The wait is finally over.......

[Day 9] The morning started out as usual, pre-trip inspection from 7:30am-8:30am. It was extremely windy and chilly today in the "Queen City". Today was my observing day in the truck. I watched 3 classmates drive through Charlotte, NC and surrounding areas from 9am-4pm. I saw these guys which are ahead of me still struggling on downshifting and recovery when they would miss gears. Ugh it was frustrating to me and I wasn't even driving. I took plenty of notes of what the instructor was directing my classmates to do. Overall today wasn't bad and I just went over the pre-trip inspection with my girlfriend just trying to get some more practice in. Also I'm still doing a lot of applications, just hoping to get a chance with a decent company to gain some experience. Until tomorrow........

 

[Day 10] Pre-trip inspection from 7:30am-8:30am and a recruiter came in today from TMC from 8:30am-9:30am. If my MVR was more decent in the past 5 years they would be high on my list. I am still applying at a lot of companies and I will not give up until someone gives me an opportunity to gain some experience. Today was the best day thus far. After observing my classmates drive all day yesterday and over half of today, I was left with a hour and a half to drive and my instructor stated that I "must've been born a truck driver". We started off in the gear range and I banged the gears out for one complete cycle on the range, then as we started to come back around to make a left back into the range it happened......As I came over the bridge their was a car blocking my left and a tractor trailer passing me to my left so I keep straight toward a busy secondary road lol and this is where the fun began. My instructor told me not to panic and to do my best to downshift to my "safe gear" which is 4th in this 9 speed Ford. I double clutched and down shifted as best I could and the instructor was very pleased. He said that since we were at the secondary road that he might as well see what I was made of. I drove for an hour through a construction zone, a state highway, and then back to the school with mostly smooth upshifting and downshifting. I am very pleased with myself and I am looking forward to more driving time tomorrow!!!

 

[Day 11] Today was more observation time and I got 2 full hours of driving time in the surrounding areas of Charlotte, NC. My upshifting is very smooth but I need to work on timing my downshifts as well as gear recovery. Tomorrow I hope to get the downshifting right but switching me from the 9 speed of yesterday to the 10 speed of today really had me messing up the timing of the downshifts. Still my instructor scored me very highly for my driving time and I'm feeling really comfortable with my control of the tractor trailer. All in all another productive day

 

Congrats on your good day! Best of luck on your schooling adventure, and then on to the big open road!

 

keep up the Good work,confidence is key

 

[Day 12] What an interesting end to this school week. I got two hours of driving time today and I was really on the hotseat lol as I was sweating up a storm. In my first hour of driving, I got caught in traffic on I-85 south and in my second hour of driving, I got caught in a 10 mile construction zone. I made it through the day with much better downshifting and my upshifting is still smooth. I'm going to enjoy this weekend and continue filling out applications. School is going by really fast.

 

[Day 13] I had plenty of rest from the weekend and was ready for another good week of school. This day I got to drive for 3 hours. The first 2 hours, I hit a curb and did an illegal lane change after a left turn. That all changed with my last hour of driving. I really hit my shifting points dead on and I didn't have any control issues with the truck. I felt really great after improving my mistakes from the previous 2 hours. Another good day of learning.

 

[Day 14] Today I did a pre-trip inspection on our truck and found that we needed some tires. After I completed the PTI, which my instructor said was flawless, it was my time to drive. Surely enough, the instructor had me drive to the tire shop to get new tires before we drove today. It was really a great learning experience to see the hub without the tire to get a better view of the CDLS (brake CHAMBER and hoses, brake DRUM, brake LINING, and SLACK ADJUSTER and push rod). Also it was great to see how bud rims were actually "budded" together. After getting 2 tires for $550 (lol not from my wallet) I drove for 2.5 hours and I could really feel myself getting comfortable in the driver's seat handling all situations that were thrown my way. The instructor said do an emergency stop and I did it without any issues. The instructor had me drive through some of the narrowest roads in Charlotte, NC and I did it without any issues. Everything just seemed to come together very well today and I enjoyed every minute driving. I also realized that after I drive this Thursday, I will have completed all of my day time driving hours and observation hours. I'm getting close to finishing!

 

[Day 15 & Day 16] Both days were pretty much the same, just finishing up my daytime driving hours. After today I only have 1 more hour of daytime driving which will be completed on Monday. Tuesday I will do my night driving and Wednesday I test for my CDL at 1pm. I cannot believe that I'm almost at the finish line when it seems I just started yesterday. I'm excited and nervous simultaneously but I know that my confidence will show and I will continue to the next phase to get with a company. I will enjoy my weekend the rest is much needed.

 

[Day 17] Well I did NOT enjoy my weekend. I had the stomach flu and I felt terrible. Anyway I finished up my last hour of daytime driving. Back at the school I practiced offset backing and left for the day. Tonight I have 3 hours of night driving to complete from 7pm-10pm. Tomorrow I test at 1pm. I'm not worried about PTI but my weakness is offset backing. I know that hitting cones are point deductions so I can take my time and if needed use that to my advantage. I'm really confident with straight backing and the 90. Tonight on my night drive I will get more practice on the Freightliner so I'll be confident for my driving test tomorrow. I know on the downshifts that you have to rev exactly 500 to get to the next gear or you'll grind and have to recover. For stop signs and lights that just turned red I don't downshift so that I don't mess up and get points deducted. Right now I'm just resting and preparing myself mentally for my night drive