Swift - Starting the New Year training with Swift 1/7/13 - A long read...

I read a lot about that West Memphis TA. It's notorious. Now I'm curious so I kind of want to see what it is all about once I'm out on the road. I may regret saying that later tho.

I'm not sure about taking those turns wide either as I did exactly what this same trainer instructed us. I guess either way, it's better that he is tougher on us than lenient so I'll do better on the state test tomorrow. I'm glad that this trainer was tougher on me as I will be better prepared tomorrow.

I think I said it already but the trainers here in Lewiston are great. You can tell they all do their job because it is what the enjoy, not because they have to do it. Makes a difference. They have all been great and I went from having absolutely no knowledge of this industry or driving a 18 wheeler to being confident and trained enough to take the state test tomorrow. Can't say enough good things about everything here.


DAY BEFORE THE STATE TEST --


I hit my first trucking snafu today already and I'm not even driving yet. This is what I have to plan on, the unexpected and annoying, and just roll with the punches. I found out that plans had changed and I need to figure out a way to attend the orientation this coming Tuesday. In short, this is what happened: We test with WA state tomorrow. If and when we pass they give us some form to bring back to our local DMV. In my case, the local DMV is Tacoma. We hand in this test sheet to the local DMV and they take our picture and give us a temporary paper CDL. They mail us the hard copy soon after. We need to have the actual CDL license to attend the orientation this Tuesday. The issue is that the DMV is closed on Sunday and Monday. By the time we get back to Idaho from Washington from the test tomorrow the local WA DMV across the river will be closed. Saturday morning we leave very early to catch a bus back to WAshington. The bus trip takes 12 hours so I won't be back in Tacoma in time to get to the DMV and this local one won't be open before I have to catch the early bus. They will be closed by then. So I asked if someone from the training facility here could just call the people in charge of the orientation and let them know we passed so we can attend orientation. No, that is not allowed. I asked if we could just bring a copy or the original of the paperwork from the test tomorrow showing we passed our state test so we could attend orientation. No, that is not allowed either. So I'm kind of stuck, until I figure something else out. The other guy that is running into this issue got pretty pissed off since we were never informed of this issue and we were all told we would be able to attend the orientation after training here. He was going to go speak his mind to the head guy here but we advised him not to. Don't burn your bridges, it's not worth getting angry about and making a huge fuss since it won't do any good anyway and reminded him to "pick your battles". I don't think it's anyone's fault it's just one of those things that sucks. Getting mad won't do any good here.

My options are seeing if there is a later bus on Saturday to take back to Tacoma so me and the other Washington guys can run over to the local WA DMV here in the morning and get our CDL license and catch the bus later. The next option is that there may be a DMV open on Monday in Everett WAshington. It is over 60 miles away from where I will be dropped off. My only transportation is my motorcycle so if I have to do that I will need to buy a new battery for my bike (mine is dead and sucks balls), install it, pick my bike up from the old roommates house where it is stored and ride up to Everett. I can do that if it is not snowing or icy. It will be a huge PIA riding up there but I will do it so I can start orientation this Tuesday. I don't want to wait another week to attend orientation as I don't even know where I'm going to crash. I can't really return to where I was living as the room is rented I think and plus it is not a good situation for me to be in right now. The other option is to crash at my soon-to-be-exwife's house until I can go on the road with the mentor but I doubt she is going to be down for that as she is a #####. Third option is to pick up my bike from my old roommate's house, buy a battery and install it, ride up to Everett and take care of the license thing and then just ride back to the Sumner terminal and sleep there through orientation until I can go on the road with my mentor. Not really looking forward to sleeping in some plastic chair at a trucking terminal for days on end while I go thru orientation and waiting for a mentor but I guess at least it is temporary. I'm more worried about being bored to tears sitting around the terminal for days on end.


It's all exciting overall and another of life's adventures but it is still a PIA.

We leave at 3:30 AM tomorrow morning for the Tri-Cities to take our state test. I"m nervous but excited to actually be at this day I have been waiting for. I can't believe it has come up so quick and I'm only hours away from test time - about 13 hours to be exact. There are three students including myself plus the trainer driving over. I'm thinking that maybe if I'm given the choice I will maybe test first and get it over with. Or, trying to strategize, maybe go second if I can kind of watch the first student test from a distance and get an idea of how exactly the test site is set up. I know the state tester explains everything in detail but I would maybe still like to see the layout beforehand. I haven't decided. I'm going to go over my pretrip again on the ride over.

I just saw one of the 3 guys that went over to WA today to test and they all passed. Wepa! He told me it was easier than the Swift tests so that means that Swift did a great job preparing us. At least from what I heard. I'll know tomorrow. That makes me feel a little more confident because I know that I really know this stuff I just can't get nervous and screw it up. I'm going to take it slow and be very deliberate.

Unfortunately this Ukranian/Russian guy that was training with us, not part of the original group but part of a class ahead of us, didn't pass his Swift road test again. I saw him outside his room here at the hotel a little while ago and spoke with him. Apparently on his Swift road test they were coming down off a bridge, he was trying to downshift from 5th to 4th, split the gears and as he tried to get it into 4th he couldn't. He grinded it over and over and was, as a result, coasting in neutral too long. Automatic fail by Swift standards and the state standards. He said they may let him retake the Swift road test again tomorrow but he is not sure. If not then he has to go back home and maybe find another company to train with and get this CDL through. Sucks all around for him. He's a good guy and I spent a few days driving with him. He knows his stuff but chokes during the road tests. It's gotta be tough to have the language barrier and trying to learn this new craft. I feel for him. Hope he succeeds no matter what happens.

Gonna crash here in a minute, put on some Tru TV here in the hotel room and watch videos of people doing stupid things until I pass out.

I will update tomorrow after I get back from the state test.


Today I spent more time driving. Didn't have any issues with shifting or turning. I can identify everything I need to identify with the driving commentary we are required to do. I spent a little time doing an off-set backing and a few alley dock backs. I reviewed my pretrip and went over it again. I need to just keep my head together, focus and nail this thing tomorrow. There is no plan B and this is what I want to do and need to get done.


When we are done tomorrow I'm going to try and get our class of 10 together somewhere and celebrate. Hopefully we will all exchange cell numbers and emails and stay in touch. It's been a pretty challenging and rewarding experience so far. It hasn't always been easy, at times frustrating or boring but it's been one of those experiences I will never forget.

Tomorrow is the day. I'll figure out the rest later but this right now is the most important.

 

Ahhh, Im so tired. Going to bed finally. Passed today but rough day overall. Gotta go turn in my paperwork tomorrrow at the Wa DMV in Clarkston WA. Made it finally. Weird day but moving on.