Tri-State Truck Driving School, Middletown, OH

I just got my loan approved--I could have started this coming Monday, but for personal reasons, I will start on June 1st. The tuition is a bit pricey, $5500, but if you pay off your loan within 90 days there is a $1500 "discount" which is the 12% interest you would have paid if you made payments. The DOT physical is $34, but the drug screen is included in the loan. This has to be completed before your first class, at the local Urgent Care facility, on a walk-in basis. They also give you the cdl handbook, and want you to go over General Knowledge, air brakes, and combination vehicle sections before your first class. The classes are mon - fri 6am - 5pm for 3 weeks, the first week being classroom training. You can opt to go on weekends, same times, for 9 weeks. I will be attending the weekday classes. I will keep posting as I go through this school, as I haven't seen anything on this school so far.

 

Class started at 6am. There was the usual passing out study materials, etc. A rep from Werner came in today for a short presentation. The class size itself is small, 4 people + 1 guy that needed to retake his pre-trip test. There is a lot of info to cover, especially since we only have a four day week. We may have to come in 1/2 day on Saturday, but everyone seems to be learning the material, which right now is general knowledge. Tri-State uses 10 speed Freightliners for training. After lunch, we got a "tour" of the maintenance area, where the truck mechanic showed us what happens to a transmission when you jam gears. The story is that a student apparently got frustrated, and when the instructor turned his back for a moment, braced his foot on the shifter, broke off the shift plate inside the tranny, which destroyed several gears. He also described the damage that occurs when you ride the clutch or get into the clutch brake when the truck is moving. Other than that, we are studying the material and taking practice tests to see where we're at. Our instructor, Tony, has 13 years OTR, and seems very knowledgeable, has a great sense of humor (I guess you'd have to in his line of work!) and does his best to makes class interesting as well as fun. So far so good, see you all after day 2.

 

I had hoped to be able to report on a daily basis, but was just too busy to get it done. We packed in a lot of info in 4 days time. Tony, our instructor, was well organized, and knows how to deliver the information so that we would retain it. We all passed our written cdl temp test on saturday, and this week we are starting off on pre-trip inspections, and straight line backing (yesterday). Today we will work on all that plus we'll get on the driving track and practice shifting. The trucks we are using are Freightliners, one is a single axle, one is a double axle. Boy are they different--we found out that a shorter wheelbase on the single axle really affects backing. We'll see today the differences on the track. Film at 11!

 

Backing, backing, backing....That pretty much sums it up, there are 5 maneuvers we have to know for the CDL-A test: parallel parking, sight-side and blind-side lane change or offset parking, straight-line, and alley dock, or 90* angle parking. The three of us in our class(one guy dropped) are doing pretty well, at all the maneuvers. We did get some track driving in, we are using 10-speed Freightliners, and there are a couple International 10-speeds as well, plus, when we take our road test, it will be in one of two automatic units. That will be nice, got enough to think about since the state test for Ohio consists of a pre-trip inspection, backing maneuvers, and a road test. I'll be glad when we can graduate, already have plans for orientation at Falcon, as soon as I pass the state test. See you all later.

 

Well, we all survived our first day out on the road. ) No actually it wasn't bad at all. Our instructor Mike is very knowledgable, and patient too. He took us out on a highway that had little traffic and lots of exits for us to practice downshifting/upshifting on. He went through it all himself first, him actually showing us, then coaching us, as each of us drove really helped alot. Upshifting is a snap. Downshifting was the hardest part, alot of steps to remember, being mindful of traffic and where your trailer is at, how to make right and left turns, plus going uphill or downhill all at the same time is mind boggling when you're just beginning to learn. Mike's coaching through the steps kept our heads on our shoulders, and truck on the road. We finished the day feeling more confident (we were all nervous as all get out to start)and are looking forward to an even better day tomorrow. Film at 11!

 

Day 2 of road driving went very well. We got to use an International with an automatic transmission. It would be easy to get spoiled with a truck like that! We are situated in a rural/semi-rural area, with some small cities around us, with some really tight turns. I'm glad our instructor has the experience he does, he got us through all of them without a hitch. Our day consisted of city driving, and making turns. It's amazing how easy it is to make turns, as long as you do it the right way. So we will be back out on the road today, to get more practice at this. See you all later.