Follow me through Central Refrigerated training

Corsair, hope you made it to Fontana safe and sound. As always, keep up the good work and hope to see you out here soon.

unloader

 

Well we got into Fontana at around 6 tonight to the Motel at around 7. we head over to the yard at 6:30 tomorrow morning. We headed over to the store to get some supplies for the week. Can't wait to see the yard tomorrow and start testing.

 

Day one of orientation.

WEll today we went straight to the yard. When we got there they had everyone go in the trailer for roll call then they had all of us from Sacramento go into the back room of the trailer and get with an instructor to take us out into the yard. The instructor went over the difference of the Volvos to the trucks we where working with in Sacramento. After that we went across the street to get a trailer and out for a test drive. After the 15 min test drive in the Volvos we came back to the yard went into the trailer with our instructor and he went over a few things we needed to work on improving. the we broke for an early lunch. After lunch I was the first one up for the testing.

First I did the Air brake and pretrip, Passed
Then Straight line backing, Passed
Then Parallel Parking (you get to choose this or ally dock) Passed
Then we went out on the road test Just passed.

I was not ready to go take my road test but it was time to go. It took me a little bit to get the feel for the truck the clutch and the shift pattern because we trained mainly on 10 speeds and this was an 8 speed. but I passed so I now have my CDL.

Tomorrow is classroom time then they said I should be out with my trainer on Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

Till then God speed everyone.

 

Congrats!! Gotta be a great feeling. Finally have everything tied up & will leave fri for next wks class at CRSWV. Keep us updated. Hope to catch up in future.

 

Hello everyone. My names Chris. Come from a family of trucking. Aunt and Uncle own a trucking company. So know a lot about the industry. Been thinking of trucking for many a few years. (Im only 22). Well today, after reading ALL 79 pages, and thinking it thru for a month. I gave my 2 weeks notice to my current employer, and will be in SLC the 28th. I make almost 18 an hour where Im at now, driving forklift. Been driving forklift for 3 years, been at my current employer for over a year. With the combination of the money and how long Ive been there, it wasn't an easy decision at all. Im nervous to say the least. I have confidence in myself. I have passed all the Practice Tests on here. Ive backed up trailers between 8-35 feet at a 90 degree angle. So that kind of makes me feel confident. Plus the shorter the trailer the easier it is to get out of line. So I feel confident there, but when I read [FONT=Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]arata [/FONT]saying people were failing, that made me worry. Do they still give you a couple tries all the tests? How many? Well 3 weeks to school. Im counting down. Excited/nervous to say the least.

 

They have a 3 strike policy. You can fail 3 times before they send you home. That is total not per test.

 

Awesome. That makes me feel more comfortable. Found the utah cdl manual online, so will be studying that. Anyone have any tips/tricks on the pre trip inspection? Or do they do pretty good on teaching you that there? Also, will they let me take my knowledge test to get my hazmat, doubles triples, and tanker while I'm , even though its not required of them. Or is that something better off left for when I transfer it at home.

 

Congrats on your decision to come to Central. I began on March 2nd and have been solo for two weeks now. Love it out here. Best decision I've ever made. Hope you get the same kind of experience!

For the pre-trip inspection, I made flash cards for each section of the tractor and trailer. I would also stay AFTER class and pre-trip one of the trucks on the training yard. I aced the pretrip inspection test, not missing a single item. So I think flashcards do work haha.

In my class we were told that we were only at Central to get our Class A CDL and that any endorsements would need to be added once we transferred the CDL to our home state. So you won't be tested on doubles, triples or tankers.

Finally. The program is what you make it. Show up with a positive attitude and a willingness to learn and you will find that the 2.5 week classroom and yard program goes by quickly. It sure did for me... still a little surreal knowing I went from no big rig driving experience to being in my own truck in less than 60 days. Attitude is everything! Best of luck and keep us updated.

unloader

 

Day two Oreintation

Day two was mostly videos and a test on Hazmat.

I did find out that i will be going out with my trainer on Thursday he is on a dedicated Dole account and runs 5 to 6K a week so I am glad that I will be run ragged. Tomorrow we go to the DMV to get our licenses then finish orientation. My room mate who was in the Sacramento with me heads out tomorrow with his trainer. Can't wait to get out of southern CA and start running.