9/9/2006 - Saturday - Backing Practice ALL Day!

That's right. We spent all day backing. From 7:00 am till 9:00 pm. We practiced straight line backing and parallel parking. I'm beat. I hit both manuvers within standards. That means I wasn't anywhere near perfect, but I adaquatly performed the manuvers.

This is a short entry because I'm so tired. I want to be rested for tomorrow so I'm off to bed now. I will take my camera to the range to tomorrow to get some pictures of what is going on.

9/8/2006 - Friday - It's a long day!

It's been a long day. Wow. We learned alot and did so much.

The day started promptly at 7:00 am. It's Driver Log day! We spent the morning learning how to keep a proper and legal driver logbook. It was a dry subject but the instructor was good at keeping things light and everyone interested. I had a RedBull so I was awake at least till 9:00 am.

At this time the financial people came in and everyone signs their loan papers. Quick and easy.

More logbook work and discussion. A quick lunch and now we are back in the classroom at 12:30 pm watching a PowerPoint presention on backing.

Backing. Hmmm. I hav backed tractor-trailers in the Army, but these are a little bigger and I'm going to have to wait and see how it goes.

We went outside to the backing range and our instructor demonstrated the four manuvers that we will have to perform for the CDL test. Straight back, a paralel manuver, and a alley backing manuver. We were sent to dinner at 4:00 pm and used the time catch a quick catnap because we were back on the backing range at 6:00 pm.

We spend the evening practinging our pre-trip inspections. This lasts till 10:00 pm. I have some pictures below of this evening exercise.


This is a pic of some of our trucks lined up getting inspected.


Getting dirty and doing the inspection!

Just a picture of one of our training trucks.

I'm going to bed now. Sooooo tired. I have to get up in about 5 hours, it's off to bed for me!

9/7/2006 - Thursday - Test Day!!!!

Today was test day. We have only been here in school for 3 days and we were off to the Utah DMV to take our tests for the Learner Permit CDL.

The day began with a 7:00 am start in the classroom. Instead of reviewing for the test we learned about pre-trip inspections. Studying is a personal responcibility here. Anyway, we got a really good picture presentation on doing the inspection and then we went out to a truck and trailer as a class and watched a demonstration on unhooking and hooking the trailer from the tractor. Our instructor is really good at getting the information and how-to across.

Around 10:30 am we started going over "Combinations", this is one of the three sections of the CDL test we need to know. After we did that, our instructor went over some of the questions that might be on our tests that we hadn't studied yet.

Ooooo, almost 15 of us on the first shuttle bus getting to the DMV and it's lunch time for the state employees. There was ONE DMV clerk working until 1:00 pm. That meant that of all of us that got here at 11:30 am, the first student to get in to take a test was at 1:15 pm. Things started moving a little faster after that and I was in by 2:15 pm.

The test was pretty much like what we learned. There were some wierd questions, but mostly the hardest thing was getting over my nerves. It took me about 45 minutes to complete the general knowledge, combination, and air brake tests. That's 50, 20 and 25 questions. I turned in my answer sheet and I was very relieved to have PASSED! They told me I scored in the 90's. I didn't get any specifics, but I didn't care. I PASSED! Whahoo!!

In truth it really wasn't that hard with all the help and assistance that England does to help you study and learn.

That's all for today at school. We have some homework to do about pre-trip inspections, but other that that, this is our last free evening for several days.

I got back to my room at 3:45 pm and started getting my homework done. Nothing hard, just learning about the pre-trip inspection.

The Steelers are on TV tonight. Awsome! I grew up near Pittsburgh and have been a Steelers and Pirates fan all my life. The Steelers have been a bit easier to watch than the Pirates. Oh well.

22:30 pm - The Steelers won! Sorry Dolphin fans, I'll always be rooting for the Steelers.

Tomorrow we will be a LONG day Our schedule will run from 7:00 am till 10:00 pm. That's because we will be in class all day and we start our backing practice tomorrow evening. From what the schedule says we will be on this same time schedule thru Tuesday. Five LONG days, but when we are done, we will know how to back up those big trucks!

That's all for now. More after the world goes around another time!

*More pictures tomorrow, I Promise!*

9/6/2006 - Wednesday - How long have I been here?

Today I got up at 6:05 am. I was pushing it because I was up so late last night. By the time I got out the door it was 6:30 am. I wanted to get to England by 6:45 am because they told us that "Early is on-time and on-time is late". Hearing that and also knowing that this is really a 3 week job interview, I drove like a man possesed and got there at 6:44 am. The traffic was so much worse than yesterday. What a difference a half an hour makes.

I got my seat and promptly at 7:00 they closed the doors. They took roll and as I looked around I noticed that there were quite a few people missing from the original group that was here yesterday. I got to talking to some of the others around me and found out that several people left last night after the Pre-Employment Interview, (Interrogation). Oooo,, that sucks.

As soon as roll was taken they collected our 100 question homework assignment. They said this was the first graded assignment and counted towards our class average. More on that later.

A few people wandered in late and were quietly asked why they were late. From what I understand from some of the students who are a week or two ahead of us, England keeps track of things like coming late and how you behave and conduct yourself in class. They do truly use the training process as an interview for the job. Some of the people I talked to said that you would come into class in the morning and someone you were talkikng to yesterday was just gone. Lesson: Be on time. Do your assignments. Don't argue with instructors. Don't think that you know anything. You must learn the England way!

OK, so all the paperwork I filled out last night, the w-4, driving history, information sheet, and about 25 other forms have been turned in. Now we are getting a briefing from the Safety Department. An hour and a half later that exciting experience was over. I hope you see my sarcasm in that. It was at this time that students that were not paying for the training upfront signed the loan paperwork for their training. I'm paying up front. You save about $1500 by paying upfront. This doesn't mean you have to have cash for it. You can pay with a credit card. I havn't done too much research on this, but I think you could probably pay off the credit card after a few months of driving and not over the 3+ years at $55 - $75 per week that the 18% financing that is offered works out to. If you can finiance it yourself either in cash or otherwise, it's probably a better deal. Just some thoughts.

OK, now a really COOL thing. At 11:00 am we were sent to a classroom and given a Dominos Pizza lunch. They must have had 40 pizzas there and they weren't cheese pizzas, they were loaded! This was when the driving instructors were introduced. They chatted and ate pizza with us. Pretty cool.

12:00 pm - The tests that we turned in this morning, the 100 question Utah cdl test, were returned to us. I got a 94%. Sweet. Ok, here's the kicker. It really didn't count towards the class average. They told a little fibb. It was just a homework assignment that didn't matter. Or did it? Right now I'm not sure what the school or company are looking at.

It really is nice to be in a classroom now with a table and chair and not just an auditorium. We went over the General Knowledge 100 question homework test and that took until 2:00 pm. I feel pretty comfortable with the material. I only missed 6 out of 100 and having gone over it with our classroom instructor who took the time to answer everyones questions and explain everything. He was knowlegable, patient and fair. Jim gets an A+ in my book so far as an instructor.

14:30 pm - We learned about air brake systems for the next hour. There is a working mock-up of a trucks air brake system in our classroom. Cool! It's LOUD and gives a great visual of how the system works.

On another note, I just want to set the picture of our class. We have a married couple in their 50's, a mother & daughter team, a bunch of guys like myself in our 30's, some young women, some young men, some older experienced drivers that havn't driven in a while, and a few total wierdos!

OK, we went over our practice air brake tests and then took a real test on the subject. Now, there is no reason anyone should get anything less that 100% on this. Here's why. The test was EXACTLY like the practice test down to the word. On top of that, instead of having 4 multiple choice answers to choose from, they only had 3. So Easy! I got a 100%. No excuses.

We got out of school at about 5:15 pm so I have a nice evening ahead of me. I'll do a little studying and watch some tv. Tomrrow we have a section on pre-trip inspections in the morning and then a little more studying an at 11:00 am off to the Utah DMV for testing and get our Learners Utah CDL.

On road to the future! Eyes on the Prize!

*Sorry for mixing military 24 hour time and regular time, old habits mixing with new.*

9/5/2006 - Tuesday - The First Day At CR England

I's LATE! Really! It's about 12:45 am Wednesday morning. I have to get up at 6:00 am, so thisd might be a short posting.

I spent the evening doing my "homework". OK, first, from the start. I got up at 5:30 am to get ready and drive from my hotel to the England facility and be there by 6:45 am. I will be getting up a little later tomorrow. Salt Lake City traffic really isn't that bad. I'm used to Denver and San Diego traffic.

Well, there are 32 people here in the autorium right now. That's not that big a class from what I've been told. We got big manilla envelopes full of all sorts of goodies. The biggest bundle of fun in it was the "homework". A 100 question test on the Utah CDL manual. It was open book, but that didn't make it easy. Lots of looking up things to verify them. That was tonights project.

Ok, we got a little "Welcome" to CR England form several different people. They had munchies and donuts and bottled drinks set out for everyone. MMmmm,, fat food. I'm lucky that I don't have a sweet tooth.

A person from the orentation staff went over everything that was in our envelopes and told us hat we had untill 9:00 am tomorrow to get it all filled out and done. It was also mentioned that the 100 question open book test on the Utah CDL manual would be due at 7:00am tomorrow. No excuses. Great. To add to the fun as I was looking through the paperwork, I noticed a 51 question test on the F.M.C.S.R., (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations), stuck in the middle of it. OUCH! They gave us the book, but that's alot.

Next we were herded into the hall and lined up outside the Whizz Quiz office, (Drug Testing). I was ready. REALLY! Twenty ounces of water and a bottle of juice and I was gunning for the fences. I danced in the hall for about 25 minutes and then took the test. Whew.

Then it was over next door to the Doctor to get the DOT physical. All is good. Easy little thing. Eyes, blood pressure, and a little look over by the doctor.

That's it for the morning. I went back to my hotel and talked with the wife for a bit then started filling out the paperwork that was standard. w-4, ect...

Back in the aurotium at 12:30 pm. They gave us a short briefing about the interview that we were about to go though. It used to be called the "Integrity Interview", now it's called the "Pre-Employment Interview". Guess they were scaring too many applicants away. It's simple. If you didn't lie on your application, you have nothing to worry about. If you did, well, they probably found out about it in the time since you applied and the time you got to the training facility.

I spent the afternoon doing the F.M.C.S.R. test. My last name begins with a letter really deep in the alphabet, and since they were going in ABC order,, I had some time. I finally got into the interview at 6:40 pm. OUCH! It took about 3 min. Well at least I got one test done.

I got back to my hotel around 7:50 pm and got to work on my CDL open book test that is due tomorrow morning. It's done and It's definitaly time to get some sleep now.

I'm really concerned about my wife. She got a severe migrane headache today and had to goto the hospital. I hate not being there for her. She is the love of my life, but I know that I'm doing what has to be done for our family. I love driving and we will be set for life in just a few years time. Eyes on the PRIZE!

*Tired beyond anything, not responcible for typo's*

9/4/2006 - Monday - The Day Between

It's Monday evening and I had a long relaxing day. I did my best to celebrate Labor Day. Whatever that means. I did go out and have an interesting experience at WalMart. My mission was to buy an inexpensive digital camera to use for this blog.

OK, so I wlk up to the photo counter and pick out a camera. I try to get the attention of one of the clerks working there but they seem to be ignoring me. Finally got their attention and they told me that they had lost the key to the glass cabinet that the camera I wanted was in. WHAT? I want to spend money on a camera and they can't open the cabinet. This is crazy. I asked for a manager and they called one. The manager never showed up. The clerks told me that they turned in the key last night to the night manager and he took it home. I asked if that meant they just wern't going to sell anything today and they just looked at me with kind of blank looks. Really WIERD!

I ended up at an Office Depot and got a pretty good deal on a camera, so I should be able to post some visuals of my experiences.

I drove from where I'm staying over to the CRE headquarters where I will be training. It took about 10 min. and when I got there there were alot of drivers and driver trainees just hanging around. There was no training today, so alot of hanging out.

I have been studying my Utah CDL manual and watching TV this afternoon and evening. Lots on TV about Steve Irwin "The Crocodile Hunter" being killed yesterday. Apparently got stuck by a Stingray. Sad.

This is a view of the front of CR England's Headquarters

I am planning on leaving for training at 6:15 am tomorrow. Ouch, that's early, considering I have been on a month and a half vacation.


That's all for now. Time to relax and get some sleep.




This is the view from my hotel room. Just thought it was interesting.

9/3/2006 - Sunday - The Journey Begins

First, a quick introduction to this Blog. I will be documenting my journey from ex-soldier, (my most recent prior occupation), through my hopeful career as a profession truck driver on the roads of America.

I will try to be a specific a possible and as revealing as well. I know that many reading this blog will be either experienced drivers that are courious to see what my experiences will be like and compare them to their own, or some readers will be interested in learning about the trucking industry and what it's really like to be part of this experience.

I'll keep it simple for today. I departed Centennial, Colorado yesterday evening for my drive to Salt Lake City to begin drivers training. I spent last night in Rawlins, WY and arrived here in Salt Lake today around 2:00 pm. I got myself checked into a local extended-stay hotel and made tracks for the nearest Walmart Super-Center. I got my provisions and setteled into my small studio hotel room. I could have elected to stay in the schools 6 man rooms for free, but I think that I would much rather have my own room and time for myself, even if I'm paying for it myself. I figure once I go on the road with my trainer I won't have much time to myself.

The trucking school I'm attending is CR England. (here-after referred to as CRE) I will be as true to my experiences as possible. I will relay what I'm doing and what is happening as true to life as I can. I will change the names of specific individuals to preserve their privacy.

All that stuff said, let me tell you what's going on right now. I'm a disabled veteran of the US Army and I'm embarking on a new adventure driving a commercial truck on the great roads of the USA! Right now, I have two days until my training starts. Monday is Labor Day, I start Tuesday.

I'm just watching some TV (about the events of 9-11-2001), and studying the Utah CLD driver's handbook. My recruiter suggested that it would be in my best interest to study this and I'm doing everything I'm told right now.

Wow, only a little over a day and I already miss my wife and 3 year old son. This is going to be the hardest part of this job.