The CDL School (Miami)

I'll be starting the actual school on Monday. This is the school in Miami (they also have an office in Lake Worth). They have more schools up in NY.

So far I'm pretty impressed. They hooked me up with their website so I could study for the permit tests. I only missed one question on each of the three tests for the permit. The website actually trains for the license, which I imagine is harder than the permit. It had me totally prepared for the permit tests (General, Air Brakes and Combination). All of this was included in the price of the school.

I had to pop for my own drug screen. I already had a DOT physical card from a previous job so I didn't need to do that.

Next step is one week of classroom study, then two weeks of driving. Then a job.

 

Yes, they do the whole pre-hire thing. They won't take you if they don't think they can get you hired. That's why I picked them over a community college. He said it would be a little more difficult for me because I had a recent suspension because of child support.

One of the reasons I decided to go into trucking is because there are always plenty of ads looking for truckers down here. I figure once I get some experience under my belt I'll go for something more local or in state.

 

Yes that was one of them. I think people getting into this industry have unreasonable expectations regarding schools. I don't expect to come out of school and jump into a truck and start driving solo. That's why trucking companies have training. The school just helps me to get the CDL.


Did any driver out there know all there was to know about driving before they started driving? Nope. I see people on here calling others who have been driving a couple years "rookies". Everybody's gotta start somewhere. I don't see any other way to get experience driving other than actually driving.

 

Ok...I've survived week #1.

Actually, I was wrong about the week of classroom training. That was only for learning for the permit. He gave me that option but I just studied on my own for a few days for that. We just had one full day and two half days. We learned about logging, trip planning, reading maps (I was surprised people don't know that), various rules, weight distribution, etc.

The real fun is on the range. That is where we spent the other half days and are now out there all day.

First half day was basically pretrip. Also, coupling/uncoupling.

Second half day was straight backing. I also got to go out on the road in an automatic day cab with a 24 footer. Not bad at all for me as I've transported B trucks pulling a car trailer before.

Third half day was more straight backing. BTW, we are doing all the skills practice in day cabs with 24 foot trailers, manual trans.

Day four we start with offset backing. Wow those 24 footers are very unforgiving of even the slightest mistake. A few of us broke off and learned shifting. Let me tell ya, it's hard to unlearn 30 years of bad habits when it comes to shifting. We just drove a big International around the perimeter of the lot.

Day five, more offset backing. Boy is that hard. Those of us that practiced shifting got to go shift out on the road in the big Volvo with the long trailer. That was fun. Actually, another group went out as well, but they didn't get to practice on their own first like we did. I did pretty good for my first time out. I still need to work on not going too deep with the clutch. The rest is just getting used to the shift pattern.

Day six more offset. Still difficult but I'm getting the hang of it. One of the problems is everyone started out trying to get it back there in one shot just like the instructor did. He sure made it look easy. It's also frustrating to not get it on the first shot. Just can't let it get to you.

Well that was week #1. So far so good. Next week we start on parallel parking . To be honest, I have a hard time doing that in my 4 wheeler. We'll also be doing the pre-trip exam. We were supposed to do it either friday or saturday, but didn't get around to it. I'll let you all know how I do on that. I've had people tell me it's hard, but it seems pretty simple. Maybe I have an advantage because I've always worked on my own vehicles. Some of the students came in not knowing an alternator from a compressor.

 

Yep, that's the one. We have 3 instructors plus the head instructor. Haven't see the head instructor much. I guess it's good being the boss. The other three are great.

So far so good. Tomorrow I start parallel parking. Plus we go out driving every day now. I've got the shifting down pretty good. Haven't been on the highway yet.