Starting Katlaw School, Austell GA, 1/12

Well, Day 7 was my last classroom day but being ahead I was left to study pre-trip etc. Had fun playing in the truck and dropping the trailer. Ended up with a 96 gpa on the classroom .. though I should'a done better.

Day 8 Rocked! We started with 1.5 hrs of pre-trip and it's actually coming together .. plus it was in the 30's today so not so bad.

Then we went to the 'yard' to practice our backing. He added the 90 deg alley dock to our straight back, offset, and parallel maneuvers. GA uses the new Fed test system that I guess they will be moving all states to at some point in the future. We have to do the straight back, one of the offsets, and either a parallel or 90 deg alley for our test. I'm having no problems with any .. years of moving boats and car trailers and construction trailers must have helped.

Then after lunch, we were off to the 'Shifting Park', which is actually an industrial park about 20 min from out office/yard. Gene, the instructor, drove us there and then we took over. It was less busy than the major road, but had traffic .. other big rigs, forklifts, cars, etc.. so it was our first foray into real traffic. We kept it around 30 mph so got up to 8th gear (started in 4th) so got to do some good shifting .. and downshifting. Lots of turns and stops .. it was awesome and I did great. My fellow student, John, did so much better than last week, but still struggled some. He'll be fine .. just needs seat time. The instructor seems very pleased.

When it time to go he drove to the nearby truckstop, this is in the Fulton Industrial area near 20. He ran in the store and then came out and said I was driving back to the shop .. yikes! So I drive out of the truckstop, with 100 trucks or so .. seemed like 1000 and they're all watching .. and out onto the 6 lane divided highway, near rush hour, with a 50 mph speed limit .. yea, I was thrilled!! a bit intimidated .. but thrilled! I did real well with just a few brain farts. Had to run one light since I was way too close to stop .. think I made it on yellow.

Tomorrow we head to Hiram, a smaller town, but still plenty of traffic .. remember this is the Atlanta suburbs!! it's never mellow ..

Lovin' every minute of it ... Lovin'!

Steve

 

Wow! .. now we're having fun. Makes all that boring classroom stuff totally worth it.

Thursday we went driving around the Hiram area, for anyone that knows the Atlanta suburbs. It was great .. 45 and 55 speed limits, lots of traffic, lights, etc .. you know, the real world. We each got about 1.5 hours drive time. We were still driving the Kenworth, T600 I think, and really doing well. Very few 'comments' from the instructor .. that's always good. Then back to the shop for lunch.

In the afternoon we went to the yard and practiced backing maneuvers .. I did well, but have had better days. Still got by with only a few pull-ups and would have passed for sure. This was our last day with Gene as some weird scheduling issues have us changing on Fri. I'll miss him, Gene is an awesome instructor and really great guy .. I learned a lot. If I haven't mentioned it already, so was William, our classroom instructor. Except for the backing lot desperately needing new stripes, Katlaw has a really top notch program with a bunch of great people. Include my recruiter Lora in that as well!!!

Fri we hooked up with Gary and found out the Kenworth was headed to the shop .. and so was the Freightliner Columbia that we were supposed to move into. We rode over to the shop in the Columbia and picked up our other truck .. a '98 Freightliner w/ 750K or so .... and realized just how spoiled we had gotten in the much newer KW . The 98's a fine truck .. but a bit more work to operate for sure. We spent the rest of the morning at the lot backing with the new truck (which we'll use next week and for testing) and working out the 'marks' for the maneuvers. To my surprise, I nailed the straight and both offsets perfectly in the new truck .. that'll work for me. Then it was off to the Hiram area again and with some new tips from Gary combined with everything from Gene .. it finally sunk in 'all at the same time' .. what a feeling. I don't think he gave more than one correction or comment in my 1.5 hours or so on the road ... AWESOME! Love it when a plan comes together. And we have 4 more days of backing and driving next week before going to test ... I should have no problem .. except maybe with that dang pre-trip! LOL

Have a great weekend all!

Steve

 

Thanks .. it's going really well, for sure. I spoke with Cristine at ConWay yesterday and she's starting a 'file' on me. Will be calling to do a phone interview soon. Asked which orientation I was interested in, the 2nd or the 9th, I opted for the 9th .. the 2nd is just too soon. Amazing there are possible openings. I hear some of the BIGs are having students wait weeks to get an orientation date.

Did you do the phone interview thing? what all will she need from me? work history, how long? 3 yr, 10 yr? Same with residences? .. just so I'm prepared.

Did you get this from recruiting:

quote---
THE PAYOFF - You will spend a minimum of 7,500 miles with a finisher. During this time, you get paid .26 cents per mile,, The finisher is there to observe you,, as if you are in the truck by yourself. Upon completion, you will be assigned a truck and upgraded to solo status - making .30 cents per mile
end quote----

That is an awesome program compared to the other rookie companies which at $300-$400/wk is like .14/mile.

I also got approved at Werner and US Xpress. Watkins Shepard passed on me again, even with my own school .. no real reason, just can't hire you at this time .. whatever that means.

Also met a Werner driver today that graduated 6 months ago and has been with Werner since .. seemed happy with his deal. Pay is low, started at .26/mile, but is getting decent miles and good treatment .. so far

His truck was a '07 Peterbuilt .. awesome! really huge inside and in great shape.

Anyway .. have a good weekend, then end is in sight!

Steve

 

Stated the day with Pre-Trip, as always, and then half day in the yard. It went really well, nailed the 90 deg alley dock first try.

After lunch went 'for a drive'. Took back roads to Douglasville and then hopped on I-20 and headed west. I got to go through the Weigh Station near the Alabama border. Then got off and headed N. on 27. Switched drivers and John drove back to Hiram .. then I took us home to Austel. Very cool drive with a lot of variety.

Get my 'school' pre-trip and backing tests tomorrow and should be ready for the DMV on Fri. Getting close!!

Steve