Running With Watkins & Shepard

You BETCHA!!

 

Everyone works out of one classroom. Since we are all at different stages, the newer students remain in the classroom while the ones further along are out on the road or in the yard.

Yes, they really are flexible. My first roomate was a 3 day guy and he's already gone with a truck. At least one of the new drivers will be out pretty soon. In fact, he has his HPE scheduled for the same day as me (the 26th) and I overheard Tim saying they'll have to move that up to get him going quicker.

Evrything here seems to be based on both the amount of experience and how long it's been since you last drove. At least that's my take on it.

 

Forgot to title day six up there folks....WHOOPS...sorry.

Well today was a full classroom day. We covered final logs tests in the morning, then trip packs ala W/S style. Watched a few "look out for this videos" and a few other company protocol things.

Not too much to report except to say that yesterday they took us (me and one other guy city driving) and tomorrow it's mountain shifting on Black Mountain.

Suffice it to say that the way they work here, they feel my driving is good enough to not have to take it on the road everyday anymore. The mountain shifting is the last phase of the road driving and then we'll likely do some backing tests. I'm pretty confident that I'm in at this point as I "think" I heard Tim with a little slip saying they had a truck back in Jersey for me.

At any rate, I'm not counting any chickens yet but hey, I'm still here....LOL

The two guys that came down with me will likely stay another week. They spent the whole day out on the road today which is cool because they both got kind of robbed at the schools (CDL mills) they attended. But they work their butts off and are getting better.

I think it says a LOT about W/S and guys like Tim, Matt, RL and Vernon that as long as they see improvement, they'll work hard to give folks every shot at getting in. That's rare these days in any industry and from all I've gathered, REALLY rare in the trucking world.

So, I have more study to do tonight and just finished up the training trio pack. Not too difficult but just time consuming. One thing I will say is there is a fair amount of paperwork to do to drive for these these folks especially if you're a stick hauler for them.

That's my biggest fear at this point. Making it through and getting keys but having to haul and unload furniture. If I could do that, I'd still be building houses. I went through all this over the last 8 months to be a driver, not a moving man....LOL

So I'm really hoping I can sell myself on the fact that I really have no home and can run for months at a time without looking to get back to my folks home (other that once in a while to see how they are). So if dispatch can keep me west and doing Drop & Hook work, that would be great!! I figure two or three months out and maybe a week or so home would be nice.

Guess we'll just have to wait and see. I'm grateful for the opportunity to prove myself as a driver and if I have to figure out a way to unload furniture, well....I'll do my best but it won't be pretty...

 

Seriously?? I would think that would invite an even closer look...no?? Hmmmm....