Training #14: Graduation Day

The final was about as easy as I expected. I missed one question, due to not reading everything carefully, but 98% is still passing, and passing was all I cared about. We had a few other presentations, most of which simply reinforced information we already had. The only really new information is that, with the raise everyone's getting effective September 30, our six-month raise, and our one-year raise, we'll be gaining eleven cents a mile over the next year. So I'll start at 27¢, then 31¢ after the first raise, then 35¢ at six months, and apparently to 38¢ after that. Those raises, on their own, work out to an extra $13,750 a year. Or, working a year at 38 cents a mile, I'll be looking to make $47,500 in the year starting early September 2008. Those are some very, very nice numbers.

After that, we were asked about teams again. I kept saying that I might have a team partner, somewhere down the line, since I know of you have expressed interest in driving with me for a while. There are some perks to it, the biggest of which is a 5¢/mi "team premium". In other words, the new starting rate of 31¢/mi would become 36¢. After a year, 38¢ would become 43¢. Nice numbers, huh? Teams also get sent on much longer trips, since teams can make those deliveries faster, so each driver averages 3,000 miles a week instead of 2,500.Combined, that's an additional $17,000 a year per driver, once you factor in the bonus and extra miles. Or, to put it another way, a driver with a year of experience can expect $64,500.

Also, once I've been with the company six months, I'm allowed to bring someone into the truck under the company's ride-along program. I can have up to six different people per year, but I can have those six along for as long as I want, as many different times as I want. That is, I could have someone for a week in April, then another week in July, and it still counts as one person out of my six. Just something to keep in mind for later.

We have the weekend free. CDL week starts Monday at 7AM and will focus on the various things I need to know to earn my Florida CDL. Having gotten over a few big hurdles already, I'm confident that I can make the next step just as successfully as I've made this one.

Training #13: Outer Loop

Morning: We covered the various odds and ends that didn't really fit in with anything else. We discussed our benefits (which are awesome), railroad crossings, fatigue, theft prevention, rail operations, time management, money management, and a few other things that I'd have to look at my notes to recall. They were all short presentations; the longest was just over a half hour. We were released early for an extended lunch break, too, since everything was done by 10:45.

Afternoon: Today was my last day on the road as a trainee. I finally saw my grade sheet, which showed me as passing the course, and received the various paperwork I need to have on hand to hand to my training engineer once I get out on the road. We took a spin around I-485, on which I did 63 miles an hour for much of the way, while going through moderate traffic. That was quite fun; I really think I'm going to love being out on the open road like that. We finished early (a little after 3), after I did 68 miles in an hour and a half. Turns out I as being tested yesterday and the instructor didn't tell me, but I passed the test anyway. I've officially completed the road portion of the course.

Tomorrow is the final written exam, which consists of 50 questions. We'll also be given various presentations by various people, including our boss, so we have some idea of who to talk to if problems come up. We should be done between 2 and 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon; we're free to go for the weekend after that. CDL week starts Monday at 7AM.

Training #12: On the Road Again

The morning session consisted of one lesson: the Qualcomm satellite system inside all the trucks. While I understood it from the book, the classroom session still took four hours for everyone else to catch up. I was struggling to stay awake after the first hour because everything was moving so slowly. Even so, getting out of the class at 11AM was a nice change... the not-so-nice thing is that my road instructor was being a dick today. He had a meeting at noon, got out at 12:30, took half an hour for lunch, then another half hour just sitting next to me in the truck reading something. So it was 1:30 before we got out driving. While out driving, the instructor spent about a third of his time on the cell phone and continually bitched about not wanting to come into work on Monday. Within half an hour I didn't want to be there. We only spent three hours out on the road, and due to some rather nasty weather I only did 95 miles, but at least I resisted the urge to snap back at the bitchy instructor. I really hope he doesn't keep that attitude up tomorrow.

As an aside, apparently the final for road driving is tomorrow, not today. I really don't know what, if anything, he's going to do for it; he really doesn't seem to give a damn lately. Our written final exam is Friday morning, and after that, we're free to go wherever we want for the weekend. I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet, but I really hope to do something at least.

Training #11: Just Ask for Directions!

Morning: Labs and sims. Today's sim involved responding to situations when you get lost, or you can't take your original route. It was a lot of common sense stuff: don't take a road if you're not sure you can safely and legally take it. Ask for directions, either by asking a police officer, another truck driver, or any local who at least has the sense to only put you on routes other trucks normally take. The key point was not to do anything stupid, and I'm generally prone to being overly cautious on the road.

Afternoon: Driving, another 101 miles. I did very well today, though there were one or two scary moments, such as a construction site where the road came down to a single lane and the time I missed shifting into tenth gear at 55 miles an hour. Missing gears is frustrating under the best of circumstances and outright scary at highway speed. Everything else was very good; I'm even getting the clutch and shifting smoothly in most cases. Tomorrow is the last day of driving we have, effectively our final exam, so I really have to nail it tomorrow afternoon. I'm confident I can pass the test.

Training #10: Leaps and Bounds

Only half a day of training today, but I drove all afternoon. I did well overall; about the only things I have left to get down are shifting (I'm releasing the clutch too fast), turning (which we haven't done a whole lot of, amazingly enough), and backing (which we'll work on later this week). We went clear out to South Carolina before coming back into and around Charlotte, dealing with rush hour traffic as we went back to the yard. I'm feeling rather confident behind the wheel now; I have a good feeling about taking my test.

Cars feel smaller than ever...

I just hopped in my car to drive down to the store for a few things and it felt incredibly awkward, like driving a little toy. I had to put my seat way back and actually tried to shift the automatic transmission like the stick in the truck. I felt uncomfortable in the car, almost like I did my first time in the truck. The only difference is that, this time, I felt uncomfortable being in something as small as my car, instead of something as big as the truck. I'm looking forward to getting back into the truck to drive tomorrow after that quick trip this evening; I've become so comfortable in the truck that it's uncomfortable driving anything smaller. The only catch is that, tomorrow, I'll be driving downtown, so I'll have to keep my eyes wide open.

Training #9: Tools for the road

All we did today was classroom work. For the first time in a week, we didn't do a single mile of driving. The morning session consisted of hazmat discussion, and a full three hour lecture on it. While I was rather unsure of the stuff before, it's apparently not as complicated as I thought, and I'm pretty sure I'll pass the state test to get my endorsement when I get my CDL.

The afternoon session covered trip planning and all of its related details. It's not that complicated; the hardest part is going to be planning exactly where to stop for fuel and breaks without violating the 11-hour rule, stopping in the middle of nowhere, or stopping too early to keep a delivery appointment. We were released early today as well, which was nice; I'll be using the extra time to finish my homework early and get an early dinner at McDonald's. I've had enough of the cafeteria food. :)

Training #8: Back and Forth

I went out to the labs first today, which was a somewhat pleasant change, since we got that done before the temperature reached 100 degrees. We worked on the pre-trip inspection, which helped somewhat with that; I learned a few more things about it, and after seeing everything a few more times I feel like I have a pretty good chance of passing the test. We also did our backing maneuvers... straight line backing is easy as it gets, but slow maneuvering between trucks made me rather nervous, and 45-degree backing still needs some work. I hope we'll get another few tries at that before the final exam on Thursday or Friday.

Then, back in the classroom, we spent nearly the entire afternoon just discussing map reading. Not trip planning - that's tomorrow - map reading. I've done cross-country trips before with nothing but a road atlas, so it was quite easy to go through it all. I helped a couple of the students around me, but for the most part I just worked ahead a bit. We then spent a half-hour or so discussing permits for the truck, what they are, and what our responsibilities are with them. Much of that will be covered in more detail tomorrow, when we discuss hazmat, but we at least touched on the basics today. I have just one short route to do in the map book, a short reading assignment, and a bit of extra time this evening. :)

Training #7: Halfway Home

So today ends my first week as a student at the academy here. I can't believe how quickly everything is moving around here! Toady went remarkably well from beginning to end... well, okay, not the whole day, but enough of it to make me quite happy. As usual, it stated at 7AM, again with the driving. We practiced a few of the slow maneuvers I'll need: straight backing and 45 degree backing. Straight movement is just about idiot proof and I had it down the very first time. The 45 degree stuff... well, the first one the instructor did to show me the technique, I did two successfully, and then I did two more that were horrible. I don't know what went wrong on the last two, but on one of them I was getting bad directions from the instructor and ran over a cone by doing what I was told. :p

Once out of the yard and onto the road, though, things went good. I did a lot better with my turning, though after getting only six hours of sleep I was a little too tired to get the gears just right. I kept forgetting to toggle the gear switch down, so instead of being in 1st-5th gear, I was trying to go in 6th-10th. A truck will not drive uphill from a dead stop in 7th gear. I promise you, I tried this at least twice today and it failed consistently. That aside, though, I think I did wonderfully. At the end of the morning, the instructor told me that I was right on track, which was a huge confidence boost as well.

Then, at lunch, we had a couple meetings. The first was to discuss our collective progress as students in the first week of truck driving school. We received our maps, a book on trip planning, and a few words of encouragement. He also tried to talk us into joining up for team driving, pointing out the various benefits, the biggest of which is a 5¢/mi bonus for as long as you're on a team, with an additional 2¢/mi if each driver does at least 30,000 miles a quarter for a total of 60,000 every three months. So, if down the line, anyone wants to join me on a team then just let me know and I'll give you as much information as I can.

The one thing that struck me as rather odd, though, is that the manager came out to talk to us and said that, on a 1 to 10 scale, with ten being a perfect truck driver, we need to be about a three by the end of next week. Yes, a three out of ten. In short, if you can keep control of the truck and safely maneuver it, you're good. I'm still a bit fuzzy on the slow-speed things, but we're going to spend half the day tomorrow working on that, so I should get a feel for it then.

Our afternoon sims and labs session was refreshingly easy as well. The lab involved a few things, mostly discussing loading and unloading the trailer as needed. To be specific, we went over how to lift things, how to work with pallets, and how to use a king pin lock. Nothing complicated. Today's simulations focused on skid control and steer tire blowouts, which I feel pretty confident about being able to handle. With skids, it's just a matter of pushing in the clutch and steering while leaving the brake and accelerator alone. As for blowouts, just slow down very gradually by easing up on the accelerator and pull off the road; let off the accelerator too quickly and the weight will come forward too fast. Like the instructors said, I hope I never have to use that information, but at least I know what to do in those situations now, if they ever arise.

So now there's just one week more of training, then a week of CDL test practice before my hire date. The further I go through this school, the more I'm looking forward to driving.

Training #6: Do who with the what now?

This morning's driving session went rather well. We even managed to get around an accident by driving through a Wal-Mart parking lot, though it took the combined efforts of me, my instructor, and the trainer-in-training that were in the truck. I feel pretty confident driving around town now; I'm not perfect and not overconfident, but I'm no longer afraid to get behind the wheel. I even parked the truck and trailer in the yard without a problem, though it took two or three tries to get everything lined up just right.

After lunch, it was back for more sims and labs work. This time I went outside to the labs first for a discussion of carrying containers, like the ones off of ships or trains. Those things look really unstable, since there's a fairly small frame holding up the container, which alone weighs 3000 pounds more than the normal trailer.  In the time I had left before getting in the simulator, a couple other students helped me through the pre-trip checks; the only thing left that I'm having any real trouble with are the components within the engine, but given two or three more runs through it, I should have it down as well.

That leaves the sims, which were last, and simply infuriating. The first sim involved driving through a warehouse with nearly no clearance on either side. We're talking about having about 10 feet of clearance to drive the nine-foot-wide truck and trailer on through. I wouldn't have felt comfortable driving my car through there due to the tight quarters, and I had three collisions while going through, one of them because the instructor told me to go the wrong way around an obstacle.

The second simulation involved inner-city driving, complete with right-angle corners and accidents. The were so tight that I couldn't get around them even taking up the entire road (yes, even clinging to the left curb), while the accidents were simply impossible to navigate even by car, much less by truck. On a two-lane road, with a fire truck on one side and an ambulance on the other, you're not getting a truck through there. Period. Having an instructor shouting at me wasn't helping either. He kept saying he could drive through there without hitting anything; I just about had the nerve to stand up there and tell him to do it or actually be helpful instead of just yelling at me. I'm still quite angry about it and I just walked out after one more collision; if I ever get stuck in a situation like that, I'm finding another route. :p

Training #5: Great Expectations

At 7 this morning, I met with my trainer again. We spent about half an hour discussing a few things about my performance yesterday, a half hour going over a few of the pre-trip checks, and another half hour going over coupling with a trailer. Yes, today, I had a trailer to worry about. Oddly enough, though, I found it easier to drive both the tractor and trailer together than just driving the tractor alone.

Sure, I made a few mistakes, but I think I did much, much better today than yesterday. I only missed gears a couple times. I did a better job keeping the truck in the center of the lane. The only areas I had any trouble were actually getting the truck started from a stop and managing traffic lights, but those are somewhat minor points that I will improve upon with experience.

I got thrown a curve ball when we got back to the yard, though: I had to back the trailer up into a parking space. I had no warning about it, beyond getting told to put it in reverse and back in to the spot we had earlier. I pretty much panicked and choked; it took nearly ten minutes to do something that should have taken about one minute. I'm not looking forward to doing that again tomorrow, but at least now I have some idea of what I'm doing.

Then, for our afternoon, we had another day of sims and labs. The simulation today was for driving on mountains, then for driving in snowy mountains. The dry mountain was easy, but the snowy mountain with traffic sliding around was rather challenging. I ran out of air pressure (and thus ran out of brakes) in one scenario. In another, I got stuck behind a traffic accident and had to get the trainer to clear the road. I think I did okay, for having never dealt with such conditions before, but there's definitely a lot of room for improvement.

After the sim, we went out and went over the pre-trip inspection. The hardest part, at least for me, will be remembering all the things under the hood that need to be checked. The other items are spread out far enough that I can at least place them by location, but under the hood, everything is so closely packed together that I'm going to have to remember everything, remember what exactly to check, and what everything is named. I'm not at all mechanically inclined, so I haven't even looked under the hood before and most of this is completely knew to me. I have a feeling that, after doing it tomorrow morning before my next trip out, I'll be a lot more comfortable with the information. It will then just be a matter of remembering everything after I get out on the road.

If I keep improving this much every day, I'll have nothing to worry about. :)

Training #4: Oh shi-

Today, we spent the entire day driving. Well, I should say, attempting to drive, because I don't think what I did could be called as "driving" by even the most generous definition of the word. For those don't know, these trucks have a ten-speed manual transmission that requires a more complex shifting pattern. Also, the trucks are several feet wider, so there's very little room to move around within your lane before you slide over a line. I, in short, managed to fail miserably at both of these things.

Seeing as I've driven a stick shift exactly once before, I had no idea what to expect when I got into the truck. Sure, I had a general idea from the simulator yesterday, but the clutch pedal in the truck is a lot harder to press down, quite a bit less forgiving, and there are a lot more things to pay attention to. Like, say, trying not to drift even six inches to one side or the other. This becomes an even bigger problem in traffic, since you just don't have any room to work with. By the end of the day, my nerves were completely shot; I was trying not to cry as I finished parking. I still want to curl up into a ball after all that happened today.

Tomorrow morning, I get to be up there and will spend four hours, one on one, in the truck. If I can't get my nerves and mind under control enough to at least keep the truck under control, I'm going to be in serious trouble. Worse, tomorrow, we'll be carrying a trailer, so I have an extra 53 feet in length and about six more inches in width to watch for. Yes, I know that I'd be carrying that around all the time anyway, but I'm still struggling with the most basic parts of controlling this thing; I don't need any more problems added to what I already have.

On a somewhat brighter note, as some of you know, I was having trouble with my roommate at the hotel. I filed a complaint and got changed to another room, with another roommate. This guy at least seems willing to be civil; he's not turning the TV up excessively loud and wants to go to bed just as early as I do. Hopefully I'll be better off after getting a full eight or nine hours of rest. I need something to go right tomorrow, because today was disastrously bad. The trainer tried to convince me that I was doing fine, but I really don't feel at all comfortable with the thought of getting into that truck again at 7AM tomorrow.

Training #3: Inside and Out

For the first time today, we actually got some time with a truck. Not driving it - that starts tomorrow - but we started actually looking at the vehicles themselves and will spend most (if not all) of the next three days with them.

However, the first thing we did this morning was a "check for learning" (test) on logging. Then we finished discussing how to drive safely in various situations, and very briefly touched on the things we'll be learning in the trucks over the next few days. After lunch, we then went up to do the actual labs and a simulator for shifting.

I ended up in the simulator first, which was rather fun. These trucks have enough power that you don't even need to hit the gas to get them started from second gear... as long as you remember to turn the brakes off first and end up in second, not fourth or seventh. Yes, I managed to screw up by doing both of those. But once I got the (simulated) truck going, I actually had a fairly easy time of it. The hardest part was downshifting through several gears without missing the gear or stalling out while dropping speed; you can't just push the clutch in and wait or you're considered out of control. I'm pretty sure I'll get it down soon. The instructor even said that our goal is to be proficient, not perfect; the day we'll be perfect, never missing or grinding gears, is the day after we retire. The sad thing is that, despite spending just under an hour in there, my right (shifting) arm is extremely tired, especially around the shoulder. I really hope I build up some strength in those muscles and joints. Most of the exercise I get works my lower body; I rarely do something for that area.

Then, we went outside to do a little look at the engine and the basic checks we have to do before every trip, as well as how to couple and uncouple the trailers. Unsurprisingly, most of it went completely over my head. I'm going to be clinging to my checklist for quite some time; I have a bad memory, and I've never even seen most of the hardware I'm responsible for checking. I've never even looked at my own brakes, for example. There are also a little of little things to remember when doing the pre-trip checks, such as remembering all the short checks for your brakes.

While I'm hopeful that it all will sink in after doing it a few times myself, I'm rather overwhelmed by all the information thrown at us today. It's not often that I say that, either; usually I'm fairly quick to pick up on things. If, after doing it again tomorrow, it doesn't make a lot more sense, I'm going to be in trouble; we have to have all this stuff down completely by Friday. I normally retain something a lot better after doing it myself, though, which is why I'm at least hopeful I can get it before it's too late. I'll read over my notes and such right before bed then sleep on it; maybe in the morning it'll click.

Training #2: Logs & Basics

Today, we finally started to focus on actual trucking-related skills, instead of merely doing paperwork. In the morning, we discussed logging requirements. Basically, those requirements boil down to having to document every minute of every day, including writing down where you are, for as long as you work for a driving company. Even when I go home, I have to mark down "off duty" in Pensacola, FL, or wherever I am when I go off duty. Also, it's 70 hours out of every eight days, which means I can work an average of up to 8.75 hours a day. I don't think that's so bad, really, especially considering the kind of money I can make doing this.

As for other information, we briefly touched on what to do before starting the truck, how to shift, and various defensive driving techniques necessary while in a truck. It seems deceptively easy so far, but tomorrow we start driving in a simulator, and from there I'll see just how well (or badly) this is going to go. I'm confident that I can do it, though; the instructor said that the thing is just a matter of timing and I usually have fairly good timing. I can't wait to attempt "driving" tomorrow afternoon now.

Training #1: Waiting Game

At 6:00 this morning, I went out and found that the shuttle (read: decommissioned school bus) for the course was already there. Turns out that bus was early, so I just had enough time to grab a muffin before the bus left. Today was mostly the pre-training stuff: filling out paperwork, watching a few instructional videos, and completing a pre-work physical assessment. The physical assessment had me slightly worried - my heart rate often goes way up during exercise - but I completed it without any problems at all.

I'll be making a point to get up earlier tomorrow, though, so I have time to eat before training. Being up at 6AM and still not having time to eat is not fun.

The reading assignment for the night involved the rules for logging and the rules regarding the number of hours I can drive/work at a time. There are three rules: 11-hour, 14-hour, and 70-hour.

• 11-hour rule: After a ten-hour break, I cannot drive no more than 11 hours without taking another 10 hours off. This rule covers driving only
• 14-hour rule: After a ten-hour break, I cannot work more than 14 hours without another 10-hour break. In this context, work includes non-driving tasks, such as vehicle inspection, washing, loading or unloading, or getting gas.
• 70-hour rule: In any seven-day period, I cannot work more than 70 hours. As I understand the rules, driving and non-driving tasks both count against that limit; any time I'm on duty for the company the 70-hour clock is running. Any time I get 34 hours off (the mandatory 10, plus an additional 24), I start over at 70. Also, it's clocked midnight-to-midnight, so if I have just enough time to make it to midnight I can keep driving without a forced stop.

We'll find out more about the specifics on that tomorrow. I'm definitely going to find the schedule awkward, but I'm sure I can adjust. Of course, there's still seventeen days of training left, so there's a lot left to do.

Training Day -1: Arrival in Charlotte

I have to be up and in the lobby by 6:15AM tomorrow, so I need to keep this short and sweet so I can get some rest. The drive up here was rather unremarkable. There was a thunderstorm about 30 miles from Atlanta that made driving rather un-fun for about 20 minutes, and the cops were out in full force for the entirety of my trip, but nothing terribly special to report. I'm rather nervous about starting this thing in the morning. I just hope it all works out...

Training Day -2: Last Night in Pensacola

After I wake up in the morning, I get to head to Charlotte, North Carolina, to start training to be a commercial truck driver. It's roughly a 500 mile, nine hour drive, but that's what I'll be doing nearly every day once I start the job full time. The schedule will go something kinda like this...

• Weeks 1-3: Training in Charlotte. Only $200 in week 3 for living assistance, but room and board is paid for by the company
• Weekend off... the following Monday I take my CDL test and get my class A license.
• Weeks 4-6: On the road with a trainer. $350/week. If I don't need a full three weeks with a trainer's assistance, I'll be allowed to drive solo sooner.
• Weeks 7+: Driving solo, Guaranteed at least $500/week, though mileage pay of 27¢/mi 30¢/mi would be nearly $700 $750 if I drove 2,500 miles in a week. I should be home every other weekend, wherever that home might be.
• Week 12: After 90 days, I'm eligible for insurance benefits. :)
• Week 26: Raise to 31¢/mi 34¢/mi, with a $600/week guarantee.

And so on from there. I'll add more details as I get them. For those wondering, no, none of that is confidential information; it's all on the company website. Anyway, as it's nearly 2AM, I really should get to sleep; I have a long day of driving ahead of me.

Edit (2:18AM): I just checked the website again, and it turns out they just gave everyone a raise. The new numbers are above. :)