SAGE in Henderson CO

It's taken me a bit to decide to do this.. quite a bit of waffling over the past week or so.

Heck with it, I'll get it started.

I started class with SAGE, Henderson CO this past Monday. (Mar 24, 2008 ).. but the story begins two months ago when I decided that TV was sufficiently crap to stir me from my unemployed status.

I spent a week wandering around to the various truck havens in the area accosting helpless truckers, asking for opinions on truck training. One thing became clear almost immediately: Go to an independent school - there are far fewer problems associated with it.

But which school (in the area) is best? That's harder to answer - pretty much everybody casts a vote for the school he went through. Eventually, I went at it from the other direction. Knowing that - even at my age - I'm going to be at the bottom of the heap of drivers working for any company, I thought it would be a good thing to select the best heap to be at the bottom of.

Best does not mean highest paid or most miles. It means most suited to my needs and desires. Stated policies I can live with without feeling too cramped.

Having found a couple of those companies,I looked to see if THEY had a school preference. By jingo, they do. Ergo, I contacted SAGE.

The school director interviewed me and gave me a line on funding sources (WIA). Every other day through the funding application process, he was on the phone checking on my status, how things were going, etc.

The WIA grant came through about two weeks after I applied for it and I happily buzzed right over to the school with it. "Oh boy," I thought, "The wheels are rolling now!"

The school did what schools are supposed to do - entrance paperwork, etc. Gave me the forms and such for my physical and drug screen, and sent me over to the clinic.

The physical was a breeze, even for somebody of my stature (6'6" and 330 pounds). The problem came when the doc came across my admission of Sleep Apnea. In order to get a CDL, you have to have a note (there's a form, actually) from your regular doc stating that he knows about your condition and that it's being treated. Nothing about how well you sleep now, or whether you are likely to fall asleep at the wheel. Only that your condition is being treated.

The clinic doc finished the rest of the physical and sent me off to my regular doc with my form. Don't get me wrong, the clinic doc was absolutely right and I have no problem at all with the clinic. The problem came from MY doc. In spite of the fact that I'd undergone a sleep study in December (2 months before) and was now using a CPAP machine at night, he wanted *another* sleep study done. WTF?

Ok.. that took a week to set up and complete. The hospital conducting the study faxed the results etc to my doc almost before I woke up in the morning.

No big deal, right? only a week-long delay in getting to school, right?

Wrong! My doc sat and fiddled and screwed around and played golf and.. whatever, for 3 #### weeks rather than take 37 seconds to sign a form. That's with me calling every other day and being told "we'll have it for you tomorrow". And, of course, the school director was calling ME every day, for status updates, asking if there as anything he could do to help.

Eventually, one of the OTHER doctors in the office picked it up and signed it.

I took said form back to the clinic where I was met with glad faces and good cheer. I'm not sure, but I think they may have been outside the bathroom door, cheering, while I was making my biological contribution to the drug screening process.

As soon as that was done, I took the paperwork over to the school where the director greeted me with open arms and glad hands. (Of course, he's finally going to get paid for another student!. OK, I'm a cynic. I still think he's a nice guy)

Class started the following Monday, and I was in it.

I was worried at first, that I might be just another face in the crowd. After all, so many stories on here mention class sizes of 30-60-120 students. Not to worry. There were only 7 students on the rolls for this session, and one of them opted to not bother.

The six of us constitute a pretty wide demographic spread - from <ahem> middle aged white guy to young Americans of Mexican decent to a middle aged Afghani who speaks and understands english, but has a problem reading the language. No women, though. Oh well.

The instructors are ex drivers, of course. They did (I think) an outstanding job of getting us ready for our CDL permit test. We all passed except one, but he's getting extra tutoring over the weekend and will be taking it again Monday. We have high hopes for him.

Of course, there's the usual assortment of mind-numbing videos, though some are better than others. Others are.. well, for somebody who's sat through innumerable *military* and government videos, I'd thought I'd seen bad. These videos make "Plan 9 from Space" look like "Gone with the Wind".

Thus ends the first week of class. Most of us have our permits, we've started logs and trip planning (some of my classmates have never used an atlas before. That was a shock.)

All in all, to this point, the school has been very professional. I've learned a lot - even though I've picked up a ton from this and other trucker sites.

We'll see what the next three weeks brings us...

 

It's Wednesday, week two. I was going to wait until Friday, but I'm bored.

If you are reading this thread, you'll remember that one of my classmates was having difficulties passing the tests to get his permit. The school and another classmate worked with him, and Tuesday he passed.

After sorting out some other issues, he dropped his $14 on the counter and walked out with his CDL.

I think part of his problem may have been stress - test anxiety. In the daily quizzes, he's doing quite well, now.

Friday and today we had recruiters invade. Each was from a large company (Names are withheld to protect me in case I need to apply to them for a job). The Friday recruiter gave a short presentation, then took us all over to the local terminal for a tour. The facility was clean, relatively modern, and well maintained. Oddly, I viewed that as.. not what I was wanting.

The people there were friendly (Just about everybody we ran into stopped and said hello - even after we were introduced as students).

What disturbed me most was what I saw in the driver's lounge. 15-20 drivers ... lounging. That bugs me a bit.. I don't know enough about the industry yet, but having 20 drivers sitting around doing nothing seems to smack of .. poor planning? I don't think it's normal practice, though - there weren't nearly enough seats for them all. Then again, what they were watching on the big screen TV *really* bugged me. I was prepared for just about anything.. but soap operas? Come ON!

They do have some things to recommend them - for one thing, they turn their trucks over after 3 years. No golden oldies in that fleet.

Today's recruiter was from another large company. He spent an hour in the class room - during which time he imparted maybe 5 minutes worth of actual information. One item of which would have decided me against the company even if I had been interested in hiring on. No pets. Sorry, that's not a negotiable point for me. Where I go, at least one of my dogs goes.

It matters not, though. I'm not the only student who came out of that meeting thinking we'd just gone 3 rounds with a snake-oil salesman. I think every one of us rushed to the restroom to wash the slime from our hands. The company may be the best on the planet (though I rather doubt it, from talking to current drivers) - but that guy would have un-sold me.

After that, we watched MORE videos (including one shot at the school and aired by Discovery Channel a year or so ago), took more quizzes... and went out to the truck-range to do what all students dream of: break things.

Well... that wasn't the plan so far as the school was concerned, but what do you expect?

ha! got ya! nah, we didn't break anything. It was just our first taste of a pre-trip inspection. It was kinda fun crawling all over/under/around a tractor-trailer rig without that feeling of "man, if that driver comes back I'm gonna get my butt kicked". Even crawling under the trailer to check the coupling and suspension didn't draw out any feelings of "I hope mom doesn't see this!"

The trucks are in pretty good shape, considering they are 90 years older than God. Hands on is a lot better than watching a video.

A word of warning, though: turbochargers are HOT. It's gonna take me weeks to grow my fingerprints back on my left hand.

After solving some puzzles, (like; how the HECK do you turn *off* the 4-ways?) I puttered a bit in the sleeper. It's going to take some adjustment on my part. Sleepers are only required to be 75 inches long... and I'm 78. I'm normally a 4-position sleeper (stomache, back, each side).. I think I'm going to have to modify that to side-only. Or find a truck with a longer sleeper.

Two things to get for class, if you haven't got them already: Coveralls - crawling around under a trailer is dirty. And you never know who spit there last week utility gloves - I'm not fastidious by any means (ask my wife). But why spend 10 minutes washing grease and whatnot off your hands just so you can get a good grip on the steering wheel?. Do your pre-trip with gloves on - saves time and fingerprints.

Joy of joys, of course - we start tomorrow's class back on the range again. It's supposed to be snowing.

We got word today that one of the actual driving instructors quit. I don't THINK it's because my class is so rowdy... he apparently said that teaching isn't what he thought it would be. I don't know yet how this is going to affect my class, but the school has a few days to figure it out.

The instructors and I are having a discussion (subject raised on this board several times). One of the videos mentioned that during a roadside inspection, the inspectors can search the cab for drugs, alcohol, etc and weapons. I asked about it and was told that, yes, firearms are verbotten in a CMV - but nobody could quote chapter and verse on it. We know it's not in the FMCSR. The consensus was (when I left for the day) that it was in USC Title 49 somewhere.

Thus we come full cirlcle. I mentioned at the start that I'm bored. Why? I've been going through the US Code since I got home. So far, the only thing I have a definite answer on is "why do I hate lawyers?". Proper use of the English language is an art form. This ain't art.

Keep the big doors at the back.

 

Ok, it's Friday again.

My nerves have settled down enough to where I can maybe make some sense here.


Yesterday and today class *started* on the range. Yesterday was mostly pre-trip inspections (external) with the range time ending up in group therapy sessions going through the in-cab. No biggie, really, if you don't mind getting dirty. And cold. Rain mixed with snow at lung time. And I left *all* the windows open on my wife's truck.

Of course, I just had to be late to class. I dropped the yard monkeys off at school a bit early to I could hit the store for dinner fixin's. There was ONE lady in front of me in the check out line. She had a whopping three items she was buying. No problemo, right?

Ha! You already know me better than that! Her stuff rang up to about $50, and this yo-yo did not have one single bill on her person. She paid for her stuff using dimes, nickels, and quarters. Of course there were no other open checkout counters. Instead of getting out of the store in 10 minutes, it was over 25.

Who says the Chevy Blazer can't go fast when it wants to?

Back in the classroom yesterday, we updated our logs, watched tv, took some tests, and did some trip planning. The guys who've never used an atlas before are starting to catch on and most of them got most of the variables right (fuel, fuel cost, total miles, etc)

Today, back at the range for in-cabs. We even got to play in the rented street truck. (there are four tractors on the range - two for the street, two to be abused by morons. Us). They want things done in a particular sequence - which kinda makes sense, when I thought about it. I did ok the first time through, but forgot to check the horns. duh.

After a couple hours, we did coupling / uncoupling. The way this school wants it done is to lift the trailer with the 5th-wheel before you check to see if there's a gap. It's noisy, and nerve wracking to hear that trailer either drop off the 5th-wheel, or the 5th-wheel slam flat when you back under the trailer.

During my first turn, the instructor decided to be a funny guy. While I was checking the mirrors prior to backing, he turned the air suspension off. When I backed, I kept waiting for the bang of the 5th-wheel going flat. It never came - and I *knew* I was back plenty far.

When I got out and looked, there was a good 3 inch gap between the 5th-wheel and the skid plate on the trailer.

Fortunately, I'm a clever guy (and have air ride suspension on my personal car), so it didn't take more than a moment or two to figure out what had happened (if not exactly why, yet)

Climbing back in the cab, I started to mention that the air suspension was flat, when I noticed the switch in the off position=, and the instructor giving me his dead-pan look.

Muttering dark comments about instructors, humor, and his probable ancestry, I turned the air back on, rose up under the trailer, and completed my coupling. He had me rattled, though. I forgot to check the locking jaws around the kingpin. I got to brag (or show off. or something) anyway. Everybody else in class climbed up on the catwalk to connect the air and electric.. being 6'6" tall, I just flat-footed it on the ground.

So there, you short barbarians!

Oh, remember how yesterday was mixed rain and snow? Today it was somewhere in the 60s. I think I may have sunburned my .. um.. extended forehead.

Afternoon today was more videos and tests. During the discussion after the test (going over the answers), I called into question the accuracy of the book answer on a couple of them. I still maintain I am right, but the answers in the book are the only ones accepted. After 5 minutes or so, I let the matter drop. We'd all passed, anyway and a couple answers on one test are not going to make a significant different to any of our GPAs.

You gotta know when to stop arguing with the dispatcher, anyway.

I can feel magnanimous, though. I won the weapon argument. There is nothing in the FMCSR or the US Code (title 18 or 49) that restricts truck drivers from possessing firearms in the cab.
If you have a CCW, you are fine, so long as the state in which are are running recognizes and honors CCW permits from the issuing state In other words, if I have a Colorado CCW, I'm perfectly legal in, say South Dakota. I am NOT legal in Illinois. (there are other restrictions, state-by-state - read up on the states in which you travel)
Fortunately, most states offer a non-resident CCW (in fact, the only state of which I know that requires you be a resident is Colorado). If you are going to be spending a lot of time (or any time at all, as far as I am concerned) in states that don't honor your home CCW, see what you can do about getting one issued by that state.
Of course, all this is moot if your employer has a "No Guns" policy. (A policy I consider to be short sighted, at best)

I'll get off my soap box, now.

Back to school. All in all, today had a fair bit of stress, what with instructors being funny and answer keys being flat wrong. It took me a while to stop shaking when I got home.

My kids are helping me study a bit - there are some 100 checks to make during a pre-trip, and I want to get it right. I asked the younger monster to check me on my memory.. he took one look at the 3 pages and looked at me in shock "You gotta do ALL this EVERY time you start a trip?"

Monday, again we start on the range. This time it's fun[/b] stuff.

Chaining up.

Talk to y'all next week. Keep the big doors in the back

 

Here I am again, days early for my (self) scheduled post.

We're done with classroom. Or, at least, I am. I think. We'll know in the next few days how the test went today.

Test? what test? The DOT 75 question open book test that you MUST pass to get a CDL.

I don't know how it's administered at other schools; at Sage, we not only have to provide the correct answer to the question, we have to provide the correct reference in the FMCSR. It helps if you are familiar with using reference books.

If I recall correctly, you are allotted 5 hours to finish. In any event, it's more than 3 hours. I went through it - then BACK through it twice, and still easily finished in under 2.5 hours.

None of the questions were "obscure"... the answers to all were there in the book, and finding them (if you are familiar with using reference books) is generally pretty easy.

Tomorrow, I get to be at the range by 06:00. Who the heck invented that time of day? Nothing should EVER start before noon. 16:00 would be better, too.

Joy of joys, we get to start early tomorrow because they are taking the road-trailer in to put a load on it in the afternoon. Not a big load; only 15,000 pounds. But that's 15,000 pounds more than there used to be. Should make driving in the mountains more interesting.

I just checked this week's schedule - it's all range work... so no messing on the road until next week.

That is probably a good thing - the weather scanner just went off again. 3-6 inches of snow by Thursday evening at 18:00. I want to learn on snow and the like... but on the RANGE, not the roads. The road is full of crunchies, and I'd rather it be a challenge to hit them.

There we are, through Wednesday this week. I'll provide more Friday - details on the range work. Unless they're too embarrassing, of course

Keep the big doors at the back.

 

Today is Saturday, and my brain is hovering on the edge of catastrophic melt-down.

The first two range days were dedicated to straight-line backing and off-set backing (basically, move your truck over one parking space. It's pretty easy when you can see your mirrors - and murder when the snow keeps getting ahead of the mirror heaters)

Today, though, a couple of us were presented with an exercise developed by Torquemada. Who in his right mind would *ever* parallel park a semi? It's made worse by the fact that, really, the only time you use your mirror is in the initial setup. Once you start in motion and your trailer tandems pass a certain point.. your mirrors are useless. One side sees 30 miles of nothing behind the tractor and the other gets an up close and personal look at the back of the trailer.

Yeah. It's all a matter of timing. The killer step in the sequence is straightening out from the first turn. If you straighten too fast, you'll end up with the end of the trailer hanging out in traffic. If you do it too slowly, you plant the trailer-end on the curb (over the cones).

When you think that the truck/trailer is 8.5 feet wide, and the box where you are trying to put it is only 12 feet wide... and 15 feet longer than the total length of your rig.. yeah, a piece of cake, you betcha.

The instructor - I swear he used mirrors - showed me how it's done a couple times.. after watching me a few times, he pointed out what I was doing wrong. And I understood.

The problem is, you can't really put a definitive value on the speed at which you turn the wheel. You just have to practice and practice until you find the right speed.

In the space of 2.5 hours, I parked inside the box a grand total of 6 times. I get the feeling that if a parallel spot is the only one open for me after I get a CDL, I'll drive around the block 70 or 800 times waiting for a nose-in or back-in spot.

Still, I shouldn't feel so frustrated. Of the three of us on the range, one is still on the offset backing, and while the third is also on parallel parking, he said after class that he never did get the truck into the box.

One word of advice regarding backing. Do NOT focus on your tractor tandems. With the exception of position with relation to a marker in parallel parking (so far) they are meaningless as far as putting the truck where you want it.

I've found that it works best for me if I "push" the trailer tandems - use the bottom of the steering wheel and push it in the direction you want the back of the trailer to go. Normally a single turn of the wheel is all that's needed - that is, half a turn to the right or half a turn to the left. Any more and you are oversteering and the trailer will end up in Honolulu.

At least the instructor's comments (which we are supposed to sign off on every day) don't include words like "hopeless" or "disaster", or suggestions like "would make a better plumber"

That's it for now. I'm going to go take more Naproxen Sodium and have a bit of a lie-down.

Keep the big doors at the back.

 

Ok, who's the idiot that put me behind the wheel of a big rig?

I've spent the past two days driving (4 hours each), and trying to learn to shift gears. I've got upshifing down - so long as I don't get in a hurry.

There are some issues yet to resolve, though: In particular, the way I use the clutch.

In a car, you hammer the clutch to the floor, and go light on the gas while shifting. In trucking, it's more or less the opposite. 2-3 inches of clutch pedal movement, and essentially drop your foot on the gas (ok, that's in the high range - in the low range, it's pretty much just shift to third - shift to fourth - shift to fifth - shift to sixth (high range) )

So, yes, I tend to drop the clutch to the floor when I brake. Habbit I have to unlearn. Messes up the whole rhythm to the shifting.

The other thing, and it's snuck up on me twice in two days, is that you are high up in the air. You are moving a lot faster than your senses think you are. It's generally considered a bad idea to take corners (even with an essentially empty trailer) at 15 mph. In some cases, even 5 is too high.

Fortunately, so far I've not bent the truck - though the tranny is probably hating it when I walk onto the lot in the morning

To be fair to myself, other members of my class are having a harder time of it. I think it's just too many years driving a synchronized transmission - having a hard time unlearning those habits.

Even so, this ranks right up there with parallel parking in the difficulty scale. What makes it worse, of course, is that when parking, if you mess up, you just bend a cone or two. If I mess up on the road.. well, cones are few and far between out there, but there's still plenty of stuff to crunch.

I've only been out with one driver instructor so far. All I can say is, I want some of his drugs. How somebody can do that for a LIVING, and not come unglued, is beyond me. He's very patient with me, and if I don't understand something, he doesn't get (visibly) frustrated, he just comes at it from a different direction. He'll worry at it all day, or until he thinks I have a handle on it.

It's not aggressive.. he'll wait until that kind of situation comes up again, and suggest a different approach, or point out an example to help me understand what he's getting at. So far, I think I've managed to understand everything he's been telling me.

Converting that understanding into action, however, is a bit more difficult.

To make matters more interesting, today the winds were blowing at about 40-50mph. We found a nice long straight stretch - that was running as close to 90 degrees across the wind as possible. It wasn't *difficult* keeping the rig on the road at 65mph, but it did require significantly more of my attention.

Today, it was 80+ degrees F around the Denver area. Tomorrow, we expect snow. And I'll be driving in it. Oh, joy.

More later...

Keep the big doors at the back.

 

Ok,

I know there are thousands of you out there reading my little missives... so I best not keep you all waiting.

Since my last post, let's see.. we got to drive in heavy traffic, right through the middle of town. In the snow. All in all, it was actually not a bad experience. I missed a few gears and had to put my head back on, but mostly I did ok.

The weather wasn't much of a factor.. at least the snow wasn't sticking to the roads and making it *icy*. Wet was plenty fun, but not anything to panic over.

Last night was my first night drive. Not much of a big deal there, either. We went into a light-industrial neighborhood and practiced turning, dealing with railroad crossings, and some of the local badly designed streets. Who in his right mind puts a stop sign in the MIDDLE of a boulevard crossing? I mean, really! Cross two lanes of traffic, only to find a stop sign on the 15-ft wide island. I couldn't even stop my CAR there without the slow end hanging out in traffic. I just could NOT squeeze my rig into that spot.

Some of the railroad crossings were laid down before the war, I think. The Spanish-American war. My instructor cautioned me to "take it easy" crossing one.. so I slowed to about 10mph. Bad choice. I should have slowed to 'barely moving'. Even at 10, it was a heck of a ride for 30 feet.

In any event, he pointed out a few more things I was doing wrong.. so I went to work on correcting them. Just little things - like getting into the truck in the first place.

Today, though... today is far and away the best day I've had at school. Started out with road work. Now, a lot of you folks won't have to face this kind of driving.. most of this country is essentially flat, after all. Just west of Denver, though, there are some BIG rocks - and that's where today's trip was. Started out on I-70 westbound. Passed a few rigs on the way up, got passed by a few.. no biggie. On the way down, got behind a rig going significantly slower than the posted speed, and a bit slower than I was. I dunno if he is a newbie, was carrying a heavy heavy load, or is just terrified of heights - but he was going *slow*. (no, this is not a complaint - if he wasn't comfortable going faster, I'm not about to complain. It's his neck)

So we got to downshift while actually rolling down a pretty steep grade. That was entertaining.

Shortly thereafter, we left the interstate and started back toward Denver on a 2-lane highway. Lots of tight little turns, as well as up-down stuff. Even a very convenient place to pull off and paint the tires if you need to (we needed to)

Eventually we emerged back on the interstate and rolled on down to Denver. It seems really weird to be on an interstate and *legally* doing only 35 - but that whole stretch from Evergreen Parkway down to about C-470 is exactly that. It was a piece of cake with the Jake brake... so I was a tad put out when the instructor reached over and flicked it to the 'off' position.

Still, no biggie. Left the rig in 8th and stabbed the brakes all the way down. Never got to 40mph until the speed restriction was lifted down near C-470. And my brakes and tires were *fine*, too. So there!

In truth, it was a HECK of a lot of fun - the most fun I've had in 4 weeks of school. I asked the instructor if I could go back up and do it again... sadly, it was the turn for one of my classmates, and time for me to do some range work.

(when my classmate got back, he was still a little gray around the edges.. and still a tad shakey... nothing bad happened, he just was freaking out.)

Ah, the range. Backing, backing, and more backing. In particular, for this problem child, parallel parking.

Fortunately, different instructor. After watching me flub it 4 or 5 times in a row, he came over and made some suggestions... and clued me in on some sight pictures to look for in the mirrors. After about 30 more minutes of trial and error, I started getting it right. Mostly.

Part of the problem is definitely size related. I'm 6'6" tall, so I have the seat raised almost all the way up, and pushed all the way back. So, what I see in the mirrors at a certain point of the evolution is different from what the instructors see (each of whom is.. um.. significantly less tall than I).

Trust me, a difference of a few inches in head position translates to 6 to 8 feet at the far end of the trailer. Once I got my sight picture adjusted properly, I was cooking with gas. Instead of maybe getting the rig in the box 10% of the time, I was hitting it EVERY time. (not always pretty - frequently at a goodly angle, or even pretty sharply bent in the middle, but inside the box. Anything else is gravy). Still, about 20% of the time I put the trailer in too deep (aimed too far up the line of cones) or too shallow (aimed too far back to the end of the box) and have to do a pull-up to get things lined up right.

I don't mind looking like a newbie.. and I won't complain loudly if I can't nail it on the test.. so long as I get the rest of the test nailed (straight line backing and offset are a piece of cake).

I seem to be doing ok on turns, too... At least, I've not hit any other vehicles, and only hit the curb once the other night....

So, that's where we stand today. I've driven in traffic, in snow, at night, and in the mountains. I've FINALLY got a handle on parallel parking... and I don't THINK I'm missing anything significant in the Pre Trip Inspection..

Why am I so nervous about tomorrow, then? It's just the final (I hope) culmination of the past 4 weeks, all boiled down to a 2-hour test.

Fortunately, I have 4 hours of range time available before the test. I think this is a good thing. Give me more time to practice my parallel parking before I face the music.

So, that's the way it is, this sunny Friday night. One more day (I hope) and I'll be marketable... sorta.

Knowing how interested everybody is, I'll let y'all know how I do on the CDL test.

Keep the big doors at the back.

 

Buzzzz! Time's up!

I would like to take this moment to profoundly thank all the instructors at Sage, Henderson, CO.

During the 4 weeks I was at the school, they managed to pound into my head all the facts and figures - and the physical know-how - needed to pass my Colorado CDL exam.

While all were good and patient, I give most kudos to Brian - who worked long and hard with me on parallel parking. I'm still .. well.. *awful* seems to mild a word for it, but during the exam, I got the truck in the box. It's most definitely to his credit, there.

Fortunately, straight line backing, and offset backing is easy (at least, for me). That probably saved me from the debacle that was my parallel attempt.

Harold and Brian both did well with the in-cab and on the road instruction. I managed to go through all my practice / learning sessions hitting only one curb and zero cars. During the test. No curbs, no white lines, no cars.

I did grind the gears one time, though, during the road test.

Harry and Wolf did an excellent job in the classroom - giving real-life examples from their histories, which helped put those insane videos into perspective.

Front office staff were outstanding, as well - particularly in their patience with the oddball difficulties I had getting my physical signed off.

All in all, I can't think of anything bad to say about the school or the instructors at all.

I heartily recommend and commend them to anybody who wishes to obtain a CDL.