Getting Started

Aye, Dale has been great. I'm glad I had him instead of the previous instructor (who I found out on Friday had been fired).

Yes, I have 20/20 in both eyes and there are really two vision tests you take. One when you are at the DMV you take theirs same as the one you take for a regular operators permit. And then you take a relatively simple one for DOT. Standard eyechart like you see at the eye doctors and a color vision test.

 

Today was a pretty easy day, but very informative.

This morning we continued to practice our backing skills for the DPS skills test on Wednesday afternoon, and this afternoon we went driving.

I've got the parallel parking down now to a science, I can even pull up from my straight line back and complete the parallel parking maneuver for the test without touching the brakes or doing a pull-up. My 45's and 90's are looking real good to, however with the confined space we are required to do the turns in for those, I do a few to many pull-ups for my own liking.

Today's road driving consisted of going over to the East Dallas industrial district by the UP Intermodal Terminal and driving around the two lane roads around the warehouse district and practicing sharp left and right hand turns. We even did a few dock maneuvers at closed or abandoned warehouses. Very informative and a ton of fun.

We also tacked heavy highway traffic driving as well. I drove from the campus through the mix master canyon on I30 which is under construction and is always practically bumper-to-bumper. Moving through that stuff really puts the work on and gets you to paying attention to your surroundings.

Dale yet again stated I was 100% ready for my test in two days and if I got anything less than a 100 on the test he would be surprised.

Perry is on his way as well, he's still hesitant in his driving and needs constant coaching on his driving, but he should pass the test if he just relaxes. As I've said before his biggest downfall is he isn't aggressive enough.

On another note, spoke with my recruiter today and everything is good to go for me to report for work next week baring any problems. Due to my location I'll be skipping the main company orientation till after my eight weeks OJT. I'll do a half day of paperwork at the terminal in Wilmer then I'll be off.

One thing she did note is that she is trying very hard to find me a Wilmer based driver so I can get regular home time along with my trainer, no guarantees of course but she is trying.

Till tomorrow ...

 

Today didn't really turn out the way it was planned, but was a good day none-the-less.

Dale called in sick, apparently his back was having some kind of problem so he was not going to be able to come in today. Instead the main campus sent over Keith ride herd on us today. Now I've already met him several times and he's a pretty good guy. Been teaching at the school for seven years so he obviously knows what he's doing. And what he taught us today was invaluable.

He showed up about a 8:00am, once he arrived we talked things over and he asked me to setup the truck and cones for backing practice. This really made me feel good because he recognized from talking to me and from his conversations with Dale that I was much farther along than Perry.

So, I pulled the truck out set it up in place then laid out the parking area for straight line and parallel parking, as well as the traffic cones for the turns and run outs.

However, we never got a chance to do it. About five minutes after I was done he got a call from the main campus. Something happened with the one of the testing trailers at the DPS and they needed ours so those students could test.

So, I packed everything back up and off we went. He drove us to the DPS testing station, once we got there that was the last time he drove.

We got there and he hopped out and told me to backup and drop the trailer then pickup the one that DPS said they couldn't use for testing. So I kind of thought about it and said, OK ... no problem. I moved the trailer into position using a 45. Hopped out and unhooked it and disconnected and pulled away. Then pulled around backed up and snagged the other trailer, finished the hookup and moved out after testing the air brakes.

Was surprised I did it without any mistakes and didn't miss a thing, considering we hadn't really trained on it much and I was working from intuition more than training.

Afterwards we took a break and chatted with the other students who were there to test, then we took the trailer over to the shop to have the clearance lights worked on then took it and dropped it at the main campus. Just a note, I did all the driving including the D/H at the repair yard and the drop at the campus.

Once we were all done with that we ate lunch and waited for the other group to bring our trailer back. Once they got back, I went through the whole thing again and hooked up our trailer. Then we drove down and ran the DPS test route once each.

By then it was 2:00pm and we headed back to our campus for the backup skill work that we were supposed to have done this morning.

Once there, I backed up a few times and Keith let me take off early so he could work one on one with Perry who seemed to forget everything he's ever learned about backing a truck. The guy needs serious help.

 

Your right! Stay tuned for details!

 

Well, we took our skills test today and needless to say I passed with a perfect score

Perry passed as well, he didn't get a perfect score but he did very well. I was worried about him, guess there is someone up there looking out for him.

The morning started off on time and we did backing exercises to start the day off. After lunch we headed down to the test area and Dale let Perry drive down there. We got there about an hour and a half before our testing appointment so we each drove the back side of the route three times.

Once the tester arrived we each did our air brakes test then Perry was first. Dale and I were talking about him while he was gone, and we were both praying that he would pass so we wouldn't have to come back tomorrow.

When he came around and got out of the truck, the smile on his face said it all. Dale was very proud of him, and I was very happy as well. He still scares me a bit when he drives, but looks like he finally found some confidence.

I took my driving test after him and it went swimmingly. I did have one shifting issue but it wasn't major.

Afterwards we headed over to the DPS office to turn in our testing paperwork and get our licenses, #### it's about time. Seems like this month has taken forever.

Afterwards I drove us back to the campus, and even got to drive on the campus property (the school police do not let students drive on the campus roads) and park the truck in our spot.

That's it ... Tomorrow Dale is taking us out for breakfast and then we are calling it a day at noon. We graduate on Friday after we attend the main campus rodeo.

 

It's been my pleasure. We have two days left, mostly just 'stuff' and then I'll start my OTR training with my company. Probably Raider Express, I'll find out tomorrow, if not then I'll still go with Crete.

Once I start the training I'll start a new training blog for that company.