Getting Started

Today wasn't to bad of a day. The general stupid crap and another long string of bored time.

As usual I was on time and ready to go. Dale told us we would be backing this morning then go driving this afternoon.

As usual I let Perry go first so Dale could spend time with him working out his driving issues. And boy did Perry need help. Dale aligned the truck perfectly straight in the box and Perry took over. He pulled straight forward to the stopping spot, put it into reverse and promptly turned the wheel, jackknifed the truck and destroyed a cone. It is now 7:20am and I realized it was going to be a long morning.

I told Dale to let him work it out and see if the guy could finally "find" his trailer. I went into the college and picked up a paper and returned to my car to 'watch', catch up on the news and listen to Open Road on XM171.

Around 8:45am it looked like Dale was on his last nerve so I hopped out of the car and said I'd back for a while. Don't think I've ever seen anyone so relieved. However, I didn't let Perry off the hook, I made him ride in the cab with me to see how I do it and to give him some pointers.

I feel for the guy, he's trying but he's just not getting it. And going by the conversation I had with Dale this morning, he doesn't think (and neither do I) that Perry has the bones to be a truck driver. But, as today is day four of being behind the wheel he has eight days till our test to work out his issues.

I pulled about twenty straightline backs, and totally blew one parallel parking routine, but nailed three or four others so all was good.

Once I'd been in the truck about forty-five minutes I gave the reigns back to Perry after setting him up with a perfect straightline back start, and returned to my car.

About ten minutes later, campus police stop by and tell Dale and I that we needed to move the truck off the range so the Dallas Police Department could bring in their helicopter (AirOne) for a demonstration flight for one of the college classes. They said it would take about fifteen minutes and then they'd be gone.

Well 10:00am comes by and the chopper is already fifteen minutes late and I'm starting to get really bored.

It finally shows up about ten after and between the high winds we were getting today and the wash from the chopper, the parking lot where we do our backing range work was completely clean of dirt and debris.

The pilots lock down the chopper and head inside the school for their presentation before bringing the students out, and so we begin to wait some more.



After almost an hour of waiting they bring the students out to look at the chopper for about thirty minutes, then finally take off and leave about 11:30am. Leaving us with half the morning wasted sitting on our ##### again.

During this downtime I was talking to Dale about Perry's shifting issues, and we came up with the idea to drop the trailer and let him bobtail around the lot in a huge circle practicing up and down shifting so maybe he would get some rhythm before we head out on the road. So from 11:30 till just after noon that is what Dale and Perry did. He seemed to be doing ok, but then again I wasn't in the truck, I was sitting in my car listening to XM.

Lunchtime came and went, and then we finally hit the road for some practice.

As usual I let Perry go first for two laps, and hung on for dear life. He wasn't to bad today, he's still grinding the gears and shaking all the teeth out of our head, but he is getting a 'bit' better. However, I can give him props on one thing, he can turn that truck. He has not hit a curb, or crossed a line since Monday. So he seems to be good at at least one thing.

I took two trips around and struggled a bit today with double up-shifting but I've just about got it nailed down.

Two more trips each and it was time to head back.

Today was a pretty good day, and each day even though I'm only getting maybe about 50 miles driving in, I'm doing fantastic. At least according to Dale.

 

I knew it was finally going to happen, a good day would come along. Or at least a day that wasn't one frustration after another.

Morning started out with backing practice, and Dale setup the practice area like it will be when we take our DPS test. Basically we start by driving around the lot then pulling straight up into the parking lines box. Then do a pull forward and then do a straight line back. Once that is complete we pull forward and then parallel park into the adjoining lane in the box.

Everything went very well for me, my first round was excellent and made four of five attempts perfect. On the second try my tractor drive train crossed the line on the parallel park, all five attempts took me about thirty minutes.

Then Perry had his go, as was typical he was all over the place. Even after pulling straight into the box, once he started his backing after pulling forward he jackknifed the trailer repeatedly.

After letting him go at it for an hour, where he did improve but wasn't able to finish the parallel parking part I took over for another round.

Same thing, this time but I was able to complete all five maneuvers without problems.

As I was getting out, Dale informed me that the main school called and I won the lottery on the weekly random drug testing so I had to take off to go get tested. Not a problem for me since I have NO trouble passing those things so I talked to Perry for a few minutes, gave him some pointers on how to watch the trailer tandems in BOTH mirrors when backing and what steps to take when turning the wheels for the parallel, and took off.

I then spent over two hours doing my drug testing due to the wait at the facility then called Dale on the phone and told him I'd meet him at the driving range because I was closer to there than the parking range and didn't want to make them wait for me to get back (and to save gas).

They showed up at the range at 1:00pm and we started driving.

Now, I don't know what happened between the time I left and the time I met them at the driving range. But something FINALLY clicked for Perry. According to Dale about twenty minutes after I left Perry started doing great and was nailing the backing and parallel parking. So since Perry seemed to be on an up note I let him drive first.

And he did pretty #### well, his downshifting still needs a bit of work and he needs to stop getting frustrated over his mistakes but his driving was pretty #### good, which is finally nice that neither Dale or I have to hang on for dear life. It was a pleasant change over the previous days this week.

We each made two pull runs on the range, and my driving is getting better and better. I'm still having a bit of a time judging turning distances on right hand turns, but I'm not hitting the lines as often. Those turns are my current weak spot.

All in all it was a good day. Monday we are supposed to start full highway driving.

 

Well after a weekend of relaxation and catching up on sleep I headed into school today in driving rain, howling cold wind from the north and a rapidly dropping temperature, #### it was 80 degrees yesterday. Oh well.

Because of traffic due to the weather I was about twenty minutes late and got there and Perry was already doing backing runs, and sure enough he was doing pretty #### good. Not perfect but he would pass the DPS test for parking if he took it today.

Same for me, Dale only had one comment on my morning backing runs and that was my tractor tires went over the line once during one of my runs, but not by much he said. I've worked the parallel parking down from five steps with one pull-up to three steps with no pull-up. I even did some 45's today which was a nice change of pace.

After an early lunch we headed out for road driving. Perry drove first and once we got on the highway we went about 40 miles to a small town southwest of Dallas and did what I describe as traffic management driving.

Basically we did an eight mile loop along the service roads of the highway, up and down shifting, watching traffic and yielding to off ramps. Tons of stop signs and traffic congestion, and four VERY sharp left turns from two lane service roads to one lane bridge underpasses. Was very good practice.

After we each did two complete circuits of the service roads, I drove us back to the campus and the day was over.

Perry did very well today on his driving, he is still very timid (due to low self-confidence) and he easily gets overwhelmed by all the things he has to do and screws up his shifting patterns and rhythm, but he is finally starting to get it. Hopefully by test day he'll put it all together.

One thing to mention as well is it was raining and sleeting all day long, and even had some hail at one point when we had a good passing thunderstorm. All that driving in traffic combined with the weather and cold temperatures was good practice, and was a hell of a lot of fun even if it was stressful at times.

Doing the same thing again tomorrow, and at the moment it is snowing out side, should be fun. Because we all know that most Texans can't drive in bad weather, let alone any other time for that matter.

 

You've got it nailed on the head Cub. Sometimes he's excellent, but if he makes a mistake it only leads to others because he continues to dwell on the misakes he's made instead of moving on.

 

Today started out pretty crappy, I didn't get much sleep last night and felt horrible this morning with the something awful sick-to-my-stomach feeling. Thought I was gonna barf all morning.

This morning we did a quick forty-five minute turn each doing straight-line and parallel parking runs, and then started doing 45's and 90's like we would in truck stops and shipper/receiver lots.

Not to bad, didn't take me long to get them down well enough that I could do them without 'crashing' into another truck/trailer on the lot. Thank God that particular excercise isn't graded or timed like straight-line/parallel runs. I'll get quicker over time.

Perry did ok, but they just confused him for the hole day and threw him off and it affected his driving the whole afternoon. However, I'm not going to go into it. You folks get the picture now what I have to deal with.

Ok, one thing. When driving down the freeway he NEVER looks in his mirrors, it is scary as hell. I'm tired of Dale telling him to check his sides and keep to his lane. Grrrrrrrrrrrr..........

This afternoon we drove down to start learning the testing route that we will take for DPS. Originally Dale said that we could only see the route in advance but could not drive it. However, another instructor told him that we could drive it all we want. That particular DPS testing center doesn't care if we know the route or not. Only that we do it PERFECT the day we test.

Let me tell you it is pretty #### complicated. It is eight miles long, covers two freeways including a double clover-leaf. Broken down here is how it goes: From parking after air brakes test, pull out and stop at stop sign. Sharp turn left then immediate lane change to left lane then enter freeway (Have to accellerate to 45mph and merge onto freeway in less than 100 yards). Follow freeway and take highway exit ramp to next highway. Lane change to right, turn on cloverleaf to enter next freeway service road. Left lane change, left merge onto freeway (same speed scenario).

Drive to second exit, exit freeway keep left lane (this exit is a SHORT ramp [they are all very short ramps, less than 500feet]). Follow service road and take sharp left turn after stop sign. Follow road under overpass (check height, they will ask you AFTER you go under what the bridge height was) then left turn onto other service road. Follow service road up to next stop sign. Through stop sign, pass entrance ramp and head to bridge. Change to left lane and then STOP on service road at exit sign 100 feet before bridge.

At this point the trooper will get out of the truck and go stand on the grass on the right hand side of the road. You are instructed to do a pull-up then a straight-line back, then do a pull-up again and parallel park into the right hand lane. (Yes, you do this ON the service road.)

After you complete the above excercise the trooper will be back in the truck and instruct you to go on. You have two yields, and then another loop around to get back on the second freeway, with another two lane changes and a short ramp (up hill) highway entrance.

Once on highway, pass to second exit and leave freeway on the shortest downhill ramp I've ever seen, then up a steep hill to an intersection that does NOT have a stop sign. However you have to stop anyways because you cannot see left over the bridge to see any oncoming traffic. Left hand turn onto the service road bridge, across bridge then right turn (no stop) back onto the testing area service ramp then full stop.

That's it. Frankly it is insane, but once you've driven it a few times it isn't to bad. There are nearly seventy signals used on the route and you if you miss any, or any signal cancels you get a point taken off for each one.

Another thing you cannot do it impede traffic, ie: going to slow on on-ramps or on the freeway itself. The speed limit is 65 and you must be doing at least 45 when you hit the ramps and remain at 60 when on the freeway. But you must also maintain your following distances.

Should be FUN!

 

Perry's big issue is self-confidence. He's one of those folks who dwells on their mistakes instead of learning from them and moving on.

It could be anything from never having had someone tell him he does a good job, to just having a defeatist personality. I don't know.

One thing I do know is he does have a problem with spacial relationships, and also being able to tell right from left sometimes. But once he does something enough he's good at it. Until you throw something new at him and then you practicly have to start over.

I hope he makes it, however I think he's going to need more than just the four weeks. And Dale agrees with me.

 

Didn't post yesterday because I was sick and took the day off and spent it in bed. However, was much better today.

Well if anyone has been watching the news or the weather, then they'll know that Texas and Oklahoma are getting a rare March winter storm.

Temperatures started dropping yesterday afternoon and were in the 40's this morning when the rain started about 7:00am. By noon the temperature in DFW was 35 degrees and the rain was mixed with sleet and snow. By now (4:45pm) it is mostly sleet and snow and 31 degrees. However, this did not deter us from driving today, yea!

And I'm seriously happy about it, we took a nice LONG drive today, 100 miles each and all of it on the highway and service roads that were building up with snow and ice.

Suffice to say I lived, and did quite well. Especially since I can drive in the stuff anyways from driving all over the country over the years. Perry had more difficulty than I did, but since I was out yesterday and he has ten hours of one-on-one training he was MUCH MUCH MUCH better today than he's been in the past. Perhaps it is finally clicking.

Dale told me that if I didn't want to come in tomorrow I didn't have to, I'm ready to take the CDL test and should pass it with 100%. Depending on how bad it actually get's I'll be going anyways because any driving I can get in will only make me better.

Be safe out there ...

 

Well, today was a pretty simple day and what is pretty much becoming the norm. Backing practice this morning doing 45's. Then we headed over to the main campus on our way out to the testing area and ate lunch.

Got treated to a visit by the Swift recruiter who was visiting the main campuses students during lunch so we hung out and listened to him while we ate. Good spiel even though I know most of it was ########.

After lunch we headed down to the DPS testing area and ran the route a few times each then headed back to our campus and went over the Airbrakes skills test a few times.

Perry is finally starting to come around it seems, he still has problems and will probably pass the test but he really needs to get on his "A" game. He needs to work on multi-tasking while driving. He seems to really only be able to do one thing at a time. That and he's not very agressive and you really need to be to do this job affectively.

Weekend is here and we test next Wednesday afternoon, I'm ready to roll.