more advanced and their presentation was excellent, so I decided to do my training there.

I had been encouraged to seek government funding for my training seeing as I had been laid off from my deicing job. I went to a Second Career Funding agency where I was given a bunch of forms and put through a questionnaire to see if I qualified for funding. It was then that I was told that they take up to 12 weeks to get funding in place. I continued with the process and it was in the next meeting that I was told given my point score on the qualification that I would not be able to start training until September. I did not want to wait that long to start training and I was less than impress with this agency. I made a call to another agency where I went through a few questions with an agent on the phone only to find I would not have qualified given my financial situation. This pissed me off, had the first agency gone through the financial qualification when I first met them, I would not have wasted a month doing nothing.

With the funding mess behind me, I confirmed a start time for my training with Transport Training Centre for June 15th. While waiting for the course to start, I kept myself busy with home study and researching companies that I might want to work for once my training was complete. All was going along well until I got an email telling me the course in Ottawa for the June 15th start date was being cancelled due to the log jam of students waiting to be tested at Drive Test Centre. My new course start date was now July 20th.

Having to wait longer for the start of my course, I continued to research possible employers and started sending out resumes. I got a lot of, we need two years experience responses but a few companies said they would be interested in hiring me as a newly licensed driver. In all, I received five letters of conditional employment but I narrowed the list down to three, those being Kriska, Schneider National and Challenger. With time to kill before my first day of class, I decided it was worth a road trip to visit these companies in person to get a better feel of what they had to offer. My first stop was to Challenger in Cambridge, ON, though they were good, I just did not get a good feeling about them and my gut has never been wrong. Next, it was off to see Schneider in Guelph, ON where I met the recruiter who was very well prepared and gave an excellent presentation. They have a very good training program and are know to be one of the biggest training companies in North America. Last, but not least, was to visit Kriska in Mississauga, ON where I met the head of recruiting, Caroline Blais. She gave a great presentation but also gave a very honest representation of the trucking industry and the life of a trucker.

On the trip home, my wife and I discussed at length the companies and we narrowed it down to two companies, those being Kriska as number one and Schneider number two. The reason Challenger was dropped was due to their safety record and that they wanted me to drive team for six months, which did not appeal to me. The training program at Kriska and Schneider seem to be excellent for a fresh out of school driver, more so than Challenger.

Training

The training at Transport Training Centre is a six-week program for the AZ program but I was not told that the forklift, dump truck and skid school training does not happen until after a student has the AZ license. There were 10 students in my class coming from all walks of life. The first two weeks happen in the classroom, with the first week preparing the students for the written exams at Drive Test at the end of the first week. During the first week, we had a replacement instructor as the regular instructor was on holidays. On the last day of the first week, we were off to Drive Test for the written exam, I passed with ease but only three others from my class passed their exam.

In week two, the regular instructor returned from holidays and he was a much better in class instructor than the one in the first week. We spent much of the second week covering what we did in the first week so those that did not pass their written exam would be better prepared for the rewrite. By Wednesday of week two, everyone had passed the written and we spent a lot of time watching safety videos, which for the most part were very old, but the information was still relevant. By the end of the second week, we were all itching to get into the trucks to get some hands on training. On Friday, we were given our instructors for the driver training as well as our schedule for the following week. The in truck training lasts for four weeks which consists of 60 hours of in truck training.

I met my instructor Tim on Monday morning for my first time in the truck. My first time going through the air brake tests and the pretrip inspection was less than prefect. Once the test and inspection were complete Tim had me driving around the compound to get used to the size of the truck and shifting the 13-speed transmission. Again, not so pretty but what can you expect from a greenhorn. By the end of my lesson on Tuesday, my shifting technique had progressed to the point where Tim took me out into traffic to play bobtail. I was surprised on Thursday that Tim had me hook up to a trailer and we spent time doing some backing up then off to drive in traffic again. By the end of the first week, my shift was much better and I was gaining confidence in my driving ability.

At the start of the second week, I was really concentrating on getting my pre-trip inspection and air brake test down so that I could pass that part of the driving test. By the end of the week, I had it down pretty much with the odd missed item. The first few of days of the second week my driving and shifting were progressing very well but on Thursday and Friday I started fighting the shifter. This lead me to get mad at myself, I am my own worst critic. Tim had a conversation with me to tell me I was doing very well and not to be so hard on myself.

The third week was much better except my backing technique. I could not find that sweet spot for the backing into an alley part of the exam. No matter what I tried, I had to make several attempts to put the truck into the hole. When Thursday rolled around, everything else was at a passable level except the backing. I am not sure what clicked in, but I realized that I was looking in the wrong mirror and I found the sweet spot on the trailer as a reference point for backing. It was incredible how quickly my backing improved after that point and I was able to put the truck in the hole on my first attempt every time.

Week four was spent on preparing me for the drive test. Tim kept running me through the possible driving courses along with more backing practice. There was one possible course that kept giving me problems as the workload at one point was very heavy and I kept missing a gear. I do not know how many times Tim ran me through that course but I only really did it, in my opinion, well enough to pass a couple of times. All I kept saying was I hope that was not the course I was going to have to do on test day. At the end of the week, Tim said I was doing very well and that I was well prepared for my drive test.

In week two of my driving training, I did the full phone interview with Kriska. The interview went very well and all I had to do was pass the Kriska road test. This is where it gets interesting. My Drive Test with the MOT was scheduled for September 9th and my road test with Kriska was scheduled for September 10th. Talking about putting added pressure on myself.

A couple of days before my Drive Test, I found out that I would not be doing my test on the truck that I had trained on for four weeks and that Tim would not be with me at the exam centre. This threw me for a bit of a loop and I thought it might affect me on the day of my test. I had to just put it out of my head and just concentrate on the test itself.

Drive Test

The day finally came to see if all my training and hard work would result in me passing. I got to the exam centre a little early and I felt a little nervous but by exam time, I was more or less relaxed. The first part of my exam was the Z, or air brake test. I flew through that portion with ease and did not make one mistake at all. The next part was the pre-trip inspection. The examiner told me to tell him what I was doing as I went along, well by the time I got to the back of the trailer, the examiner had seen enough and said lets head into the truck to begin the road test. I am not sure if it was the rain or the fact that I was doing so well with the pre-trip that he sped up the test.

I spoke with the person who did his drive test before me to ask what course he went on and he told it was the course that I preferred so that put me at ease. My first challenge of the road test was not to hit the utility pole as I turned out of the exam centre, that so many people had done in the past. I got around the pole with ease and proceeded down the road. When we got to the point I thought we would be making a turn and the examiner said nothing, I knew I was going on the course that I had so much trouble with. I cannot say I went into panic mode but my gut was not doing so well. We progressed down the road and I felt as if I was doing very well and then came the heavy workload point of the course that I was dreading so much. The drive test gods must have been with me as I sailed through that portion on the test with such great ease that I could not believe it.

The last bit of the drive test course was pretty straight forward that I just needed to shift well, keep watching traffic and make my turns well and I would pass the road course part. Back at the exam centre, it was now time for the backing portion of the exam. I got myself into position and started to back in and I quickly realized that I was not going to make it with my first attempt so I pulled forward to set up again. The second attempt was much better though I did have to pull ahead to straighten up the trailer a little bit. Once I was in the hole, the examiner waved to stop and he got in the truck.

Once in the truck the examiner said to drive out of the compound and park on the side of the exit lane way. As he said nothing to this point, I was not sure if I had passed or not. Once parked, the examiner made a few notes on his paper and finally said that I passed. I did not show it but I was jumping for joy on the inside. So now it was time to go home and relax a little before getting ready for the Kriska road test the next day.



Kriska Road Test

I had been told that the Kriska road test was more or less the same as the MOT road test so a long as I followed the same routine I would pass the exam. I met Bob Duncan, the Prescott safety/training person to do my road test. I was surprised that before heading out for the test, I had to complete a small written exam; I was not expecting this at all. Once the written was complete, it was time to head out to the truck. Unlike during my training where I drove a standard transmission, my road test was going to be done on an automatic, which would lessen the workload. The next difference was that I would pre-trip the truck alone; in training we pre-trip the truck and trailer combined. This took me out of my routine but I was able to adapt to complete the pre-trip. From that point on, everything went as I thought it would and we had a good conversation as I drove. Back at the Prescott yard, I backed the trailer in and unhooked, Bob pointed out a few things to look out for while unhooking when out with my trainer. It was at this point I knew I passed the road test. The next morning, I got the official word that I was hired and that I would start orientation on September 21st.

Kriska Orientation

The orientation is held at the Kriska Mississauga terminal and for those that come in from out of town, they are put up at the Super 8 Hotel that is located near the terminal. The hotel is your typical budget hotel but for the most part it pretty good. There is a free breakfast each morning and there is a pool with hot tub as well.

The Kriska orientation is four days long that covers many aspects of day-to-day operation. The first day was spent signing and going over various other paperwork to work at Kriska. The amount of paperwork covered was incredible and there is no chance that the paper industry will go out of business anytime soon as long as Kriska is in business! LOL. Even in the first day, safety was a point brought up many times. It took us about five hours to complete all the paper work and by the end of it, my mind was numb.

Day two we started the operations part of orientation with Rob Spencer the safety/trainer for the Mississauga terminal. The day was all about safety and nothing but safety. There are companies out there that say that safety is there number one item but very few actual follow through with actual training. At Kriska they follow through and then some. You got the sense from everyone there that they are super serious about safety, which is a very good thing.

Day three we spent some more time going over safety items and learning about the Qualcomm, we even got to go outside and play a little. While out in the yard we got to talk with a few of the drivers and they all had great things to say about Kriska and we chose the right company to work for. No matter whom you saw or talked to, they all seemed very happy to be working at Kriska. This was re-enforced during our lunch hour where we had lunch with the management team. The management teams from the COO to the director of safety were all down to earth and very approachable people, giving us their cell numbers to call them if we have a problem. There was one thing that the COO said that was very reassuring, that if we were promised anything by recruiting that we did not receive, to let him know as they do not want to be know as one of those companies that makes false promises.

Day four was spent covering Transportation of Dangerous Goods, Defensive Driving and Loblaw’s training. As you can imagine this information could get very dry but Rob kept it interesting and flowing along. Before we knew it, the orientation was completed and we were good to go home. We were given a few parting words of advice and encouragement.

On the second day of orientation, Rob told me who my over the road trainer was going to be and when I could expect to head out for my first time. My trainers’ name is Sylvan and that I would be driving a 13 speed manual transmission, which was unexpected as I thought all of Kriskas’ trucks, were automatics. I am happy about this as I look forward to getting more experience on the manual transmission. After returning home, I got a call on Saturday from Sylvan letting me know that we will heading out for our first trip on Tuesday. Just from our short conversation, Sylvan seems like an easy going and fun guy.

I am looking forward to my first week over the road with the trainer as well as the beginning the next chapter in my life. I will be posting weekly updates of my adventures and experiences as I drive through Canada and the U.S.

Until next time, keep the blue side up.

 

First Week In The Log Book

https://otrduanedrivingadventures.wordpress.com/2015/10/03/over-the-road-week-1-training/