NC Truck Driving Training School at Johnston County CC

Just finished our third week at JCC. We lost a couple guys this week. Just never came back. I drove 2 times on the road and 2 days on the yard doing the same exercises. Friday we had a scales and weight class. We had a maintenance test. Only one wrong. We also learned the 3 new backing exercises we will be doing the next month. Things are starting to get real. This week coming up I have my 6th ride. After that we start qualifying on the 9 and 10 speed course. It's 2 seprate 9 mile routes that was have to drive to qualify for our cdl test. When we drive the route without disqualifying ourselves we can take the dmv drive test. It usually takes anywhere from 5- 10 rides to do that. You drive everyday till you get it right. We also have our dmv pretrip test this week. We started logging all out time this week too.you get anything wrong on your log, it's a grade point. Get 2 things, 2 grade points... you could flunk by screwing up your logs enough. They are trying to teach the importance of logs in the real world.
This sure isn't a program to take your money and teach you just enough to get a CDL. It's a lot of hard work and studying. Anyone going through the program either here or other NC community colleges can testify to that.

We had our first 3 recruiters this week.
First one was a driver from Trans Am. He bobtailed his truck to school so we could see it.smelled like a cigarette smoke factory. He wasn't a 'recruiter' by any means. Just a driver. Nice enough guy. But when the second sentence out of his mouth is how Trans Am will hire just about anyone as long as they aren't a murderer... you have to think twice about them...lol. he said they have a 3 day orientation, then 11 days on the road with a trainer at $50 a day then you get your own truck. All automatics. .30 cents a mile. Hardly anyone was impressed...said you can make,$40,000 a year but says you average 2000-2200 miles a week. Math doesn't add up....

Second one was from Tide Water Transit out of Kinston NC. Have to live within 45 minutes of their terminal. Puts me out of their area. They seemed like a good company. All tankers. Gasoline, propane and 'pellets' are there main area but some chemicals and such too. A lot of training. They will only rake the top couple students and usually don't hire out of any other schools but JCC. Pay was pretty good. I didn't write it down cause I was not eligible for the job. I like close to 2 hrs from their terminal. Mix of local, regional ,and over the road loads. Small company.

The third recruiter was from Covenant Transport. They put on a good presentation. Slick movie, little freebies like pens, highlighters and rulers. Painted a great picture. They just run teams. If you want solo they have another company they own. Star out of Tennessee. Wouldn't tell us solo payrate. Said it was online. Team pay is .19 cents a mile for all miles the truck rode. They use the Christian values, family values pitch a lot. I happened to read a few threads on this site about them so I wasn't snowed. I guess if you need a job and want to team....well...everyone has to make their own decisions......

Looking forward to week 4!!! I think my wife is getting sick of me talking constantly about school, trucks, companies, training, etc...lol I can't help it...I'm excited everyday about the day ahead. ....

Sorry about any auto corrects or misspellings... hard to type on a kindle!

 

Thanks skydivedavec! I really am taking this seriously! Having a blast everyday. I have some great classmates. There are a few that would rather sit around telling lies and joking around but that ain't me. Not that I don't joke, but there is a time for that and a time to learn.
During our maintenance class we went into the Diesel Technology class area. They had a transmission, brake system, a differential and a clutch there for us to see. They were cutouts so we could see the insides and how they work. We talked a lot about proper maintenance and improper usage of them. We then went into the shop area and learned how to adjust the brakes, the slack adjusters. We crawled,under a trailer and practiced on them. Some of the guys didn't want to get their hands or pants dirty. I don't know... I'm here to learn. I figure some day I may be on the top of some mountain and my brakes need adjustment. Ill know how to do it and they will have to wait for a mechanic. You could see the instructer was annoyed at the guys who wouldn't get under there. Even the 61 year old lady (guessing at age) got under there. Course a few of the guys are already built for truck stop food if y'all get my drift.
I had a guy call me a nerd this week. Whatever. We get an hour lunch. I eat and then spend the last 20-30 minutes sitting back at my desk studying something. For a test, pretrip, the operating range and revs and drops on the truck I'm driving the next day, ect. I'm up at 430am and don't get home till 730 pm. I need all the studying time I can get. A few of the guys are 'naturals', but I need the practice and time studying if I want to pass...and I will do what I have to do. I could use lunch to talk football or tell lies like some but I need that time! I'm in bed by 930, so there ain't much other time. Doesn't bother me though. I am not there to make friends. But luckily I have done just that. Some real nice guys serious about our career changes....
But to each his own.
As a carpenter in my previous 'life', I know the importance of a good strong foundations. The structure on top is only as strong as the foundation. This school is all about a strong foundation. I don't know better than the instructor. I'm amazed at the guys that will either argue about it with them or just ignore the instructor. I don't know ####. I really don't want to kill anyone or crash...so I'm an open book. Teach me...I'm a sponge!! Lol
Course I was just the opposite in high school, 30 years ago. But life's lessons have taught me that my way is often the hard way. An old timer in the carpenters union once told me that there is three ways to do everything. The easy way, the hard way and the smart way. The 'easy' way is almost always the smart way and 'my' way was the hard way cause I didn't know ####....lol.....

 

Another week down. Plenty of backing exercises all week. Zig zag, offset alley and 100' alley. Right when you learn to keep it straight, you gotta learn to make it turn... lol. Getting better but still need to stop and think sometimes... 'ok, I want trailer to go right, so I turn in right, no left, wait... oops pull up and try again.' !! Lol getting better. Starting to understand the concept and getting it done..

A lot of driving on the road too. My biggest problem is keeping my eye on that tach on every shift. We are in the 'qualifying' phase. I don't have a problem with the traffic, going the speed limit (some students go to slow), getting more consistent on turns and recognising situations before they occur. Like red lights or a light turning green or cars pulling out. My 'achilles heel' is that #### tach. Either not getting it to the right rev and holding it or seeing where I took it out of gear so I can rev it to the right place for a downshift. I do ok on upshifts. It's the downshifts and skip shifts where I mess up. When I'm looking, I get them. But missing one and coasting over 7 seconds while brain is panicking... rev, grind, rev more grind, rev less, clunk...
Had a bad ride right before the end of the day Friday. Really shook my positive attitude and confidence. First time in this particular truck. It's clutch was hydraulic. Had only about 2" of free play and if you pushed it more than an inch past that you were between the release point and the clutch brake. Makes for some rough bouncy shifts. It really ate my lunch. The instructor said it wasn't the worst ride in that truck that day but he e expected that it would be better with me. Walking away from the truck I was thinking maybe I cant do this. Just don't have the skill. Talked to one of the old time instructors and he said we all have a bad ride. Shake it off, enjoy the weekend and give it another go on Monday. So that's what I'm trying to do.
I've never been the most confident person. Early in life I wouldn't even try something for fear of failure. But I really want this. I'm going to give it my best. I WILL do this....
On another note, earlier that day a fellow student told me I have a great attitude. No matter what I always have an encouraging word for my fellow students. I'm always ready to jump in the truck, not s stand around bullcrapping. That was good to hear.

Monday starts week 5. Short week. We have off Thanksgiving and Friday. The extra days off will be nice. Between the commute to school and the 11 hrs school days I'm putting in 65+ hrs a week.