WDT in RCSD CDL SCHOOL

Day 15 Wed: We did the Stugis/Newell route again, different rotation of drivers this time, nothing exciting to write about.

 

Day 16 Thursday: More backing in the morning, added an blind offset in addition to straight backing, we are all having problems. Teacher was sick in the afternoon so us 4 went home at lunch

 

Day 17 Friday: Morning was spent in the classroom going thru the book, afternoon was backing again, still doing the lap around the parking lot, straight back then offset, it's getting alittle easier.

 

Day 18 Monday 03/08: Today they added parallel parking to straight backing and offset. That wasn't too difficult but will take some practice. In the afternoon we went across town driving in traffic, the population here is about 60000 so depending on traffic, it can take 20 to 40 minutes to drive from one side to the other. Shifting is getting better but I still grind it on occasion.

 

Day 19 Tuesday: This morning we went to Aladin Wy. for breadfast, just a little town with a pop of 27, we stopped at this tiny resteraunt that had exellent food. I had driven 1st, then switched just beyond Sturgis, when we left the same guy drove again till we got almost back to the interstate, we only switched 1 more time so one of the guys didn't get to drive. And of course more backing in the afternoon, we all 4 are still making stupid mistakes.

Day 20 Wed: More backing in AM. Today we went to Belle Fourche SD for coffee and today the guy that drove twice yesterday started out, he switched with the one that didn't drive. When we stopped at the truck stop, me and the other one that had not driven yet today discussed it and decided that the one driving now should drive all the way back to the school because he didn't drive yesterday and he was going to miss the next 2 days due to a family member having an operation in Iowa, the teacher and the other guy were ok with it so that's what happenned.

Day 21 Thursday: This was a really good day for me, we had 2 missing so the 2 of us in the truck got to drive 70 miles each. Normally we only drive about 30 to 35 miles depending on where we are going. My shifting both up and down was almost perfect, we could only here it grind a few times. The other one wasn't so lucky, he was pushing the clutch in too far and slowing the tranny too much and it got windy.
During lunch, the one girl in the class had someone run a red light and smuck her pickup, so she missed the rest of the day. With only 2 drivers in each truck we got alot of practice today.

Day 22 Friday: The am was spent in the classroom going over the book and what will be required of us on the test. Here I should give you some background, when we do the VI on the trucks we take turns so everyone gets good at it, just the students do it and the teachers show up after we do the brake tests. Each team is supposed to stay together and let the one doing the vi know if he didn't mention a part from the list we have of stuff to do. Our team does this, the other team don't get along as well as we do so they sort of do their own thing, the girl on that team finally spoke up in class this morning saying she wanted to switch to our team and complaining that her team of 3 didn't work together and she didn't feel she was learning what she needed to. I should mention here that she never shuts up and is always complaining about something, the teachers won't let her switch cause she should have said something to them earlier in the class so they would have known sooner. The backing instructor had rotated the cones in the parking lot 180 degrees because going over the same spots all the time was damaging the parking lot, I guess this was the last straw, she was the 1st to try the new layout and didn't herdly move 50 feet when she stopped the truck got out and went to the office to complain, so now she has an appointment with the teachers boss on Monday morning. Just so you know, this is the way they have been doing the class for 11 years with no problems, so there is no reason to change anything now.
My team was again missing 2 people so we practiced in town driving again then went over the route used for the test, that really let me know where my biggest problems were and what I needed to work on, we will do the test run at least one more time before test day a week from this Monday.
More next week.

 

Day 23 Monday: Well they let the girl change teams so she is now with us and one of guys went to the other team. After spending the day with her on our team, she's really not that bad, it seems the youngest on the other team (he's 25) didn't know when to stop teasing her, he would get on something and ride it into the ground, even after she told him enough was enough. So as usual, the problems were not all her fault.
We did the backing first today, with the course set in the opposite direction facing east instead of west, as I expected was the same process. I did pretty good, I haven't knocked down any cones in a while and can usually get the offset with one pull up,(we are allowed 2). For the parallel parking, the truck is usually bent but within the defined area.
In the afternoon we drove through town again, still have a few problems downshifting but so are the others.

 

Day 27 Friday: The week in review. We drove the test route again, all had some trouble, one guy drove over a curb which is an automatic failure in the test and another dragged the trailer over one, also a fail. The thing that has most of us worried is the fact that when we come back into the school parking lot, (there is a red light at the entry/exit point) if there is a car turning right or left, we have to wait for them to go, depending on what time we get there it may be a long wait, (imagine getting there with a line waiting to go to lunch). All of us are doing better with all the backing exercises and driving as well, so barring any stupid mistake we should all pass our tests on Monday and Tuesday.
I will let you know.

 

Day 28 Monday 03/22/2010:
Tested today and PASSED all 3 tests. There are 4 more to road test today and so far every one who tested has passed.

 

everyone passed. now just have to go to dmv and take hazmat tankers and doubles tripples