Officially accepted to Athens Tech Commercial Truck Driving Course

I ain't gonna lie. I play it on occasion too. When the pot gets up to 300+ million I buy two or three dollars worth of numbers. Never scratch offs. Their pretty much a guarantee loss.

Not to side track the thread but the Ga. Lottery must not be throwing too much money into the Hope Grant because the funds will be depleted by next year, 2013.

 

Well, last night was the first time to drive with a loaded trailer. I always read a loaded trailer stops better and it is true. Tractor and trailer handled very well. It was good experience. I got to drive up in the mountains so I just took my time and eased through all the winding curves and hills. Lot of fun!

Here is a pic of the truck we drove:

 

Hey everyone. Been really busy at work and then by the time I get home from school I am wore out to get on here. I will update soon and answer questions left in previous postings.

 

Was the Peterbilt with the loaded flatbed there when you attended? Maybe I just lucked out. Either that or because we only have four students the teacher was able to get us out in it. It is nice to know what a fully loaded trailer feels like.

The 90 degree turns have become an everyday event for us now. Every time we go out we have to come back through town and go through both turns so it has become pretty easy now. I don't really give it much thought now.

Best wishes for your success. I will be honest with you. I work a full time job and am doing this school thing at night. There has been a couple companies come in during the afternoons but I have missed them. Roehl stopped in and talked to the other students and Maverick came by I believe. Not sure what Roehl pays as I am not interested in them. Maverick is like .40 cpm after training. I think they pay like $500 per week during training. If you are interested in flat bedding they would be a good company to look at. SNI recruits out of NGTC and I am pretty sure they hire out of CDL of Ga. At this point they would be a last resort for me. I have my eye on a tanker company right now so that is who I am going to try and get on with.

Best thing I can tell you is research until you are blue in the face. Private message people on this board and pick their brain for information on places they work. You do not have to go to work for .25-.28 cpm. There are companies out here that hire student grads for more than that to start. Do your research before you jump into any company. You can do the math to know if you can survive off their pay. I know how much money I need to make starting out in order to pay my bills. I can afford a small pay cut to change careers but not a huge one. Figure out what will work for you and your family.

I think I just was fortunate that this school had a flatbed. It really does not matter if your pulling flat or van. Our main focus as far as the driving on roads go, was making sure we can safely and properly control the truck/trailer at all times regardless of what we were pulling.

The trailer stays loaded like that so we did not have any securement training as far as chaining it down but we did have to check the load before we left out then again prior to driving up into the mountains. Once we got over the mountains and back down to whatever town we were taking a break at we checked it again. Once we got back to the school for the night we checked it again. You need to do the same with van loads if you can get in the back to check. Also do a walk around at every break.

Good luck at your school. There is a lot to learn about this career as I have found out so listen and remember as much as you can. The rest will come through hands on experience.

 

This past week we really started focusing on taking the state exam. Plenty of range practice making sure we can do the required maneuvers and going over the PTI until we were blue in the face. Thursday we took the loaded Pete back up in the North Ga Mountains and hit what is named Blood Mountain. This was a great experience as you had to watch your mirrors constantly making sure the rear of the trailer did not drift over the yellow line going through all the tight curves. Also had to use a low gear to proceed down the mountain. We were not allowed to use the jake. Which was fine with me as that darn thing gives me a headache with the stacks being right next to your head. I made it down without smoking the brakes! The teacher said I did and excellent job so that made me feel good.

Next week we will spend preparing for the cdl exam which I am scheduled to take on April 28th. We will be doing just short trips for the road drives staying close to the school. Hammering the PTI and get in a little more practice on the range. I feel pretty good about it so far. I don't think I should have any problems.

Spending the weekend watching the PTI video over and over and over! Fun stuff.