CDL School starts on Monday!

Well I had my first day of CDL class. It didn't go as planned, but nothing ever does sometimes!

I studied "Texas Special Requirements" and went to the DPS to take the test.

I never did get to take the test. I failed the eye exam WITH GLASSES so now I have to have a waiver. Oh well. No sweat!

The waiting 3 HOURS sucked but now I know how to make appts (and definitely will!). So tomorrow morning I have a eye exam and I'm going to try to get my Medical done too, that way I can go back to the DPS and give them everything at once!

It's a process. Just gotta keep moving forward!

I was jealous of the people who were doing their road training today! I can't wait for the paperwork to be over and for me to be in the truck too!

That's all for today! I'll let you guys know what happens tomorrow!

 

What a hell of a day already!

Went by MT early this morning and got paperwork for the DOT Medical.
Went to my eye doctors appt - I DO have 20-20 vision (corrected).
Went to my DOT physical - barely passed blood pressure (hmm... need to look in to that) and passes eye exam again!

Now I'm finally eating lunch at 2pm (pastrami and swiss!) and need to get back to MT to drop off paperwork and I have some other payment things to sign for them.

Then I'm off to the DPS if it's still open and available to FINALLY take my frickin' test and give them medical documentation.


While I'm eating, I'll tell you about my DOT Medical experience (don't worry, it's not THAT weird...)

MT Training Center sent me to Arlington Minor Emergency Center. It's I guess on of the ones that people who don't have insurance can go to (from what I could tell). I have never been to a doctors office that freaked me out more than that one did.

It was a lot different than I was used to or that I expected. It seemed like a bunch of "nurses" (don't know if they were even licensed) ran the facility.

I was seen by a nice lady nurse who did ht, weight, drug test, etc. Then I was passed off to a different nurse (male) who did my "range of motion" testing. All was fine, nothing about that was weird. What was weird is that there was one doctor who I guess was injured somehow because he came through the halls on crutches. Nice Asian man. But it was weird that all he did was sign off on whatever peices of paper his nurses gave him (watched him do it a few times).

The nurses don't really seem to know what they are doing, but they try.

Just very odd. If I were to do it over again, I wouldn't have gone there but I was referred by MT.


Oh well, the main thing is I got my 2 year med card and don't have to go back!

 

Finally I passed my first permit test (Texas Commercial Vehicle Requirements)!

I have five left before I can be trained in the truck at MT. The four are Airbrakes, Combinations, Doubles/Triples, Pre-Trip/Post-Trip, and General Knowledge.

Then after that I'll take my Tanker and when I turn 21, my HAZMAT.


Oh and I got my vision cleared through so all is good in the world!

 

Thanks! I did the same thing and checked to make sure the clinic and doctors were DOT certified BEFORE I went to the DPS! Wouldn't want to have to re-do it. Not to mention the holy hell I'd raise to the school if they were using a shady non-certified clinic.


I think from here on in, schooling should go relatively smoothly!

 

Also, I just wanted to add for anyone in the DFW area that may be reading -

The major DPS in Fort Worth (the big one in SE Fort Worth) is the best to go to! Walk in wait times aren't too bad and best of all I learned today that they have a online "check-in" thing where they put you in the qeue. You'll get a text that tells you how many people are ahead of you and how long you have until you reach the front of the line. You can even push back the time (if you need more time, they'll put you in the back of the line).

This is awesome because you can check-in online then wait until your estimated call time to show up (which is what I did). I waited 5 minutes to be called and the test took another 15-20 minutes, then I was outta there!

 

An update from this past Friday-

School is moving right along! This past Friday, I studied the material for the Combination Vehicle test. I haven't taken it yet (was going to on Friday, but roads were kinda bad due to weather and didn't want to get stuck or in a wreck). I'll take the test on Monday afternoon. I should be getting the next chapter on Monday as well. My instructor likes to hand out the material one chapter at a time which is fine, but hopefully I'll be able to speed up the process this week.

Hopefully by the end of this week, I'll have my permit so I can learn how to actually drive the truck!!!!

 

Both Freightliners. I don't know what model because I've only seen them from the outside so far.