Truck Driver Training Installment: Phase 1.0
Monday was the first full day of training. We had a 7 am check-in and got things moving along pretty quickly. We had a good bit of classroom time in when another trainer popped in and asked for one of the Independent Contractor, or IC, students for a road test. Our classroom instructor took that as a sign that he too should pick a student and head out for a road test as well.
Guess who was first to go?
Yep. Yours truly. I got a little bit nervous, primarily because it had been so long since I'd been in a rig, shifted a manual transmission, and driven any kind of combination vehicle. Seriously, I'd not done any of this since I left the company back in Sept. 2010. So I gave the instructor fair warning that I was more than likely a little rusty.
When we got out to the bobtail truck I did at least remember how to open the door and climb in correctly. I got in the seat and couldn't find the seat adjustment bar to slide the seat forward. Then I couldn't find where the damn key went in. After I got my seat adjusted and the truck started, I remembered where the clutch and gear shifter were and managed to slide the truck into second gear without incident.
But... when it was time to release the brakes and actually move I froze. I was so afraid of stalling the truck and embarrassing myself that I just couldn't do ANYTHING. The instructor sat, staring at me from the passenger seat, patiently. He didn't say anything. I just felt him staring at me. I slowly let off the clutch until I started to feel the pull of the engine. I slowly let off the brake and started moving. Easy... yeah. I was doing good.
Then he instructed me to do a u-turn and go back towards the rear of the yard where the trailer lot was. I was hoping I could get away with just putting back there at idle speed, but he asked me to "grab a gear or 4 and get moving already". So I tried to float shift into 3rd only to find the transmission resistant to my attempts. Luckily in my temporary frustration I didn't dump the clutch or stall the truck. I just realized that since the truck was cold and hadn't been run for at least 24 hours that things needed a chance to warm up.
So I pumped the clutch twice as I shifted out of second into third and kept repeating until I was in fifth gear and rolling on towards the trailer area. Once we arrived at where the training trailers were parked he gave me a few instructions and then "coached" me as I coupled to a trailer. I was better at doing that on the first try, even rusty, than I had been at shifting. I set up perfectly in line with the trailer, coupled with ease and was on my way before I knew it. He had me drive around the lot on the way to the front gate, giving me time to get a feel for having the weight of a trailer behind me. Once I was okay with it and he was okay with it... we headed out for the open road.
The road test was somewhere between 5-10 miles and put me through a few typical and a few a-typical driving ability scenarios. I managed to do each maneuver successfully never taking out a curb, a sign or any small children. I call that a successful trip!
Once he'd determined I could still handle a 65' rig, follow directions, and not kill anyone in the process, we headed back to the terminal to go through a couple of backing maneuvers and then the uncoupling process. I have to admit I was most concerned about my ability to back a trailer into a "hole". But I was able to do it with only the need for one pull up and felt very proud of my retention of the ability to get the job done.
The rest of the day was spent having lunch, waiting for other students to complete their road tests and doing Computer Based Training, or CBT's. I swear it felt like we sat there doing the CBT's for 11 hours, but it was really only like four and a half. And of course, we didn't finish them all and will have to complete them either tomorrow or Thursday. (yay, not)
All in all it was a pretty productive and lesson filled day. The things we went over were important even for the most seasoned of drivers, but are especially important for rookies like me. I don't think you can ever have the same information, particularly life saving safety information, fed to you too many times. There is just always a need to refresh yourself with those types of things to make sure you're on top of things and don't fall into a place of complacency.
We ended up being at the terminal past 5 o'clock. When we were released I headed down the street to the local drug store to pick up a few supplies I had neglected to bring with me. I found it insanely hilarious that while en route to said drug store I was stuck in traffic near an intersection, where I watched the light change from green to yellow to red 3 times. I was starting to get a slight bit irritated when I finally saw the reason for the delay.
City bus... Go figure.
I laughed as I finally made my way through the light before it turned red for the fourth time and shook my head at the hilarity of it.
After my trip to the drug store I headed back to my hotel room to dump off all of my crap. Each day, so far, we have been given new books and materials which are adding up to quite a nice armful of things to carry around with us.
As I sat in my room relaxing I was anxiously watching the tracking of a couple of friends of mine on an iPhone App I have. My friends were headed towards Indy and were going to be stopping by the company terminal (as they work for this same company) for a fuel stop and dinner break. They were in route to the south east but had a couple of hours to spare.
When I saw that they were about 15 miles away I threw my coat on and drove back over to the company terminal where I awaited their arrival. My phone whistled at me, as it does when I receive a text message, and when I checked it I had a message from them saying they were out at the fuel islands filling up. I rushed right out.
I was super stoked to have finally met Jenn and her husband Scott, in real life. I have been talking to Jenn online for a few years now. She and I "virtually" met online, I believe initially through this very blog, somewhere back a few years ago. I'm too lazy to dig through my posts and comments and such for a more accurate timeline but you get the idea.
After a while we added one another as "friends" on Facebook and have conversed pretty regularly since. Except for that 8 month period I was on FB haitus, but I think even then we had a few text exchanges between us.
She proclaims that I am the reason she finally gave in and decided to become a "muther trucker" herself. Her husband, she says, was a reader of my blog and already a truck driver himself. And he encouraged her to read my blog.
She has told me on several occasions that she considers me as her "mentor", which is both incredibly flattering and slightly insane. I find the fact that my experiences and tales of being an OTR truck driver can be inspiring to anyone to be ultimately rewarding. I never dreamed my blog would influence anyone. I just wanted to write about my experiences, more for my own posterity than anything. And now, to know that someone I didn't know from Adam took what I've typed, my stories and anecdotes, and found in them the inspiration and motivation to reach out for their dream, to take a risk, to try something new... whatever you want to call it... to feel that and know that is seriously humbling.
I'm super stoked to have finally gotten to meet Jenn and Scott. It was, for me, an awesome experience. It felt like we were two old besties being reunited after a million years apart. When I found them on the fuel islands outside last night, the moment after recognition was followed by a friendly trucker hug and smiles all around. It was awesome. And I'd share that with you in pictures, but not a one of us ever thought to capture the moment. Go figure.
After the initial meeting outside the party moved inside the terminal where we sat exchanging stories over a hot meal. We had, what I think, was a very good visit. I hope that somewhere, some day our paths get to cross again so we can have more face time and get to know each other on a plane other than the virtual one we have lived on until last night.
Thanks for stopping by here guys!!!
I swear it must've been kismet! Here they were going to southwest Texas... but got turned around instead and headed up this way. They weren't happy about having lost the miles on the Texas load but if they had taken it all the way, more than likely they wouldn't have ended up in the Indianapolis area while I was still here for training.
So there you have it. Phase 1.0 (+) from start to finish.
Guess who was first to go?
Yep. Yours truly. I got a little bit nervous, primarily because it had been so long since I'd been in a rig, shifted a manual transmission, and driven any kind of combination vehicle. Seriously, I'd not done any of this since I left the company back in Sept. 2010. So I gave the instructor fair warning that I was more than likely a little rusty.
When we got out to the bobtail truck I did at least remember how to open the door and climb in correctly. I got in the seat and couldn't find the seat adjustment bar to slide the seat forward. Then I couldn't find where the damn key went in. After I got my seat adjusted and the truck started, I remembered where the clutch and gear shifter were and managed to slide the truck into second gear without incident.
But... when it was time to release the brakes and actually move I froze. I was so afraid of stalling the truck and embarrassing myself that I just couldn't do ANYTHING. The instructor sat, staring at me from the passenger seat, patiently. He didn't say anything. I just felt him staring at me. I slowly let off the clutch until I started to feel the pull of the engine. I slowly let off the brake and started moving. Easy... yeah. I was doing good.
Then he instructed me to do a u-turn and go back towards the rear of the yard where the trailer lot was. I was hoping I could get away with just putting back there at idle speed, but he asked me to "grab a gear or 4 and get moving already". So I tried to float shift into 3rd only to find the transmission resistant to my attempts. Luckily in my temporary frustration I didn't dump the clutch or stall the truck. I just realized that since the truck was cold and hadn't been run for at least 24 hours that things needed a chance to warm up.
So I pumped the clutch twice as I shifted out of second into third and kept repeating until I was in fifth gear and rolling on towards the trailer area. Once we arrived at where the training trailers were parked he gave me a few instructions and then "coached" me as I coupled to a trailer. I was better at doing that on the first try, even rusty, than I had been at shifting. I set up perfectly in line with the trailer, coupled with ease and was on my way before I knew it. He had me drive around the lot on the way to the front gate, giving me time to get a feel for having the weight of a trailer behind me. Once I was okay with it and he was okay with it... we headed out for the open road.
The road test was somewhere between 5-10 miles and put me through a few typical and a few a-typical driving ability scenarios. I managed to do each maneuver successfully never taking out a curb, a sign or any small children. I call that a successful trip!
Once he'd determined I could still handle a 65' rig, follow directions, and not kill anyone in the process, we headed back to the terminal to go through a couple of backing maneuvers and then the uncoupling process. I have to admit I was most concerned about my ability to back a trailer into a "hole". But I was able to do it with only the need for one pull up and felt very proud of my retention of the ability to get the job done.
The rest of the day was spent having lunch, waiting for other students to complete their road tests and doing Computer Based Training, or CBT's. I swear it felt like we sat there doing the CBT's for 11 hours, but it was really only like four and a half. And of course, we didn't finish them all and will have to complete them either tomorrow or Thursday. (yay, not)
All in all it was a pretty productive and lesson filled day. The things we went over were important even for the most seasoned of drivers, but are especially important for rookies like me. I don't think you can ever have the same information, particularly life saving safety information, fed to you too many times. There is just always a need to refresh yourself with those types of things to make sure you're on top of things and don't fall into a place of complacency.
We ended up being at the terminal past 5 o'clock. When we were released I headed down the street to the local drug store to pick up a few supplies I had neglected to bring with me. I found it insanely hilarious that while en route to said drug store I was stuck in traffic near an intersection, where I watched the light change from green to yellow to red 3 times. I was starting to get a slight bit irritated when I finally saw the reason for the delay.
City bus... Go figure.
I laughed as I finally made my way through the light before it turned red for the fourth time and shook my head at the hilarity of it.
After my trip to the drug store I headed back to my hotel room to dump off all of my crap. Each day, so far, we have been given new books and materials which are adding up to quite a nice armful of things to carry around with us.
As I sat in my room relaxing I was anxiously watching the tracking of a couple of friends of mine on an iPhone App I have. My friends were headed towards Indy and were going to be stopping by the company terminal (as they work for this same company) for a fuel stop and dinner break. They were in route to the south east but had a couple of hours to spare.
When I saw that they were about 15 miles away I threw my coat on and drove back over to the company terminal where I awaited their arrival. My phone whistled at me, as it does when I receive a text message, and when I checked it I had a message from them saying they were out at the fuel islands filling up. I rushed right out.
I was super stoked to have finally met Jenn and her husband Scott, in real life. I have been talking to Jenn online for a few years now. She and I "virtually" met online, I believe initially through this very blog, somewhere back a few years ago. I'm too lazy to dig through my posts and comments and such for a more accurate timeline but you get the idea.
After a while we added one another as "friends" on Facebook and have conversed pretty regularly since. Except for that 8 month period I was on FB haitus, but I think even then we had a few text exchanges between us.
She proclaims that I am the reason she finally gave in and decided to become a "muther trucker" herself. Her husband, she says, was a reader of my blog and already a truck driver himself. And he encouraged her to read my blog.
She has told me on several occasions that she considers me as her "mentor", which is both incredibly flattering and slightly insane. I find the fact that my experiences and tales of being an OTR truck driver can be inspiring to anyone to be ultimately rewarding. I never dreamed my blog would influence anyone. I just wanted to write about my experiences, more for my own posterity than anything. And now, to know that someone I didn't know from Adam took what I've typed, my stories and anecdotes, and found in them the inspiration and motivation to reach out for their dream, to take a risk, to try something new... whatever you want to call it... to feel that and know that is seriously humbling.
I'm super stoked to have finally gotten to meet Jenn and Scott. It was, for me, an awesome experience. It felt like we were two old besties being reunited after a million years apart. When I found them on the fuel islands outside last night, the moment after recognition was followed by a friendly trucker hug and smiles all around. It was awesome. And I'd share that with you in pictures, but not a one of us ever thought to capture the moment. Go figure.
After the initial meeting outside the party moved inside the terminal where we sat exchanging stories over a hot meal. We had, what I think, was a very good visit. I hope that somewhere, some day our paths get to cross again so we can have more face time and get to know each other on a plane other than the virtual one we have lived on until last night.
Thanks for stopping by here guys!!!
I swear it must've been kismet! Here they were going to southwest Texas... but got turned around instead and headed up this way. They weren't happy about having lost the miles on the Texas load but if they had taken it all the way, more than likely they wouldn't have ended up in the Indianapolis area while I was still here for training.
So there you have it. Phase 1.0 (+) from start to finish.
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