Training???

I made my choice to go back to College to get my drivers training. This morning I have had 3 different companies call to offer me school at a discount rate. They have made it look good, and I really need to start making money. But therre is no way to beat FREE and the college has put me in touch with a small company (100 trucks) that wants to talk with me after training. They offer, Health, Dental, 401k, and paid vacations like the big companies and 2007 Freightliners. This is the route for me....

 

Well training is going good, have learned a lot so far and I know that there is much more to come. The instructor is a great guy, I don't see how he can be so laid back, but he lets nothing bother him and he answers every question asked no matter how stupid. When I came into class I had driven just about everything with wheels so I figured I could master this easy. I have to admit I am humbled, while driving down the highway is easy it is taking me longer to learn to shift gears. It's sure different from shifting that old 3 on the tree truck I learned to drive. Learning to double clutch is taking extra time and getting the speed and rpms right is a learning curve, but I am going to get down just call me grinder now. My class is large 9 people for 2 trucks, but we all are getting equal time to drive and they are all good folks in my class wanting the same thing. A lot of our driving is on the back roads behind the college, the roads are narrower than city roads so it will help us learn to corner with a trailer better. Our instructor gives us cb handles, mine is OFF ROAD cause I get real close to the ditch when pulling over to change drivers. All in All it is a great class and I look foreward to atending daily to see what is next. The instructor says after we graduate we won't be truck drivers, but will know the basics of driving to help us with the next step. I will keep everyone advised on my adventure......

 

Well here we go with another week. We went driving down a local highway yesterday shifted up through the gears, then exit off and downshifted through the gears, then get back on the highway and do it all over again. We repeated this for about 10 exits crossed over a bridge and went back exiting and entering back the 10 exits, swaped drivers and were off again. I got pretty good at shifting brought the gear grinding down to a min. Then today I was put in another truck ( the clutch seemed a lot different) and I started to grind the gears again(OH NO). I am starting to wonder if I will ever get this down......I have to take my CDL test next week. Any sugestions????? Automatic transmission sounds pretty good to me right now....

 

Thanks for the advice, Things went so much better today. I just have to learn to watch the speed a little better.

 

Things went very well today. My trainer has me telling him the speed, RPM and what gear I am shifting to and guess what? NO more grinding. We went through the driving route that the DPS will take us through for our CDL. I drove it twice did my stright line backing and my parking with no problems.....Guess I will be ready to get my CDL next week after all !!!
Thanks to all who have given me advice.

 

Well today was a great day even though it was raining. I received my CDL..........So now it is off to work I GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!