Help a trucker wannabe out!

Man, that was a fine dinner. Where was I?

So after I passed the school tests I had a couple of days of practice before the state tests. I did more yard skills which seemed to be improving, and I no longer had to practice the Serpentine in my backing skills. As a result, I was able to focus on Straight Backing, Alley Dock, Sight-side, and Blind-side. Straight back and Alley Dock continued to be my strengths, but I made significant improvements with my parrallells as well.

I also went on the road for half of the day and the instructors had us drive similar roads to the one I'd encounter on the road test. This included a famous left turn which was noted for failing many students. In fact instructors complained about this turn and felt it wasn't really a good turn for a state test because it was very hard to do the turn and get through the intersection before the next red light. The turn also had extremely heavy traffic.

So I went on my first practice drive to prepare for the test and I encountered that left turn. The instructor told me how far to pull out and how long to keep the truck wide in order to avoid an island on the left side of the truck as I made my turn. With the intructor guiding me I went through the course fine, but since I hadn't been on the road for awhile, my shifting regressed and I wasn't always double clutching which resulted in grinding gears.

The next practice run I did, I was on my own. No guidance from the instructor other then where I needed to go. When I got to that left turn I didn't hold my left long enough nor come out far enough before beginning my turn and I absolutely ran over that island with the trailer. Heck, I almost ran over the sign in the middle of the island. My instructor had some choice words for me and reminded me that if I made that mistake on the state test, it was an automatic failure. That was my last drive on the road before my state test. In a way I was happy I ran over that island because it made me realize what I need to work on, and what I need to correct for the state test.

The day of the state test came along quickly! On the board they put the five names listed with the test times. The first person was to test at 8:15 AM, and I was to test at 9:30 AM. I woke up very early that day and simply couldn't keep my mind off the testing.

Part of the reason is because of the way the state testing works for skills. For every state test, you are tested on Straight-backing, and skill I am good at. But the next skill could be either Blind-side, Sight-side, or an Alley Dock. I very much wanted that skill to be an Alley Dock and so I wanted to watch the first guy get tested so I could see what skill I'd need to pass.

So I got to the yard at about 8:20 AM and the guy was already working on his pre-trip. I hung out at the yard and enjoyed the sun and breeze while this guy went through the pre-trip and got to the skills. When I saw him doing the skills I realized the skill I'd need to pass was the Blind-side parrallell. Great, they picked the most difficult skill of the bunch!

It's a good thing my turn was next, I simply could not have stood waiting all day for my turn to pass the test. So when my turn came up, I don't think I could have been more nervous. If somebody shot me that day, they would have been doing me a favor.

For instance, during my pre-trip I had to think about the nouns for known parts such as...what are those things called...oh yeah, stairs...properly mounted and secured, no missing.....thingies....bolts, that's it! You get the idea. So I went through the pre-trip and forgot a couple of things more then I would have normally due to my nerves, but passed easily.

Next came the dreaded yard skills test. I really wasn't looking forward to this. For a little background, the skills I practiced were located in another part of the yard with different painted boxes. Those boxes need some help, and need to be cleaned and repainted. Nevertheless, that was where I did my practice. For the state test, we used a dedicated box that was only used during state tests, and had very visible lines painted all around it.

So I started out with a straight-back and predicably I nailed it without a problem. No part of the truck came even close to going out of the box, and the tester complimented me on my straight-back and how quickly I came under a drift to get the truck straight. So far so good, but these were parts of the test I was strong on. Next was the dreaded blind-side parallell.

So I set my truck up for the parallell based on the instructions of the tester. First thing I noted, I could really see those lines in the box! I wasn't used to actually seeing the box completely, so I had a ton more reference points then I was used to. I thought that could only be to my benefit. Then I was given the rules for the testing. If I came out of the back of the box more then 4 feet, it was an automatic failure. If I wasn't to the back of the box far enough, the tester would tell me and I'd need to move my trailer to the back of the box. The left most line represented a building. Encroaching over that line was an automatic failure. After I was in the box, each time I encroached on the ride side would remove 5 points. I needed an 80 percent to pass.

So I began to park the truck, and after each part of the manuveur I stopped, took a breath, and really focused. My trailer began to really get in that box, and I began to pull the tractor into the box. I realized that my tractor and trailer were both in the box and my tractor was encroaching a little bit on the left so I simply had to do a pull up to fix it.

So I pulled my truck up to the front of the box and even though I didn't have to, I pulled my truck all of the way to the front of the box to make sure it was as straight as possible. My truck was picture perfect in the box so all I had to do was straight-back the truck. I did so and honked my horn to indicate I was done with parking my truck, and I passed with a 95 percent!

Now for the road test, and the dreaded left turn I was thinking about all night. Oh yeah, during the practice runs, when the students were doing the emergency stops, we were forgetting to put the splitter down, and would still be in high gear. As a result, we'd put the truck into third gear, but really have it in eighth gear and proceed to stall the truck as we went to make our way of the shoulder. I vowed to not make this mistake again on the state test.

With that said we went out on the road for the state test, and I had a lot to worry about from the very beginning. Getting out of the yard, they have yellow markers to tell us where the pull in for the yard is off the road (so we don't drive past it). However, those markers are also a good way to get an automatic failure by hitting them with your trailer. I pulled all of the way to the left, drove wide into the center lane and hooked the truck back into my lane, easily avoiding the markers. Off to a good start, and driving like a truck driver!

Since I was driving the older truck, and was so used to driving the newer truck with the tighter transmission, shifting started out pretty smoothly for me. Shifting was pretty easy for me, and I was off to a very good start. I could tell I was doing well because the tester began to chat me up, asking me questions about my previous background, etc. This always gets people interested because they ask my why I left my previous job. I tell them, because I *wanted* to drive a truck instead.

Still, this couldn't last forever because soon I was to get to a guantlet of right and left turns, intersections, and four-wheelers cutting me off, etc. Each time I made my turn, I would make sure to truck wide. I got that in my head and would speak it out load as I made the turn.

When I got onto the highway route 380 I was asked to do an emergency stop. All went well except....I FORGOT TO PUT DOWN THE ###### SPLITTER AND ALMOST STALLED THE TRUCK! After having thought about this each waking moment that night and still forgetting to do it, I became flustered. When I pulled back onto the highway I missed a gear and almost let the truck roll the length of itself out of gear, but quickly corrected and got the next gear higher. I did another emergency stop and again forgot to put that #### splitter down!

After going through a few intersections we came to the dreaded left hand turn. The tester explained that I should only go through the interection when I was comfortable, and she didn't care if we were sitting there for 15 minutes. She said I should take my time and go through when I was ready.

Since it was after rush hour at this point, and well before lunch, it didn't take long for traffic to clear and for me to get a clear green light to proceed through. I spoke out loud to myself, "Turn WIDE, turn WIDE!" Well, gosh darn it, I turned wide all right. I must have missed that island by 14 feet. I literally took as much room on the highway as I could and stayed left as long as I could without encroaching on the other lane which had traffic in it. The tester was amused and kidded by saying she wasn't sure if I missed the curb on the island or not. Apparently turning wide is pretty easy when you actually remember to do it.

So now we were coming to the close of the testing. I had my interesting shifting issues, but I was on my way to pass. 2 miles to get to the yard and I'd be free....then it happened....So, do yourself a favor. When you do a driving test, don't make a mistake that you've never made before, and would likely never make again. When I was upshifting, I took the truck out of fifth gear and forgot to put my splitter up. So when I was trying to make sixth gear, I was actually trucking for 1st gear. So now I had to figure out what I had done wrong, and quickly before the truck either rolled the length of itself, or stopped completely, failing me. I put the truck back to neutral and felt the splitter....what's it doing down, it needs to be UP...UP....rev, clutch, 6th gear....I got my gear! And with that, I saved myself from failing, pulled the truck into the yard, and was grateful there wasn't a doctor waiting to do a physical because my blood pressure must of been pretty high.

I passed! I was so absolutely on edge that I proceeded to stay at the yard for the other tests, and calm myself down. I had a lot riding on passing the test the first time including my GPA, and the fact that I could get hired sooner and wouldn't have to explain as much on the application. Passing the test wasn't an immediate relief. I was so anxious I was actually worrying about how to pass aspects of the test I had just passed. In other words, my brain needed to catch up and realize I had actually passed the ###### test!

Just a note, as each guy started their test, I reminded them about using the splitter during emergency stops. Do you think ONE of them actually remembered to put the splitter down? Nope! It goes to show how much pressure there is on these state driving tests. You have to be way better then the test before you take it because when you take it, you won't be driving even close to your best.

 

Oh yeah, so I should note, I'm sitting here with my Class A CDL in my wallets, and my P.T.D.I. certification in my brief case. Now I'm in the process of *really* beginning to work on job applications. No more Sissy Man, let's fill out 15 applications at a time and had them in.

Being in the state of PA, there are an awful lot of trucking companies. Based on what I've read, PA is the second biggest trucking state aside from Texas.