Trainco School

ah...not yet.

Did you hear that Lake High School got leveled by a tornado last June?

 

Week 2, Day 6.


We did some offset backing, and a few went out on the road doing some bobtail shifting and all that. Then we went over the on-road rules as far as left turns, intersections, and stop signs/lines.

This is exciting.

 

Week 2, Day 7.

We went out on the road and did some bobtail shifting, and then we took out a Volvo with auto-shift. It was nice, but it seemed like I didn't have as much control of the truck as I would like. I guess the computer can do it better than me sometimes, but I don't think I want to trust it going down an 18% grade or something like that.

 

Week 2 Day 8.

Did more on road driving today in near white-out snow for a while. I was doing 20MPH on a 55MPH road. It was scary as hell, but my instructor stayed quite calm, so it helped me stay calm. Thanks John...because I was terrified!

We also did some class training and went over using the trucker atlas and all the info that they contain. Pretty cool.

 

Week 2...I went on Friday and did a school bus class for my endorsement. I am mainly worried about the pre-trip, since it is a bit different from a tractor trailer. I think I will be okay.

 

Week 3, Day 10.

Today we went out and drove the Super 10 around the test route (since I test where I train...)...and we just got like 4-5 inches of snow, and the roads are still icy and snow covered. WTF?

After lunch, we came in and did some classroom work...yeah CDL manual.

 

So I have not updated this thread because we have basically been doing more of the same. On road time until lunch, and then either class work or range time after.

I have about 10 hours on road time, and feel like I know as much as I could without actually getting out there and getting experience. My only issue is that I sometimes hit the clutch brake and get a chirp from the transmission with going into 9th or 10th. Other than that, I can look at a corner from inside the truck, and picture exactly where my tandems will cross near the curb based on how much I square off the corner. Pretty cool.

On the range, I have everything down for the most part. In Ohio 12 points passes and 13 fails, and we do straight line backing for 100 feet, either offset right or left, and then either an alley dock or parallel park. You get 2 free pull ups and get out and looks on everything but the straight line back...so I think I will be more than fine. It is pretty tough to fail the skills test if you have a good grasp on the concept.

I graduate on January 7th, and will actually (hopefully) come into graduation with my CDL because I test earlier that day.