Western Truck Driving School

Well attending class from 4pm to midnight should be interesting. At least I will have the opportunity for day and night driving.

My 1st night was great. Debbie my instructor will also be the one administering the testing at the end of these 3 weeks. I am in calls with Dennis, Ray and Rosario. 3 great guys ask right questions and not much getting off task.

We started the day with the 108 point check of the pre-trip. Debbie gave us a paper with all 108 items on it and said this is what you must do and say during a test when tested by anyone. It took about 45 minutes and we went inside. Once inside we watched a few videos on trip planning, safety and logbooks. We then went indepth into house and writing in our logbook how to do EVERYTHING. Debbie is great she has 18 years driving experience and was team with her husband until he got hurt in 2001. She has been teaching and certifying people for 7 year I think she said.

After the videos we went back outside for another pre-trip inspection this time Ray did it. It was nice to be almost dark so we could point to everything directly with the facelight. Under the trailer was nice to see the 5th wheel locked into place and the kingpin.

Dinner Break

Back inside a few more videos and the went over the green safety book, we finished the night locating in sections suck as 392.11 (a)(2) and then answering questions about it.

I look forward to finishing the questions tonight, getting more pre-trip practice and going to their yard to learn the driving aspects of the test and actually DRIVE the truck.

So far I am very impressed with the school.

 

I have only really dealt with Roxy, I have asked so many questions and she is still always so nice and patient.

 

DAY 2 is in the books

Another good day, continued on the pre-trip walk around, I was 2nd today, the other guys say I did a good job, we all have a paper with everything on it and I tried not to look at it very much to test myself. Anyway was a good night.

One student who is working 2 jobs as a chef and going to school was late from trying to pass the written tests so no skills practice today. Since we did not make it to the range to practice skills, we asked our trainer Debbie if we could just go for a ride so we did and she showed and explained shifting, double clutch and such. We also drove by the range so we could see what it looked like.

Log book practice, finished the green book questions, and watched a video. Pretty laid back day, she said no matter what range tomorrow so we can get some skills work in.

 

DAY 3

Today arrived at school, practice pre-trip myself before class started. Class started we pre-tripped the truck, went to the range for skills we spend 45 minutes each doing the 100 foot straight back, WOW it harder then I thought it would be took about 5 tries and did fairly well my last one was almost perfect she said. Then we hit a truck stop for dinner. After dinner we went to another well lit place to learn shifting, double clutch and such. We took it up to 6th and back down again we each got about 45 minutes each, this want interesting to learn took a few grinds and jumps but got better, this will be interesting to learn and get good at it. We returned to school, took a quick break then out for another pre-trip for practice, 108 items to check. Finished the night on a good note.

I am excited to finally have gotten behind the wheel, practice, practice, practice. I look forward to working in this industry and have gained a whole new respect for drivers.

Tonight we are going to the range to learn more backing, and parallel parking. She also said with some light left we may get the opportunity to drive in some traffic and do some turns.

 

Day 4

What an awesome day, I arrived early to practice the walk around with another classmate. We then went to the yard to practice the offset/cross over backing which was a blast, looked harder then it was. After the 4 of us finished that we hit the road in an industrial complex going round up shifting and down shifting. The instructor said I was doing well so we went onto some roads, HOLY COW that was awesome, nerve racking but learn quick, I did stall the truck one time doing a right turn. I was in ninth put splitter down to hit 4th and did not clutch so stalled. No big deal. The other students said I did well and so did the instructor. About 9pm instructor was not feeling well so we called it a night back to the office and home.

Friday is a father-son campout with church so I am not going to school. Instructor said she was not teaching anything new and the other guys would just practice. On Monday we are going to learn the parallel park and practice.

So far so good, Western Truck School has been worth it.