Watkins Shepard 30-Day Training

Well what an interesting week THAT was! Sorry I haven't posted in a while, just been crazy the last week and we only got back from our student trip yesterday, so here's the latest update.

Well late last week we went over winter ops and log book exercises and more class work etc. On Monday we spent the whole day just driving around town. Tight turns, low bridges, small streets. Amazing what you drivers out there have to deal with on a daily basis. Gotta be real careful out there. Well we had to prepare Monday night for our student trip to L.A. area. We start out at 6am and this is the real deal. Having to deal with actual logs, qualcomm, hours etc etc. We pick up at general mills in great falls and wait about an hour or so to get loaded. Lesson #1, how to wait for shipper and dispatch communication. Get loaded and by this time there's a snow storm brewing. I'm behind the wheel and just take my time and go slow. Head down I-15 a little while and stop for some lunch. Well by this time there's a good amount of snow on the ground, 20 degrees outside and wind at 40mph, so it's cold. My stupid *** thought more about bringing shorts than bringing a warm jacket, figuring I'd need it in Cali. Well my partner takes over driving somewhere in either Idaho or Northern Utah. I'm in the sleeper trying to sleep when the truck comes to a stop. Not sure which of you heard about the storm in the mid-west, but we got caught in it. Apparently there was a double's that had spun out, then another doubles tried to pass him and he spun out, then ANOTHER double tried passing them on the shoulder and HE spun out. Didn't acutally see what happend, but heard about it on the CB. By this time it's about 5am, COLD, windy and still snowing. Maybe 8 inches on the ground. Trainer tells us we've gotta chain, seeing as we're at the base of a hill. So my partner and I get out and rifle through the chains to find a pair of singles to throw on the drives. Lesson #2 - Bring clothes and jackets for all weather. All I had was that small thin jacket and it almost killed me. But again, my stupid mistake. Well after about a half hour off freezing my buns off, we finally get the chains put on and then just wait. We ended up waiting for 6 hours on I-15. Still can't really sleep. I just felt bad for the people in cars stuck on the highway. Well we finally get going and the preliminary verdict, the chains hold!! I can't be happier. All that work and suffering is paying off seeing us climb that hill. On the way up, we pass about 5 or 6 trucks and driver having to finally chain, because they can't get up the hill. Lesson #3, how and why to chain and why it's crucial. Sure if the weather's bad enough, I'm probably going to pull over til it clears, but in a situation like this, I've gotta know how to do it. We ended up staying at a motel just south of vegas and fell asleep at 8pm. Felt like I was 8 years old again. Well what a gorgeous drive into California and through Nevada. Amazing, If this is my office view, I can handle that. Great drive all the way into the outskirts of L.A. I found out quickly what L.A. drivers are like and how the traffic is. Got to our destination dropped and went to lunch and waited a little bit. Well our next load was supposed to be ready for us, but we ended up waiting for it to complete. I crawl up on the top bunk for what I thought would be a nap and woke up at 5am. Had about 11-12 hours of much needed sleep, but those top bunks aren't the most comfortable as I've come to find out. Well we got a qualcomm message saying our load was canceled and to wait for another load. Lesson #4, learn how loads get canceled and plans change in an instant. Also learned how to wait patiently, which most of you know all too well about. We finally get rolling with a pre-load of beer and ended up weighing 79800lbs with 30040 on the drives. So we then had to learn about the fuel game. It took us something like 4 hours or so just to get out of the L.A. area and back on the freeway. The drive back was fairly clear except for the lack of sleep we all had. I don't know how teams do it. I couldn't get more than 2 hours of sleep in the back during the whole trip. Lesson #4 1/2 I now know the meaning of the term Freightshaker. I won't go into any more detail Well we got back late last night, 2 days behind schedule but if I could do it all over again, I would. I learned so many invaluable lessons along the way that I wouldn't have other wise learned if I was anywhere else. Lesson #5, I know I made a great decision coming to Watkins Shepard for my training.

Well this is my last week coming up and I think we're going to be practicing and preparing for our DMV test, then get our truck and first load. I'll keep everyone here updated as the week goes and then give a final post once I'm done.

The 600 split means when going down hill and down shifting or uphill upshifting (which almost never happens) you have to split the RPM by 600. So going downhill and downshifting, you've gotta bring the rpm down to 1000, then rev to 1600 and downshift.

There's a vista cruiser. It's a big oldsmobile century station wagon that looks like a tank and rides like a boat, which we all love. Then we have a Chevy Mailbu

 

Well I got the test date for the DMV and it's set for next Monday 11/9. So today and all through this week we'll be preparing for the test. We were lucky enough to run the course and run the backup test with our instructor. It includes a straight back, a 90 degree "alley dock"?? I think that's what it's called, and a serpentine back. Easy enough as I've been practicing a lot. The course itself includes a few sharp turns but overall nothing big. Just have to work on the pre-trip and making sure I don't miss anything. Getting really excited and anxious and as it stands now, I just want to get out of here and get on the road and start experiencing trucking life and making some money. So for now I'll just update if anything big changes or happens.

 

Which ones hardrunning? This will be the 3rd group that's come through here since I've been here.

 

I'm not 100% Mooniac. The trainers here have been and probably will continue to be busy almost everyday. They may be able to fit you in to a winter-ops class during one of the 10-day orientation training sessions. Other than that, it's mostly learn as you go type of thing. Take it slow and easy, and if it gets too bad, pull over for the night, or chain up.

I'll let another W/S driver chime in on this, but my two cents is leaning towards a probably not, just because it would be hard to get one on one training for you due to the amount of students and time restrictions the instructors have.