NC Truck Driving Training School at Johnston County CC

What a difference a few days make. Doing much better. Still have a tendency to rush things. But I'm feeling more comfortable and less stressed behind the wheel. Just need to keep working on keeping my eye on that tach and smoothing out the rough shifts. I have the confidence that I can get it done.
Last ride on Wednesday was hectic. So much traffic, people rushing around before the holiday. Pouring rain and only about 40 degrees out. Shoes and socks wet from being out in weather doing field exercises. Just a crappy afternoon. Some real world #### right there. Had a lady just pull out right in front of me after sitting there like she wasn't going to pull out. Like she wanted to get hit. Dummy... Had to mash on the brakes when I was at that spot where to light turns yellow and you have to make that split second decision to stop or go. I definitely decided to stop. The last 3 feet the wheels locked and slid on the wet roads. Glad it was a short distance. That's not a comfortable feeling. Instructor said I made the right decision. Said it's was good to feel that. Meaning it would happen again some day and it's good to know what it feels like. Wouldn't mind missing out on that moment! Lol.
It's amazing to watch how people drive around you. It's like a life mission to pass the tractor trailer. I was set up perfectly for a blocking turn and people will go into the left turn lane and cut back in front of you just to not be slowed down a few seconds so I can make that difficult right turn...oh well. Amazed at all the things I never noticed before and how much responsibility the truck driver has out there and get NO respect from 4 wheelers....
I'm going to enjoy the long holiday weekend! I need the break. Back at it Monday for start of week 6!!!

 

Keep us updated on your schooling and job hunt!! You will be sitting in that seat in a short time!! Enjoy your Thanksgiving too!

 

The people in the night class are truly dedicated. Most of them work all day and then go to school Monday-Thursday 6pm to 10 pm and Saturday and Sunday 7am to 6pm. 34 more hrs on top of a job has got to be really tough! Makes the day class look like sissys. I can't imagine it...

Good luck what ever class you pick. You are getting ready for a life changing experience.

 

I just typed out this whole report only to lost it.... ####. Here we go again.

Monday and Tuesday was all about qualifying. I was trying so hard. Fellow students were getting out of the trucks with smiles of their faces for days as they got qualified. I was having good runs but not great. I would make a misshift or miss a gear and get all frustrated and lose it. Struggle to fix it. I would be nervous that I screwed up. I wanted it so bad. I went home on Tuesday truly frustrated. Thinking maybe I couldn't do it. Maybe this wasn't for me. I have always been my harshest critic, I hold myself to standards I would never expect others to be able to achieve. How I dealt with this in my younger years was to just not try new things. You cant fail if you don't try. One of the reasons I was a carpenter for 30 years was because I knew it. I had confidence doing it. I hated it the last 10 years but I was a carpenter, How could I change. No way. During this last summer I had an awakening of sorts. I was fat, depressed, and really hating my job. I hated everyday more than the last one. One day, July 15th to be exact, I had a 'midlife awakening" not a crisis... but a 'coming to reality'. I was so unhappy and afraid to change. I made a decision that day that has been life changing, I decided to do it. to change careers, change everything. I couldn't live life as I was living.
I started reading, investigating, researching. I always wanted to be a truck driver. I had driven all over the United States for a job I had in my 20's. I loved the travel part more than the work I did at the destination. I talked with my wife. She saw how unhappy I was and is 100% behind me. I went from 250 lbs down to 200lb by the start of school in October. I was working out, eating better. Got my CDL permit, physical, ect. I was making changes.... I really became a new person. People in my life noticed the change!
But that #### shifting was killing my dream. I was so frustrated!! On the way to school on Wednesday morning I had a what a religious person might call a 'come to Jesus" meeting. I finally just let it go. #### it. If this isn't ment to be, I still have my carpentry tools. Maybe I wasn't ment to be a truck driver. Maybe I couldn't do it. I just let it go. All the fear and stress. I decieded I couldn't control fate. If it happened, it happened. I didn't have the energy to control the outcome.

First ride that day was in the 10 speed. I didn't care anymore about qualifying. I just drove the truck. It was the best feeling. I just drove the truck. For that 45 minutes it was my truck and it couldn't do anything unless I did it. I missed a gear, so I fixed it. I didn't force it, I just fixed it. No big deal. I scrapped a gear, but just kept on driving. No one is perfect, right? I had the best run of all my qualifying runs. Got all checkmarks and Qualified!! It was the best feeling. Later that day I got qualified in the 9 speed truck. That run was even better than the 10 speed run earlier. I felt a palpable confidence I hadn't had in years. I KNEW I could do this. I just needed to get my brain out of the way and just drive that truck. You cant drive that truck with your brain. I needed to drive that truck with my eyes, hands and feet. I KNEW how to shift. We went over in in class over and over. I went over it every day in my head....I just needed to DO it. All of a sudden it just made sense!!

On Friday I took the DMV skills tests. First backing down a 100' alley, then the offset backing and then the 90 degree alley dock. The straight and offset was easy. No problems there. The alley was alittle more difficult but I passed!! I was flying high with a great new confidence in myself. The instructor said he probably wouldn't get a road test for me till Monday. I was cool with that. More than 50% of the class that took the road teat so far failed on the first attempt. There is a construction zone on the route that has some tight curves and curbs and orange barrels and cones the whole way through. A lot of my fellow students hit curbs there and failed the first time through. I was ok to wait till Monday and keep this great ending week just the way it was!

Near the end of the day, the instructor called me over and told me to go to a certain truck right that minute. I said I needed to get my shift sheet. Its a list of all the trucks, their operating ranges, revs and drops and ski[p shift info. He said no time , go now. So I went. I had no time to get nervous. I just got in the truck. The instructor was waiting for me. I did my checks and put my seatbelt on and went. No time for nerves. I just drove the truck. I was totally relaxed. I figured I would fail today and get it on Monday. I didn't know the skip shift info and admitted it to the instructor driving down the first road. He asked what the tach said when I got to 10 miles an hr in 4th gear? 1400 I said. He gave me the open eyed look. When your in 6th and at 20 mph? Tach said 1500...Easy to figure out isn't it? he said. So I just drove the truck. I missed a gear. Just reved to the bottom of the operating range and put it back right away. I didn't force that stick in, just did it right. Rev, clutch and gently put it where it needed to be. I drove right through that construction like I was taught. I had 24 rides in the big rig so I knew how to take turns. I just did it. Right on through. No curbs, no cones. I was so at ease. I did what I was taught and it just came to me. I PASSED my road test first try! I will go to the DMV on Monday and get my CDL! I felt like a million dollars! I am still riding that high right now!
2 more weeks of school. I get to solo drive all this coming week. Just me and another student get to drive the routes and just get experience and wheel time. No instructor to get you nervous. But hey... I let the nerves go. I know that its a huge responsibility to get in that drivers seat. I am not taking that lightly. I just know I CAN do it!! Amazing that 6 short weeks ago I was ######## my pants and getting behind the wheel for the first time. I didn't even know what double clutch meant... I had never been on the inside of a truck before.... 6 weeks later and I have confidence that I can do it! I know there is so much still to learn. I am not getting a swelled head. I am still a new born, but at least my eyes are open and I am seeing. I am a truck driver! Every day will make me a better more experienced driver. I am still a fresh noob. I know Ill have days of fear and confusion. But I WILL ask a lot of questions and be open to learn from everyone I come across.
This week and next in school is also ALOT of testing. Mapping test, Log test, Coupling test, forward exercise test, Angle alley dock test, zig zag backing test and 100 foot alley backing with a jackknife turn at the end tests all the last week. All these skill tests are for the school. I really want to pass this class. I didn't come here to just get my CDL. I came here to learn to be a truck driver and I am following it through! You can see the guys who got their CDL and really don't care about class now. They are bored. I want that certificate and an A!!

Thanks for putting up with me. I will report more during my last 2 weeks!! Time to get some applications done!!