Started Mid Florida Tech today

Started school today in Orlando at Mid-Florida Tech. For anyone who is interested about their school, I'll try and update each day what happens.

For starters, the class is 8 weeks long, Monday thru Thursday, 7AM to 5:30PM. Our instructor did tell us today that we have to do so many hours of night driving and I forget the exact number, but he said there will some days that we will come in at 3 AM to get the night driving done.

Class size is limited to 10 students. You are only allowed to miss a total of 24 hours of class, anything over and you are out. No excuses. The class costs right at $2100 which includes books, drug test, DOT physical, parking permit, student ID and cdl license.

Today, we did student paperwork in the morning. Our instructor talked about general trucking stuff for a couple of hours, then each of us had to go in one at a time and go over the paperwork with him. While we were doing that, they played a video for everyone to watch which was a detailed Pre-Trip Inspection. We were all given our own dvd to watch as many times as necessary to help us pass the pre-trip test.

We were also assigned homework. For tomorrow, we have to read 3 chapters and complete the tests for each. It is open book so no problem.

We get 45 minutes for lunch and were given several 15 minute breaks. The afternoon was spent learning the basics of log books (and we watched a video on that as well), and some basics of reading a Rand McNally atlas (which is one of the books required for class and included in your book fee).

We will be keeping a fantasy log starting tomorrow, up until we actually start going out on the road and at that point, we will keep a "real" log. We have to turn the logs in at the end of each week.

All homework has to be turned in at 7 AM, if its later than that, you lose a full letter grade.

Tomorrow, we will spend the first hour in the classroom, and then are supposed to go out and get familiar with the truck and we will be practicing in the lot with a bobtail, just to get the feel of driving it and shifting.

All in all, today went very well, and I was impressed with how much we learned in one day. The instructor was great, good personality, makes jokes and keeps it interesting (as interesting as mapping and logging can be anyway).

I think that was about it. Will let you know how tomorrow goes with my first chance to drive!!

 

First of all, a couple of corrections...class ends at 5 PM not 5:30PM . Also, logs are turned in each morning by 7 AM, not at the end of the week.

Today, we went over the homework from the night before and graded the three tests and then turned them in. That took about a 1/2 hour. After that, it was out to the yard and the instructor gave us a detailed tour of a trailer, going over various parts and giving us the proper names for the parts. He also went over some basics with a truck, we will be going over the parts in detail later.

The instructor has been driving trucks for 38 years, so it is amazing the amount of information he has in his head about the trucks and the industry. I find it all to be very interesting and want to learn as much detail as I can, some people may not care and just want to learn enough to be able to pass the test to get their cdl's. Those types of people would probably be better off going to Roadmaster, but I can personally guarantee you that there is no comparison to the training we are getting here compared to Roadmaster. My sons went to Roadmaster and yes they learned enough to pass the test, but that is the limit of what they learned. There trainer's from the company they went to work for had to teach them a lot, and they have had to learn a lot on their own.

After the truck/trailer tour, we took a quick break and then he had the 9 of us students (we started with 10, lost one today because she decided to drop down to the Class B) gather up barrels and road cones and then we had to set up the practice area for a 100 foot alley. We use five trucks at a time, so 2 students per truck. We had a variety of trucks. There is a General, 2 Freightliners, a Cabover and 2 brand new International Day Cabs that are automatics.

We spent most of the day bobtailing the 100 foot alley, pull forward and stop with your back bumper inside an 18 inch area, then straight line back and stop with your front bumper in an 18 inch area. Our class all got the hang of it pretty quick so he went ahead and added the trailers at about 2 PM. Boy did that make a difference! Most of us did fine, a couple people really struggled backing. The time flew by and before we knew it, it was time to go home. We were having so much fun, no one wanted to leave.

Back to the classroom, turned in the truck keys, finished our logs for the day and headed home to eat dinner, do 3 more chapters, 3 more tests, shower and head to bed. 4:30 AM comes awfully quick!

 

These last two days have been so much fun! I had really been dreading school and so far I have had more fun doing this than I've had on a lot of vacations. There's just something about driving those big trucks, kind of like when you were a kid and you went to an amusement park and got to pretend you were drivng a car, you know, the rides where the car is on a track that has a rail in the middle to keep you from going anywhere but straight ahead? You pretended like you were all grown up and really doing something? That's the way it is with the big trucks, a whole new adventure for an adult.

Everyone in our class gets along really well, we all help each other and give advice and ideas to the ones who are having a hard time with something. And it seems to be unanimous that everyone really likes our instructor. The guy is just really good at what he does, I think I was really lucky to be in this class.

Okay, the run down for day 3 went like this: Turned in my log from yesterday, went over homework from the night before, graded it, turned it in.

Instructor talked to us and used the chalk board to demonstrate the physics of backing the trailer. After that, it was a quick break, and then out to the yard and into the trucks.

Same scenario as the previous day. 2 students per truck, we practice for about an hour in a truck and then rotate to a different truck. 100 foot alley (12 foot wide), straight up, stop with the back bumper in the 18 inch area, straight line back, stop with the front bumper in an 18 inch area. We did this all day, and let me tell you, by the end of the day, I can back any of those trucks with any of the trailers (dry van) perfectly down the center of the 12 foot alley and stop dead center in the 18 inch area. If we practice all manuevers with this much repetition, we should all be pros by the time we graduate!

After lunch, some of us were getting kind of bored because we were needing more of a challenge, so the instructor brought over a new trailer for us to practice backing. This one kicked my butt!!! Here I thought I was really something backing those dry van trailers, and I look at this lowboy (50' flatbed with a triple axle) and think to myself, well, that ought to be easier than the vans.....ha!! Not for me anyway. I really struggled with that thing. I actually hit a barrel with the truck because I was so focused on watching that trailer that I lost track of one of the barrels in my right mirror. Heard a thump and I stopped, thinking that maybe it was the instructor hitting the trailer, looked around, didn't see anyone, so I got out to see what the noise was, walked to the passenger side, and there was the barrel, knocked completely over!! First one I hit, and hopefully the last. I asked the instructor for some advice on backing that trailer, and he said the best thing was just to practice. He said that because of the triple axle it is a lot trickier to keep straight. He's got that right! I'm not really too worried about it, because we don't get tested on it, but it bothers me because I like to be able to do everything that they challenge us with.

That was about it for today. We are now off for 10 days due to Thanksgiving. We go back on Dec. 1st. In the meantime, I am going to get all my homework completed so that I don't have to try and do it when I get home from school each day. Also, I have to really get going on learning the pre-trip. This 10 day break is going to help out with all that.

When we go back on the first, we will refresh on the 100 foot alley for about an hour and then we start coupling/uncoupling.

 

The alley is just an area set up out in the yard, like a paved parking lot, and it is a distance of 100 feet long and 12 foot wide, the width is marked by yellow lines painted on the pavement. There are cones and barrels placed along the yellow lines so it's real obvious if you don't keep your truck and trailer straight when backing, you will hit the cones or barrels. At both ends of the alley, there are two lines painted on the pavement and the area inside the lines is 18 inches wide. That 18 inches is where the front bumper of the truck and the back bumper of the trailer have to be when you stop. You have to use your mirror to be able to tell when you have the back trailer bumper in the right spot. You aren't allowed to get out and look. It's really not that difficult. After the first couple attempts, you get the hang of it.

 

Got back to school after having 10 days off for the Thanksgiving holiday. First we went over all of our homework. We had 3 chapters that we did and a test for each chapter. We also had a "fantasy" two day logging trip that we had to do. Suprisingly, after 10 days off, there were a few people who didn't have their homework completed.

After that, we went back out to the trucks and did the 100 foot alley for a while to refresh us. Then we took a break and our instructor went over the procedures for coupling/uncoupling. Went back out to the trucks and began performing the procedure ourselves. Did that till about 3 PM, then the Instructor went over the Pre-Trip with us. Back to the classroom for some discussion and then called it a day. Tomorrow we are supposed to start on skill manuevers. Kinda nervous!

 

Today we started with a recruiter from Werner. He seemed pretty as far as recruiters go. Having done much resource on this board and others, I was able to see through all the hype.

Afterwards, we turned in our homework and went out to the trucks. Instructor went over the daily walk around inspection we will be required to start doing tomorrow. After that, he went over the banana dock, straight dock and the testing requirements for the 100 foot alley. As some students worked on those skills, others were sent over 2 at a time to the shift track to begin learning the 9 speed.

I have to admit I was very disappointed with my shifting. I knew in my head what needed to be done, but knowing it and doing it are 2 totally different things. Have to get the brain connected with the feet, hands and eyes. Hope to do much better on that tomorrow.

Also worked on the banana dock (also known as a 45 degree back). Didn't have too many problems with that.