Road Training #7: Danger, Danger Will Robinson!

Saturday, 1PM: This ... sucks. There's really no other way of putting it. We're at an operating center that doesn't have any kind of Internet access at all, and we won't have another load until 7AM tomorrow, giving me lots of extra time and almost nothing to do with it. Driving up here was rather uneventful, though I can understand the hatred some of the locals have for PennDOT, since we spent more time in construction than on open roads. Unless something special happens, though, I've sixteen hours and almost nothing to fill that time with.

Saturday, 8PM: Well, since I can now be absolutely certain that I can't post this until well after we deliver the load, I'm going to start typing in details. We're at the Mahoopeny, PA "operating center" for the night. I put OC in quotes because this place is nothing more than a trailer with truck parking. At 8AM, we're going to a yard just up the road to pick up a trailer, then driving down into Stuart Mills, VA to drop it. We'll be staying the night tomorrow at a Pilot truck stop just up the road from there, at I-81 exit 213. In the time that we've been waiting here, I've finished the written part of the SQT (Skills Qualification Test), done a trip plan for tomorrow, and rode with the trainer down to Wal-Mart in the truck to pick up a few items. A few people did a double-take when they saw the tractor pulling into the lot. :)

During dinner, we talked about things. The only problems I have are my lane control and backing. Backing is quite simply a problem because I haven't done it done, so that's obvious. But for some reason, I'm still having a hard time keeping the truck centered; it has a tendency to drift one way or the other. Now, I don't drift when there are cars next to me - I'm conscious enough of where other vehicles are to not get too close to them - but when I'm not right next to someone I somehow keep going over one line or the other. It's not consistent, either; sometimes I'll go 20 miles without a problem, while other times I'll be struggling just to hold the thing on the road. While I am fairly sure that the truck is pulling slightly to the right, my car does the same thing and I've never had this much of a problem with it. Though, on the other hand, the truck is eight feet wide and lanes are only 10 to 12 feet wide, giving me a much smaller margin of error than I have in the Nissan. I have to figure out what the problem is and stop doing it or I'm not going to pass the test. It's really that simple. x_x

Sunday, 7PM: I wish I had some good news here. Instead, though, I just keep getting worse and worse. Today, twice, I came rather close to hitting another vehicle. Now, one was not my fault, despite what the instructor says; because of the way he was sitting, I could not see another vehicle in my mirror as I was trying to change lanes. But the other one was, and it was not a lane change; I was in the left lane going around a curve and went too far to the right.

So, instead of continuing on and being within a few days of getting my own truck, I'll probably be kicked back to Charlotte tomorrow and have to take a basic skills test, focusing heavily on lane control. If I pass, I'll be given a couple hours of coaching specifically on that problem and get assigned another training engineer for my second week of training, such that I have one last chance. If not, then I'm fired. I'm already down to my last chance with this job. I can't afford to lose it...

Road Training #5: I would drive 500 miles...

To be exact, 507 miles. Yes, one day, nearly nine hours of driving, and over 500 miles. I actually did most of the work today; though the trainer drove from the Charlotte OC to the drop/pick up place, I backed the truck into the dock (though with a lot of help) and drove all the way from there to where we're staying tonight. The drive was rather scenic, though by the end of the night, I just wanted to get to our stopping point and sleep.

From here on out, I should be doing the job as if I were driving solo; the trainer will be acting purely as an advisor and will try to assist only where it's needed. Somehow, I get the feeling he's going to do more than he says he's going to do, but I'm still just about able to keep myself from going crazy after eight hours of driving without a break. I hope that I get everything under control, especially working on backing, since that remains the only thing that I do not feel confident doing. I've dealt with Atlanta rush hour traffic. I've dealt with construction zones. I've dealt with accidents. Heck, I took a detour into a Wal-Mart parking lot to get around a mess on the street. Now I just have to be able to put the thing in reverse and get it to go where I want and I'll be all set.

Road Training #4: On the road again

Wednesday: Today was one of those days where everything seemed to go by in a bit of a blur. As usual, we started the day by going to a truck stop so my trainer could get coffee. :p  Once we actually got to work, I reconnected to the trailer and drove five hours non-stop to get us close to where we delivered. The trainer took over from there, since he wanted to show me some of the more difficult maneuvers and sign reading that I'd have to do; even with both of us looking, we nearly missed one truck route sign. The route also had a few exceedingly tight turns, which I'm just not comfortable making yet.

While we were waiting on our unload, I worked on some of my homework, though reading the atlas gives me a splitting headache; I'm increasingly tempted to use the computer to work out the basic route and merely use the atlas to verify that the route is legal for a truck to drive on. I also received my first evaluation, and nothing on it came as a surprise at all; I lost points in every area that I expected to lose credit in and none of the areas in which I felt I was doing well. I'll probably get two more such evaluations before I'm done with training (one early next week, and one at the end of the two week training period). My goal is to receive a perfect score on my last evaluation to show that I'm ready to drive the truck on my own. Tomorrow's going to be an exceptionally long day, since we have roughly 600 miles to drive for our next assignment (120 to pick up the load, and 500 to the delivery); I just hope that I can get a full night of restful sleep so I'm ready to drive when my break ends at 5AM.

Thursday: Easily the longest day I've had so far. I drove over 400 miles today and worked a full eleven hours. We still have driving to do for our current load, but we should be able to drop it off relatively early tomorrow, likely well before noon. The trainer still wants to get an early stop tomorrow night, despite starting early, but that's reasonable considering that we're running fairly close to hitting the seventy-hour cap right now. In any case, the driving was a rather pleasant mix of things, from country driving to city driving, from back roads to Interstates, and over long hills both up and down. The instructor had me going rather uncomfortably fast around some of them, but I at least kept the vehicle (mostly) under control.

Apparently I'm doing much better than the average student, except in the few places that I'm having problems, such as backing the truck in. I still can just barely get it where I want it to be after several attempts, which is definitely unacceptable. The instructor has said he's going to spend some time working with me on that, but so far I'm still everything except confident in my ability to back the truck anywhere. Even given a wide area and plenty of room to maneuver, I'd struggle to get into a dock or parking space. I really hope that I can get that figured out, because once I do, everything else is just about golden.

After the drop off tomorrow morning, my trainer is going to let me handle just about everything else as if I were driving solo. Basically, it'll be a trial by fire at that point, and entirely on me to get everything done. That's not to say that I won't have help if I need it, but if I don't need the assistance I'll be left to handle it all myself. It's going to be quite the experience, but I'm rather confident that I can get it done... well, as long as I keep the tractor in a forward gear...

Road Training #2: Behind the Wheel

So, as promised, I did almost all the driving today. The only time I didn't drive was at the yard for our delivery, since the drop point for our trailer was in a really awkward, tight space; my trainer dropped it, but I then drove across to pick up the trailer for our next load. It was easily the longest I've driven the truck in one sitting, but it was a rather nice drive and I think I did rather well out on the road. We have roughly 320 miles to drive tomorrow, so we have to get a fairly early start to make our 4PM delivery appointment. My trainer is saying that we can make that in six hours; I'll probably fill out my trip plan for seven hours, though, since they suggest planning at 50 miles an hour and round up any fractions (320/50 = 6.4, which rounds to 7). In any case, we'll probably be stopping at a truck stop immediately after we get unloaded tomorrow, whether or not we have another work assignment, so I probably won't be able to make an update tomorrow evening.

Road Training #1: On the road again

So I finally met up with my training engineer yesterday. It went rather well, I think. We started at 7AM by meeting in the OC and spent a bit of time talking about how this is going to work. Then we went out to the truck, got everything situated in there, grabbed a training trailer, and took a short trip around the city so I could show how well (or badly) I drive. He seemed to be rather happy that I could drive, though I needed help backing the unit up when we were getting ready to park the trailer. While we were out, just in that short trip, we received a work assignment that will take us about 350 miles, which isn't a bad first trip, though it's likely our next trip will be longer.

After that, we took lunch, then got out on the road, since we had to make our pick-up by 4PM and it was a nearly 100 mile trip just to get the trailer loaded. Well, I should say that it was more like 60 miles to pick up an empty trailer, and then 40 to get to the customer whose freight we were hauling. While waiting on the trailer to get loaded, we spent time talking with some other drivers, then just sitting around and talking to each other, trying to pass the time. It was roughly an hour and a half before the trailer was full and we were on our way again. From that customer, we started driving and made another two hours or so before stopping for the night.

Yesterday, my trainer did all the driving, once we actually had our work assignment. Today, though, I'll likely be doing most of the driving, quite possibly including backing into someone's dock, though I think that we might just be dropping this trailer in a lot. I don't know what we'll be doing next; in this line of work, there's almost no time at which we'll actually know what we're doing more than a couple hours before finishing the previous assignment. I'm quite eager to see where we're going next.

Departure

In an hour, I'll be meeting up with my training engineer and truly getting started with my career as a driver. I will be on the road for the next two weeks; presumably, at the end of this two weeks, I'll be coming back to Charlotte, taking one last test, and getting assigned a truck of my own. I'll probably be just about impossible to contact during this time, but I will try to keep in touch here, if nothing else.

Countdown

While I was out eating lunch earlier, I finally got a phone call from Charlotte, saying a training engineer was ready. However, I have to go all the way back to Charlotte to meet him. The company is going to provide a rental car, so I'll be driving away from Pensacola airport at 8AM Sunday, checking into a hotel room in Charlotte Sunday night, and meeting the trainer sometime on Monday.

While I am somewhat excited about finally getting out on the road, I'm also a bit nervous about being out there. I'm not entirely sure what to expect, after all. But, at the same time, I know that I have to get started somewhere and go do this. It's far too late to back out of this now even if I wanted to. Just wish me luck, everyone. :)

CDL Test Completed

I passed... the road test was actually really easy. I screwed up the turn coming out of the parking lot (had there been a curb, I'd have hit it and failed the test immediately), but after that I did very well. I only took 10 points on the entire 45-minute course; 27 or lower is a passing score. So I now have a Florida Class A license in my pocket, complete with the sort of unflattering picture that only the DMV can take. :)

CDL Test...

So... I took my CDL test today. As you (might) know, the test consists of three parts: the pre-trip inspection, the basic skills or slow maneuvering course, and a road test.

Pre-trip: I think I did fairly well on the pre-trip. The tester actually stopped me in the middle of doing my rear drive (tractor) axles since I'd already named everything on the front drives, giving me full credit for all axles on the vehicle at once. That really helped my confidence. I didn't see my score, but apparently I missed quite a few more items than I thought, judging by the number of blank boxes and circles on the test sheet.

Basic skills: Um... wow. I really don't even want to write about this. It went, in a word, horribly. The straight-line section was easy, but then I came to the 45° alley dock. And missed. And missed again. And again. By the third time I'd missed and about the eighth pull-up, I was barely holding back tears. The tester saw me losing it and told me he was stopping the test to give me ten minutes to regain my composure and start again from the beginning. By the time I'd pulled back around, I couldn't hold it back any longer and started crying right in the middle of the truck. Conveniently, it was the only truck that had tissues on the dashboard; I needed two or three of them.

During the short break, the instructor from the academy helped me do two 45° docks while there was a chance. I hit them both just fine, but when I came back to the test again... I missed again and again and again and again. Finally, after more pull-ups than I cared to count in the truck, I got it in the box and honked the horn a few times to let the tester know I'd (miraculously) finished the maneuver. Then I continued around, did the right turn, and came to the parallel park box. I knew I had it, since I very, very rarely screwed up that move. Sure enough, I needed just one pull-up and I put it dead-center in the box. "Dead center" still cost me another point, since you're supposed to get the rear bumper within two feet of the back of the box, but I didn't care. I passed. That's all that mattered. I saw my score sheet after the fact, and it looked something like this:

• Straight line: 0
• 45 Alley dock: 9
• Right turn: 0 (yes, I got within about six inches of the cone without hitting it)
• Parallel park: 2
• Total score: 11 (14 or lower is passing; 15 or higher is failing)

Unfortunately, since I lost about half an hour in my first (failed) attempt to take the test, and another 20 or so minutes on my second try at the alley dock, I ran out of time to take my road test today. Everyone was giving me a bit of a hard time (as if I didn't already feel bad enough). The tester said something to the effect of "Alley docking isn't your strong suit, so I hope you never have to do it. Unfortunately, I've seen a lot of alleys and a lot of docks in them." Gee, thanks for stating the obvious. At least we were able to pull a few strings and get my road test scheduled for 9:30AM tomorrow, giving me exactly one chance to get it right. I'm pretty confident that I can get it in one try; driving around is my favorite part, after all. I actually have fun driving in the truck. So, now, there's just one last obstacle between me and a class A license. I just have to pass the road test in one try tomorrow.

Training #21: The final practice run

Today, we did a practice run on all the tests we'll have down in Florida tomorrow. I've passed them all, even if not by that wide a margin. The pre-trip inspection wasn't too hard (I scored 96 out of 104), but one annoying thing is that I lost points for not checking something we were previously, explicitly told not to check. Specifically, in Charlotte, they said we did not have to check the torsion rods for Florida's pre trip, but it turns out we do and I lost four points for missing all four of them. Then, we did the road test... the shifting technique that the instructor down here taught me has helped immensely, and I'm hitting gears every time now. I'm not perfect, of course, but it's a vast improvement over where I was just two days ago.

The backing course, though, still is giving me grief. I kept messing up the 45° and the parallel, so I had to pull forward three or four times, and even then I still lost another point for missing the two-foot target in the back of the box. But... 14 points is passing. I know I'll score one (and only one) point on the straight-line section. I know that I'll score three or fewer points on the right turn; I even hit zero on a few tries. Thus, even if I take five points on both the 45° and the parallel, I'll pass. There's a slim chance that I'll need all five points for both, but knowing that I have them takes a little of the pressure off. That doesn't make it less frustrating when I have to pull forward for the third or fourth time, but at least I know that I can do that and pass.

My test is at 1:45PM tomorrow, so I'll be getting there around 11:30 so I have time to eat and practice before the test. I just hope that I don't freeze up once I get there; if I stay relaxed I'll pass.

Training #20: One step foward, one step back, one step forward

Today was an experience in frustration. I got out onto the yard and did everything for the first time today... and, after the first time, where I learned where to do everything, I started nailing it time after time. I hit four in a row before I went out onto the road... and promptly started to suck. I was missing gears, missing turns, and stalled the truck coming back into the yard. Thankfully, we took lunch, but when we came back, I was doing badly again. The maneuvers I'd nailed all morning I couldn't hit to save my life and had a very hard time correcting. I got slightly better after two or three passes, but I still kept making mistakes.

Finally, at the end of the afternoon, the other instructor took me out on the road and explained every single thing that I was doing wrong and showed me exactly how to fix it all. After he showed me a simpler way of keeping track of gears, I nailed every single shift I had to make for the rest of the trip. I went easily from second to eighth gear, one or two at a time, and back down just as smoothly. We took some tight turns, and though I came a little close, I made them. The shifting technique was very simple, too... when upshifting, start at 1300 on the low side (5th or lower) or 1600 on the high side (6th or higher), just as before. Let the RPMs drop 300 for one gear or 600 for two. The same as before, right? Well, he pointed out one more thing: add 200 RPM if going uphill (to 1500/1800) and subtract 200 RPM going downhill (1100/1400). Also, to simplify downshifting, don't try to bump-and-run by four or five gears at a time, but instead shift only two at a time by starting at 1000 for one downshift, 700 for two, and adding or subtracting for a hill. That does mean that, on a downhill, you're nearly stalling out at 500 RPM, but as long as you bump the RPMs back up it's not too hard. It's much easier, now that I had someone finally take the time to explain everything in detail.

In any case, tomorrow morning at 6AM, I'll be doing a pre-trip inspection and receiving a grade for it. As I mentioned previously, in Florida, there are 104 items to check and naming 83 is passing. However, to be confident in us, the instructors here expect us to get 95 or better. I'm pretty sure I can do that, but before I head to bed this evening, I'm going out to the truck and taking a run at it on my own. Then, once everyone's finished one pre-trip, we'll take a break for breakfast, then spend the rest of the day drilling on maneuvers and driving again and again until all of us can pass the Florida test. Tuesday morning, we'll head down to Marianna, FL to take the test; once I receive my license, I'm free to go where I want while waiting for my training engineer. This afternoon's driving did wonders for my confidence.

Training #19: Sweet (not-my) home Alabama

I didn't have nearly enough sleep last night, so today was a rather indistinct blur. I arrived in Evergreen, AL at 7:15 AM (central time), but they were waiting on me, since I wasn't the only one running behind. Turns out the other student they were waiting on isn't going to show up until tomorrow morning. I rather wish I could have gotten that deal, but it's too late to worry about that now. We first sat down for over an hour and discussed exactly what we're responsible for on the CDL test, how we'll be tested, and all those details. The instructor down here in Alabama also made everything make a lot more sense; despite being mentally exhausted, I feel like I have a slightly better idea of what to do. As the guy put it, backing the truck isn't a matter of getting it perfectly right the first time; it's a matter of knowing how to correctly and efficiently fix mistakes.

In any case, it turns out that the backing maneuvers we spent all week drilling up in Charlotte are now no longer on the Florida test.

Instead of having to do three out of six moves, there's a fixed obstacle course, consisting of a straight-line section (forward and back), a roughly forty-five degree back, a ninety degree right turn, and a blind-side parallel park ending in a jackknife. Of those, the forty-five, the turn, and the jackknife parallel are completely new; we didn't practice those moves before. The points system is also slightly more forgiving; unless I fail outright by not ending up in the target area, there's almost no chance of failing the test. Basically, you get 14 points. For all three backing maneuvers, there's a one-point penalty for hitting a cone (or line), a one-point penalty for pulling up, and a one-point penalty for not stopping in the two-foot target area within the box. For the right turn, there's a cone that denotes a curb; hitting the cone is a seven point penalty, but for every three feet you miss it by, it's one point (with a maximum penalty of five point for missing the cone by 15 feet or more). So, realistically, even if I take three points on every maneuver by tapping one cone, missing the target, and pulling forward once, I'll pass with two points to spare. But there's really no reason I should get more than one point for the straight line, since the only hard part is stopping in that two-foot target, thus giving me a total score of 10 or less.

While everyone else got a chance at it, I was far, far too tired to drive. When everyone else took a lunch break, the instructor told me to check into the room, take a nap, and come back down to the yard between 4 and 5. I took a shower, watched a few minutes of tennis, and happily took a three-hour nap. After the nap and after reading through the procedures again, it's all starting to make sense, but I'll still need to go through it a few times before I'm confident. Since I missed the whole day, practically speaking, I'll be out there practicing at 6AM tomorrow.

As for the rest of the test - the pre-trip and road portion - we'll be working on that tomorrow. I'll have to do an inspection tomorrow morning before I practice anything, then (hypothetically), I'll work on the road portion of the test tomorrow afternoon. For the pre-trip, there are 104 items on the test, and you must correctly name 83 of them to pass. Here, though, they're going to work with us until we can get at least 95. I'm pretty confident that I'll get 95 without too much trouble, and I always love driving out on the road, so the obstacle course is the only part of the test I'm still worried about failing. Since my test isn't until 1:45PM Tuesday, I still have tomorrow and Monday to get it ironed out, as well as one practice run on Tuesday during the lunch break. If I don't let myself become exhausted or dehydrated again, I should earn my license the first time.

Training #18: Leaving Charlotte

Morning: We went out onto the yard and practiced out pre-trip and backing maneuvers one last time here in Charlotte. I still don't have the slightest idea of how the alley dock is supposed to work, since once again I thought I did the same thing three times and once again had three different results, none of which were favorable. While I know how to correct my mistakes (sorta), I'd rather not continually screw up in so many different ways that I can't figure out what the problem is. At least I'm pretty sure I'll pass the pre-trip portion of the exam without a problem.

Afternoon: Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. First, though, everyone got a pair of company-issue boots. Then we met with a few people and got our driver number, fuel card, log book, and various other information. One thing I found out that I really didn't appreciate is that we're expected to be in Evergreen, AL on Saturday and not Monday as we've been told all week. Thus, my plans for the weekend have been completely up-ended. However, I also found out that I have my CDL test on Tuesday at 11:45AM. There's also a roughly one-week waiting period to get a training engineer, so I'll have an entire week free to do (more or less) as I want. I plan on spending some of that time hanging out with people I couldn't spend time with this weekend, due to the awkward scheduling, but I'm not sure what to do after that. I'm sure I'll figure something out.

Training #17: Alley Dock? Arrrgh!

Well, I finally figured out the offset parking today, but we were introduced to a new torment: the alley dock. For those who aren't familiar with the various maneuvers I have to do, here's the page right out of the Florida handbook (alley dock is last on the list). I can't even put into words how frustratingly difficult the alley dock is. You have to start out perfectly, do everything exactly right without any reference points, and end up perfectly straight in the "dock". Thankfully we should get more practice with this when we get to Evergreen, AL on Monday. Everyone had a hard time with it.

I also found out exactly how the backing (maneuvering) test is going to work. We randomly are assigned three of the six backing techniques: straight line, parallel park (either side), offset backing (either side), and the alley dock. Scoring 12 points in penalties is a failure. Points are assessed as follows:

• Getting out of the vehicle more than twice: 1 point (each exit)
• Pulling forward more than twice: 1 point (each pull-up)
• Hitting the boundary line with any part of the vehicle, including mirrors: 2 points*
• Parking on a boundary line: 10 points (automatic failure)

* During the alley dock, crossing the far boundary line with two or more tires is also an automatic failure.

Training #16: Heating Up

I'm really not sure where the last several hours went. We worked on blind (passenger) side parallel parking and offset backing today, but the heat and sun combined to make me feel really unwell. I'm feeling somewhat better now, after sitting down and getting food, but I'm getting worried that I'll fare even worse tomorrow, since it's forecast to be another four degrees hotter.

As for the actual driving, I didn't do so well, probably due to my physical incapacity. I tried to parallel park the wrong side. I couldn't even keep left and right straight from one another. I think I have the parallel parking figured out - I at least know where I went wrong - but the offset parking is still a mystery to me. Even after doing it a couple times (badly), I don't know how to do it properly or how to correct the various mistakes I made. I was hoping to get a second try in the truck, but we ran out of time. I really hope that, next time, I'm in better condition to learn.

I also heard today that we're supposed to be in Evergreen, AL Monday morning, not Wednesday. If all goes well, we might be getting tested for our CDLs next Wednesday. I still need to find out who is responsible for scheduling and planning those things so I can plan the weekend accordingly.

Training #15: Pre-trip and Parallel Park

Today was... remarkably short. I only did my pre-trip inspection once in the first four hours of the morning; the rest of the time was spent standing around and baking in the sun. My one attempt, I think I would have scored just enough points to pass the test, but I'm not horribly confident in myself just yet. Then, from 11AM to 2PM, we worked on parallel parking on the sight (driver's) side. It was surprisingly easy to do, if the truck was properly set up. If the set up is wrong, the parking job turns into a pain in the rear; if it's right, it's just a matter of watching the mirrors for a few reference points on the way back.

I also found out a little more about our schedule over the next week, though I'll want to confirm that with one of the academy staff before I bank on it. It seems that, after Thursday evening, we're released and free to do what we want. We then have to report to Evergreen, AL on Wednesday morning, giving us five full days off. In Evergreen, we (the Florida CDL students) will spent another two or three days drilling on the CDL test before driving down to Marianna, FL to actually take the exam. I'm pretty sure that, by then, I'll be able to do most of these maneuvers while half-asleep. Just a matter of continuing to practice and continually getting better.