Newbie to WSE, here I go!!

Yeah its fairly important to review the first 6 chapters pretty well, Monday you'll take some practice test to see where you stand, and Tuesday morning you'll actually go in and test for the DL then the CDL permit. Make sure you know about ID's open range laws for the DL but other than that, its pretty much like any other DL test. We all struggled with combination vehicles on the practice test. Again, I aced the General Knowledge, and Combo at the DMV and choked on the AB portion..lol. My suggestion would be to study ASAP and cram the devil outta those chapters, because you don't wanna do like I did have to retake the test. Its not a problem with WSE, but you'll lose a day's worth of driving and it does feel like you're behind the curve. Seems like just a few in town driving miles are critical for experience. Those who passed the first time are doing a lil better than I on the in town portion. Hope this helps, see you sunday.

 

Ok so today I completed the CDL course and took my skills test. I missed 4 on the straight line backing, right hand turn, and alley dock. I missed seven on the road test and missed eight on the pretrip. So overall, not too bad. Once I completed the course and turned in my paper to the intstructor, I'm officially an employee of Willis Shaw Express and can now get on the payroll...lol. Monday we'll have off, Tuesday thu Thursday we'll attend company orientation, and that eveing and Friday we'll be picked up by our individual trainers for 10k miles then we'll be out on our own. Overall, if I used a scale of 1-10 to rate my course, instructors, course material, lodging facilities, I'd give WSE an easy 8 out of 10. I'm extremely pleased with how things have went and how myself and fellow students have been treated.

 

So I'm out with my driver trainer. Left Boise today enroute to Opalaka, AL. Turns out we're gonna relay a load in St. Louis and take to Ardmore, OK, passing thru my hometown hopefully... My trainer is great, an excellent guy full of good advice. 298 miles later we've arrived in Ogden, UT at the flying J. I can honestly say idling is allowed so we can stay comfortable so that really nice. We're heading out in the morning for a 600 mile day hopefully stopping somewhere in NE. Take care, and I hope to see you out here!!!

 

Made it here to St. Louis, MO. Hooked up to idleaire. seems to be working well other than the smell of cigarette smoke and ### coming from the unit...lol. So far so good. Just thought I'd drop a line and post.

 

Well I'm in Lebec, CA at the Petro. Went down a few pretty steep grades so far. This last one, called grapvine I think was probably the steepest as of yet. I'm heading up to Seattle to cover my NW portion of my training so its looking good so far. All I need to do is head east to the NE corner, back to elm springs, AR to pick up my truck and I'm done!! Having fun, but my butt is still getting used to sitting...lol. I'm averaging around 550 to 600 miles a day.

 

So Seattle was fun, I got some good pics of the mountains up here, we're heading to the Boston area next to cover my NE. We may wind up reloading at the Boise terminal and taking a different load east. I've found out that you really have to be flexible and things change some times in order to get drivers home etc. Its all good though, I'm having a good time, pay is coming in without fail. Great communication between my training dept and myself via quallcomm or cell phone. Looking forward to getting my own truck in about 9 days.

 

Well he pretty much just rides and when I need a lil correction he'll tell me. For example after spending years in the fire service I was conditioned to hug the centerline. He advises me to keep it center. That's really about it. I'm in Fort Pierce, FL right now, just dropped a load in Pompano Beach that we picked up in Hartford, CT. I came down 95 the whole way so I went right thru NYC!! What a ride!!! LOL. Be safe take care