Have to start somewhere

OK they give you three days of 300 ft backing in a straight line.OVER AND OVER AGAIN oh my god I have never driven back-wards so much in my whole life.

I must of looked pretty stupid The first time with that big grin on my face I just love being in a truck it is everything I imagined it would be.It took me about a day and a half to figure out don't over-steer make sure your mirrors are adjusted right and correct the drift the second your wheels disappear.

So this ends the first week now I am a second weeker I have some idea what it entails .Serpentine,Angled docking and right hand turns.We have class in the morning and we drive in the afternoon and sometime between here and the third week I get to make some road trips.Will keep you posted

 

No the maverick guys didn't pay for anything that I know of. I will ask about the out of state cdl permit dot questions and let you know. I don't want to give you bad info just give me a few days.Later

 

Ok here we go day 9 we where shown how to do our skills test.There are four things we have too pass angled docking,right turn,serpentine and straightline backing.Then we take our road test.They are third party testers here so no more trips to the arkansas state troopers.They showed us what to do yesterday.We are in class in the morning and on the range in the afternoons during the second week tommorow we start the road trips.We have lost another person today something involving the drug screen I didnt understand her story but it sounded fishy to me.Driver solutions has been contacting people all day so it sounds like we may lose soom more.Got to run post more later

 

Wow that was stressful and fun all at the same time.I took my first roadtrip today.We got off the freeway and we got on at every exit. If you have never used a clutch before you probably better off than if you had.I have so I kept pushing it to the floor you cant do that in a big truck unless you are stopped. So dont worry about not knowing how to shift you might be a little better off if you dont know how to shift.If you have shifted before just remmember tap tap the clutch to go up and tap rev tap to go down trust me it will come to you .This afternoon it is more range time so I get to work on my angled docking and it is kicking my butt right now.Later

 

I guess the road test was more stressful then I realized cause we lost two students yesterday. One came back from the road test and quit and the other quit before his road test so a class of 24 or so is now down to 19.

As for me I feel like I might actualy be able to pass the CDL test.I guess I will know next Thursday because we test out then. It has been fast and furious so far.This morning we spent all morning learning log books and map reading wow it is a huge part of your job.

You know you can be the best driver backer on the planet if you dont know how to do the log books you are screwed. I can see that in our class some of the good drivers cant grasp the log books.More range time this afternoon so I will get to work some more on my four skills.

They teach a one hour three night a week class on pretrip that is not mandatory but you can go after range time. I been going cause if you dont pass the pretest. Your skills test is over and you have to wait five days before you can take the test again. So I dont want the pretrip hanging me up. Tell you more later

 

So morning was all range this afternoon will be more log book.We start range time in the morning so it is a little cooler than the first two weeks when you have to do it in the afternoon.

I spent most of the morning doing angled docking trying to read the trailer and where the wheels are going is harder than it looks but it is getting there.I have to remember to use all the space I am given because it is one big mother.

I didnt get a road trip today maybe monday I guess.We where a class of 25 we are now 17 so driving time is alot more. We almost all have our own trucks.since 4 or 5 of us are out on road trips.I took a practice pretrip test last night an I did better than I thought I would.You realy have to be motivated here and use every second they offer you.I am starting to think maybe just maybe I can pass this thing. More later