Starting A New Life-

KGO for almost 20 yrs. I love your area by the way. Gold country is the real California. Not the coastal areas!

 

Another step forward today. I spent a few hours last week and this weekend studying the material and today went to the DPS office (most states refer to this as the DMV but MN is different in a lot of ways!) to take the CDL A permit test. I've never had trouble with tests. Seems I'm a student at heart and love the challenge of absorbing new information.

Since I now drive a school bus I have a Class B with passenger and school bus endorsements. To get the B I had already taken the "general knowledge" portions of the CDL. Today it was a matter of testing for the required A permit. Minimum needed was the Combination and Air Brake material. Being a life long over-achiever I added Hazmat, Tanker, Doubles and Triples to the tests today. Lowest score on any of the 5 was an 89%. I missed one question on each of the tests (except Hazmat where I missed 2). So the written part of the testing is complete. Cost was $7.50 for the 3 'extra' endorsements. Cost of the Combo and Air Brake will be charged when I do the driving test (permit is good for 6 months) in mid-May.

Next step is getting to the Feds to get fingerprinted and the background check for the Hazmat. No big deal. I've got weeks to complete that. Probably will take care of it within the next week.

I will say that the actual endorsement tests were easier than the quizzes at the end of each section provided for study by DPS. I probably read the material twice and looked over the more complicated questions. For instance, I suspected the test may require more detailed knowledge of the 9 hazard classes. It did not. I suspected the doubles/triples exam would go into detail on proper coupling and uncoupling. It did not.

Next I'll turn attention to the text book supplied by the school. Homework assigned is to have read the first 8 chapters in the book for Saturday and Sunday class. A first glance at the material indicated some of it is almost word for word from the state supplied material I studied for the CDL A permit.

Class starts this Saturday at 7 a.m. I know these early starts sometimes are tough on newbies. For me it's a piece of cake. I did morning radio for decades and my start time ranged from 4:30 to 5:30. For me to sleep until 6 is like 'sleeping in'.

Stay tuned.

 

Can't see me doing much on CB. Maybe listen for useful info as needed but that's about it. I had a CB in a motorhome a few years ago and after listening for a few minutes I couldn't take the trash talk from truckers so just kept it off mostly.

 

Return to the DPS (DMV) today. If you want a Hazmat endorsement you have to let the feds check you out. This is called the THSA which is done by the TSA. Got it? Let me break this down for you; the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) requires that you have The Hazmat Security Assessment (THSA) because they don't want you carrying explosives or chemicals and being some whacked out terrorist type roaming our nations highways.

The 'check out' includes a background check by the TSA and fingerprints (all ten fingers please!). You would think this would be a walk in the park. Not at the MN DPS office.

The TSA sets up an office space at my local DPS (that's Department of Public Safety) two times a week from 9:30 to 1:30. Before going down to the office I went on line at www.hazprints.com which is a 3rd party site authorized to take the application. I filled out the Application and paid the $86.50. So, I'm thinking "jeez, how many people could want fingerprinting done at the local office of DPS today?" This shouldn't take too long. Wrong !

I got there at 10:10, signed in and was told "she'll come out and get you when she's ready. About 20 minutes later a very friendly woman approached and said "are you here to get fingerprinted?". When I acknowledged my purpose for being there she shoved 3 sheets of paper at me and said "fill these out and I'll be back, it's going to be about 15 minutes". I filled out the forms (they were exactly the same forms I had filled out on line several hours earlier). About 20 minutes later she came back and said "sorry, it's going to be a few more minutes". 10 minutes later she returned and told me to follow her. We walked through the building to an empty office. I was separated from her at a desk by a barrier about 3 feet tall. Finally she stood and told me to stand in front of this ink pad and blotter type thing. She took all ten fingerprints, then another set of right hand, left hand fingers all at once. She said "that's it, there's a restroom out there you can wash your hands". So me and my inked up fingers left, washed up and walked out of that building 1 hour and ten minutes later. And the results? I'll get back to you on this in about 4 weeks.