Starting training 8-24

As far as those three Prime would be by far my choice. The other two don't have that great of a reputation. Especially Steven's. They have pretty trucks, that's about it.

 

Well i figure its about time I update whats going. I drove up this time. You know in case they send me home again. The trip up was uneventful just sit back listen to the Joe Rogan podcast and do a little driving.
I left the house around 1 and arrived at Campus Inn around 4:30. I got checked in, it was exactly the same as last time. Check in and go immediately to the classroom. Had to review my medical form that I had already filled out on the internet. Once it was complete print it and head back to the front desk. I got assigned my room and headed to unpack my bags. I had a roommate but he wasn't there. I unpacked my stuff and settled in for a bit. At this point the nervousness started to set in. The first time I came here it was a sunshine and rainbows. I had no thoughts that I would ever be sent home. Well those thoughts went away as fast a greased lightening.
After getting everything settled in I went and met up with DocMartin. He and his roommate had been there since early that morning. Around 6 or so if I remember correctly. We hung out for a little while then I went back to my room. My roommate was in the same spot as my roommate. He had just returned from the PSD phase and was waiting to test out.
Monday morning was the same old. Give the speech welcoming us to Prime. Break us up into groups and give us a schedule telling us what group needed to be where at what times. Before monday was over I had everything finished, EVERYTHING. So the rest of the week I have been just going to sim lab for 3 hours then going back to my room.
I got lucky and met a trainer Tuesday night. I was in the parking lot going over my pretrip and got to talking to him. He agreed to meet the next night and talk more about me possibly going on his truck. He seems very professional and seems to know the business very well. Weds night we met at Campus Inn and talked for a good 3 hours.
He is from Alabama, I'm from Arkansas, and both big football fans. Our teams play this weekend so if we get to going before the game the first few days might be interesting.
He is very direct and to the point without being rude. (So far) We did talk about how that after a few days or weeks the truck gets really small. The walls start to close in and the real personalities shine through. But I have thick skin and have been in similar situations to this before. It will all work out.
This morning we did our final class and received our name badges. As they started passing out the medical forms so we could go get our paperwork my nerves were about shot. The stack kept getting lower and lower. People I didn't know very well were getting their paperwork and heading out. Then people I had become friends with got theres. Doc got his and I was about to go crazy. I was in the last 10 people or so to get my paperwork and go get my ID. But finally I got it. THANK THE LORD!!!!!
Now Im sitting in class one last class for pretrip and hopefully link up with my trainer after that.

Will update more as it comes.

 

Hooked up with my trainer this afternoon. we went to the millennium building, had lunch and he gave me the grand tour. It has been said before about the millennium building but I'll say it again, WOW!! This place is huge and its nice. The food is good, but that is coming from someone that has been eating at the Campus Inn for a week.
There is a nice workout facility, basketball court, gift store, salon, spa, pool tables, laundry, showers, a couple of lounges, movie theater, salon, and spa. Im sure there is something I'm missing but you get the picture. There is a lot to do in this place. After that he took me to meet my fleet manager. He seemed like a very nice guy. We chatted for about 15 minutes just getting to know each other. The fleet manager gave me some pointers, and some things he wanted to see me do while I was out in my PSD phase. From there we walked over to log. I met the lady that will be over my logs and then a few of the other dispatchers.
From there we went to Prime East and it was my turn behind the wheel. All we did today was drive around getting me familier with the truck. Not just the shifting but also where everything was. There are as many buttons and switches in these things as in the space shuttle. OK maybe not that many but its pretty close. We drove around and he would call out a gear and I had to get it in that gear. Maybe I had to speed up to get to it, maybe I had to slow down to get to it. I realized I have a nasty habit of breaking with my left foot. That is a NO NO. One of the many things I'll have to work on.
We didn't have time to hook up to a trailer. So we just watched a few other students doing there backing on the pad. He asked me a lot of questions and I answered the best I could. What I didn't know I said I would find out. Around 6pm we called it quits at the pad and came back to Campus Inn. He had some things to take care of and went his own way for the evening. I went to my room and grabbed my pretrip sheet and started going over that.
Hopefully tomorrow we will get a load and be on our way. If not we will spend time doing pretrip, and backing on the pad.

 

First Pad Day

So the first day to drive a big big truck is here. My trainner called me around 0800 and said he was headed to the truck and to meet him there. There were a few issues with his truck. Nothing major, a small air leak, and had to put air in a couple of tires. We got that taken care of. With the Qualcomm you have to enter a user name and driver number. I had tried to add mine the day before and it didn't work. Apparently I was given the wrong number. Everyone else that I had talked to had a 4 digit code that they entered. I was given a 6 digit code. The lady at log looged my info and gave me the right number. I tried it on the Prime app and what do you know, it worked the first time. Its amazing what happens when you have the right information.
Aftet all that we drove over to the pad and watched people go through their testing. This was a huge help to see how people do it. There were a few that did really good, there were a few that didn't do really good. I hope that when its my turn I'm in the first category. At this point I haven't even hooked up to a trailer. I have no idea what its like to pull a 53' trailer but i'm pretty confident that if they can do it I can do it. That is pretty much how I look at everything. Everything except UFC I don't look at those people and think I could do that.
Finally it was time to go to the pad. We hooked up to a trailer, trailer #21. I will never forget that trailer as long as I live. We move over to our pad and my trainer gives me my last minute instruction. Then I move do the drivers seat and start to do my straight line backing. This is no problem Im backing to the driver side, everything is lined up, close to the line so I know I' good on the other. No need to even look at the other side. He stops me and says are you even looking at the other side. I said no and explained why. Looking out the other mirror it looked like I was headed toward the passenger side cones. I didn't understand what in the world was going on. The trailer was bent. The drivers side was good, but backing off the passenger side threw me off. We switched trailers and continued.
Five hours later we were finished with pad time. Never in my life have a pushed in a clutch so much. My left knee is a little sore this morning, it was well worth it. I did every backing scenario that will be on the test. Offset (Driver and Passenger Side), straight line, parallel, and alley dock. I did pretty decent at all of them. There are a few bad habits I have to break and that will come with more time and experience . There wasn't one exercise that I would have failed. I did manage to rack up a few points though.
Its sunday now and we are waiting on a load to get here out of Texas. We are going to take it on up to Ohio.

Its been a long road to get here. But its finally here.

 

Yes sir. Like how to chain tires. I have no idea. In Arkansas if there is snow the road we stay home.
Thank you guys for all the help along the way.