IITR Or Elite Truck School Oregon

Y2K, how are you? I went to Redmond today and talked with the instructor their (Ken), very nice guy, good insight. Have been studying the CDL manual and doing the practice tests. I plan on getting my endorcements before starting school. He said (like you) it was a very good idea, lots of folks come in and try to start from square one, and are overwelmed their first week.
Saw about 4 "Walsch" rigs going to Redmond today. Are they running out of troutdale? Where does your runs take you?
Just thought I'd drop ya a note and let ya know whats going on over here.

La Pine Ron

PS Sunny and 52 here today (crazy)

 

Sorry so long to reply,I'm doing fine just been pretty busy.
I'm not sure where all drivers going to Redmond or Lapine are based from,I haven't been there yet myself but then I'm based in Kalama,WA so it's unlikely I will be but not entirely out of the question either.
I would guess most of the LaPine runs are out of Eugene but if you saw trucks in Redmond maybe I could be wrong,not sure where else they might be going.
I hauled a LaPine load to Longview,WA a couple weeks ago that I picked up as a preload in Troutdale so it may have been a Troutdale driver that loaded it.
Good luck on your testing and remember IITR like any school is all about teaching you how to pass your CDL test,after that you learn to be a driver by going to work and you'll find out a lot of what you learned in school goes out the window in the real world lol.

 

Good to hear from ya, yes those trucks were loaded in La Pine, I'm pretty sure. I've seen them in town here to get loaded. The trucks I saw the other day were on there way back to PDX or wherever. Have all my endorsements, just hazmat to go will do it Wed. Starting school on Mon in Redmond. How do you like driving vs. cabinet making? Meant to ask you that last couple of times, just spaced out!! LOL

Take care Y2K, chat soon

La Pine Ron

 

Well I don't miss the cabinet shop at all but I was 10 years in the office doing design and sales as well as managing production and installation of the jobs I drew up the plans for.
It was pretty high stress dealing with a lot of upper end clientele on the design end and then worrying that I had measured and drawn everything correctly so the cabinets fit and appliances etc all fit correctly.
Sometimes I had 3 or 4 big custom jobs all going at once so I was constantly stressed out about them all.
I was a hands on shop guy for 25 years before that and I like doing the woodwork end of the job but I'd rather do it as a hobby than a job anymore,especially after having surgery for carpul tunnel syndrome and having a nerve relocated in my left elbow all due to too many years operating woodworking machinery.
I like the driving job I have now a lot but the OTR stuff I really didn't care for much,I didn't like being away from home and sleeping in a truck.
I didn't like using truck-stop showers and public toilets all the time and trying to avoid living on truck-stop crap food lol.
The driving part was OK some of the time,I hated driving in big cities like LA though and driving when I'm struggling to keep my eyes open after too long in the saddle.
I forced myself to live with it knowing I had to pay my dues in order to get a decent local gig,I beat the odds and made it at just one year and now life is pretty good,if I could just get on day shift now lol.

 

Y2K, how are ya? Looks as though you might be getting some of the white stuff at the home front this morning? Starting school in the morning, got all my endorsements completed, so I'm good to go. Glad the first couple of days are inside, high temps are going to be mid to upper 20's next couple of days.

Take care, don't work to hard, enjoy that snow!

La Pine Ron

840 am Partly Sunny 22 degrees

 

Yeah we got a couple inches of the white stuff so far up here at the house,hopefully down lower it ain't stick'n since I gotta work tonight.

 

Y2K, well just finished the first week of school, been busy do a lot of reading, studying, testing etc. We start driving on Tues, the other 5 in the class are ready for that. We'll have another instructor comin in next week to help Ken our main instructor out so 3 of us will go with each instructor. Doesn't sounds to bad. We had about 10-12 inch of snow Wed, was like powder and quickly warmed up in the afternoon , it's a dang mess now, been raining and some mixed wet snow as well. You probably remember well dealing with this crap, powder is not bad at all, you can have the wet crap. Got more snow on the way. Wed Mt Bachelor got 35" in 24 hours, tops in the cascade range for that storm Wed.
Anyway, hope you doing well,

La Pine Ron

 

Yeah snow sucks,it was a mess here,we ended up with 24" of wet snow in 24 hrs here at the house.
I drove the big-rig across the 205 bridge on packed snow that night,pretty scary with high wind etc..
I saw 5 or 6 trucks off the road along the I-5 between Vancouver and Longview and countless car wrecks and spin outs.
Have fun with the drive time,remember to make those shifts slow and smooth lol.
Most guys over-rev at first,easy does it and they drop right in.

 

24", are you sure that wasn't 2.4"?? LOL That would be rediculious, did you have a tractor to deal with that?
So was that your first experience driving the big rig on ice and snow? Seen those 5 or 6 off the road heading up to Longview must have been a bit rattling as well. I'll remember the shifting tip, thanks.
Well hopefully your not getting flooded now from all the rain, I liked the spring weather we were having alot better.

Take Care
La Pine Ron

 

Heh,no it was 24" not 2.4".....yup,2 feet of the white stuff ,wet and heavy to boot.
I sold my tractor unfortunately,I had a little CAT D2 dozer that I surely missed during this storm.
Thank goodness I have a big bad old 4X4 truck or we'd have been snowbound,no flooding problem as we live up on a big hill.
If it floods here Portland will be under 1000ft of water lol.
My first dealing with snow in a big rig was just 2 or 3 weeks after I solo'd out at May Trucking,I had a beer run from Coors in Golden Colorado back to Portland and had to cross the divide on I-80 through Wyoming.
It was pretty hairy with ice,snow and wind but I didn't chain up till I was in Oregon on I-84 about 15 miles East of LaGrand.
I spent the night up on top of Cabbage Hill at Dead Man Pass rest area.