9-23-06 - Saturday - Congratulations!!!

Congratulations to my Sister! Today was her wedding. I'm very sorry that I couldn't be there, but I'm sure it was a beautiful ceremony. She got married at a gorgeous lake in Pennsylvania. My best wishes to her and her husband.

Myself, I'm just doing one last load of laundry and packing for my departure tomorrow. College football on TV right now. I am watching Alabama and Arkansas. Tiffin, the kicker for Alabama is 1 of 4 and also a missed extra point. I have never seen anything like it. Final score Ark. 24 Alabama 23. Crazy game.

Tomorrow, on the road!

9-22-06 - Friday - Graduated !!!!

Today was the day everyone in my class has been waiting for. We started at 7:00 am and did a bit more trip planning training and then we went over the material for the final test. Nothing is hard, it just requires a little studying and paying attention in class.

We took the final and waited till 11:15 for our graduation presentation. Dean England, the grandson of C.R. England came into our class and talked to us a bit about the companies principles and expectations. It was really great to have a member of the England family come hand out our certificates of completion.

Just a side note. Not to blow my own horn or anything, but Dean England gave me my Top Gun award today also. That just means I did the best on the tests given in classroom out of ll the other students. It was a nice "pat on the back" for my studying.


My "Top Gun" Patch

As soon as we graduated I went to payroll and got my ComData card so I can start collecting my pay. They also issued our fuel cards and setup direct deposit. The next stop was to go to the "placement coordinator" to get setup to go out with an OTR trainer.

At 1:00 pm I got my assignment. I'm leaving Salt Lake City on Sunday evening with my trainer. This is actually pretty good. I get Saturday and part of Sunday off. That's time to work on the training modules that I have to complete in the three weeks I'm going to be training on the truck.

I feel pretty comfortable with the way things are right now. The weeks to follow will will be an interesting few weeks. I talked to my trainer on the phone tonight. He said he would meet me Sunday afternoon.

That's my day. Tomorrow will be a nice reprieve before going on the road for 3 weeks. Now is time to watch some TV and relax!

9-21-06 - Thursday - The Evening Is Good!

Got the laundry done! Survivor is on TV and I'm pumped to get on the road as soon as I can! I so tired of this hotel room. Motovation is the key to surviving away from my family. I can't worry about the little things. Tomorrow is going to be a GREAT day!

9-21-06 - Thursday - Almost There!

Today was filled with more orientation classes. Not much more to say about the morning. It started at 7:00 am and we broke for lunch at 11:00 am.

Back at classroom at 12:00 noon we learned about the Qualcom system and trip planning. This lasted till about 3:45 pm.

I know that wasn't a very exciting blog entry, but it was as exciting as the day was.

I'm a bit more motovated about tomorrow. Tomorrow we graduate and get assigned our OTR trainers. I could be on the road at this time tomorrow. That would be really good!

Tomorrow I will have some pictures of our graduation and hopefully a good plan on what will be going on in the next week. I will post again when I can!

9-20-06 - Wednesday - Paperwork!

Today was the first day of our orientation. We met at 7:00 am in a classroom. The students that didn't pass the CDL driving test went back out with the evaluators to re-take the test. The rest of us spent about 45 minutes going over CRE's accidents from the past year. Lessons learned.

The rest of the morning was for those that passed the driving test to go down to DLD to get their UT CDL. I got mine yesterday, so I went home (to my hotel), and caught a nap till 11:00 am.

At 11:00 am we met in the theater for a "lease briefing". It was brief alright. We were there for about 10 minutes and then sent to lunch. The experienced drivers stayed to get all the info, but us newbie's got sent to lunch. Oh well.

After lunch at 1:00 pm we actually started the orientation. Videos about taxes and brake adjustment. Lots of paperwork and more paperwork. This lasted until about 4:30 pm.

After dinner I elected to go ahead and stay for the Defensive Driving course that is required to get on the road with a trainer. The course is offered every evening, so it's up to us to decide when we take it. We just have to do it before we go on the road.

The class lasted until 9:00 pm. I'm home now and getting my thoughts gathered. I figure tomorrow evening I will do a load of laundry in anticipation of graduation on Friday and possibly leaving that evening or Saturday. I just want to be ready.

Below is a class picture. Most of us are in it. Some are not. Some in the picture didn't make it throught the driving test and will be in next weeks class. I'm the one wearing a RED sweatshirt.

Click the pic to enlarge.

Tomorrow is more orientation. One more day closer to getting on the road!

9-19-06 - Tuesday - Passed the BIG Test!

The day started early as usual. We met in the hall outside the classrooms at 7:00 am. Once there we waited for our driving evaluators to be assigned. We were assigned an instructor that wasn't our own. The instructors here are "third party certified". That means that they can officially administer the Utah CDL driving test. The only condition is that you don't get the same instructor that was your instructor for the past week.

After we were devided up, it was time to take the test. Lucky me. The instructor gave me the truck key and said I was first. I went out the the truck an started it and got the heater going. After about a 15 minute wait the instructor showed up and we got going.

I was really nervous. I did my best to just concentrate on driving the truck and not worrying about it being a test. I survived it and about 40 minutes of nerve racking driving later I was done. I passed. The test allows you to get 24 points aginst you for a varity of infraction as judged by the evaluator. I got 17. That's fine with me. I passed!

I passed. Yup. I didn't realize what an acconplishment that was. I found out later that the other two students that had the evaluator I had didn't pass. Ooops. I also found out that about half of our class didn't pass. It's ok. They will have another shot at it tomorrow. As long as you aren't SCARY behind the wheel, you will probably get another chance to pass the test.

This afternoon started at 12:00 noon. It was time for the final written test for CRE. It was a four part test. Part one was 50 questions multiple choice. Part two was gauge identification and operating ranges. Part three was a log book entry that we had to find errors on. The forth and last part was essay answer. No part of it was hard if you pay attention in class. The testament to this is that all this truck stuff is pretty new to me and I got 100% on the final. Pay attention in class, study, and it is no problem.

After class myself and three of my clasmates that passed the driving test went down to the Utah Driver's License Division and got our full CDL licenses. Finally!

Below I have posted some pictures from our classroom.


This is a transmission.


This is a cut-away of a transmission.


This is what happens when you "pop" the clutch. Oooo, twisted drive shaft.


Or a broken drive shaft. Costly!


This is a truck brake system layed out on a board. Fully functional. Cool!

More to come tomorrow!

9-18-06 - Monday - Lost a Friend

No, no one died. But it was kind of surreal.

We started the day at 7:00 am at the truck. This is our last day of driving practice before our CDL driving test tomorrow. There were three of us in the truck with the instructor as usual. The same three that had been set up together last Monday. The woman who was with us drove first. She had been having problems and got some remedial driver training over the weekend. It showed. She still struggles a little bit, but she will be a driver. Yes, she will be a driver.

Next my other truck partner drove. He did fine. A bit rough like all of us, but he will have no problem passing the CDL driving test.

I drove last. That's good because I got to watch my other two truck partners drive first. Today was kind of a dry run of the CDL driving test that we will be taking tomorrow. I did ok. I feel comfortable with everything. I didn't hit any curbs, but my instructor did mention that a hair probably wouldn't fit between the curb and my trailer tires, (tandems), during two of my turns. Again, I say, I didn't hit a curb. It was close, but no curb. HA! I also lost the gears on the up hill stop. Just like my driving partners.

Ok, now to the sad news. The guy driving partner I had in the truck with me was told to go talk to someone in recruiting when we got back from driving. When I got back for our afternoon class session he was nowhere to be found. Turns out CRE found something in his past driving record that he failed to disclose. I guess that was it for him. I feel really bad for him. He was trying so hard and studying his butt off. Lesson here. Be up front about EVERYTHING!

The afternoon class session was a review of the written test tomorrow afternoon. This is a company test, not a CDL test, but it is a good idea to nail it. I have a 98% class average and I'm hoping not to lower it too much with this final test. It will be pretty hard to screw it up. Our instructor went over everything in detail. No excuses.

I'm going to go study a bit for the test and then it's time for some football! Go Steelers!

9-17-06 - Sunday - Required Viewing

This morning we met in the theater at CRE at 9:00 am to watch those oh so fun videos on sexual harassment, fatigue, legal aid and a powerpoint presentation on topping the vehicles. It really wasn't that bad. The videos were about 10 years old, but if you could get past that it was just another required class.

It pretty much boiled down to this. Don't sexually harass anyone. Don't drive fatigued. Manage your sleep. Never admit wrong doing by just paying a citation. Always fight it. No matter what. If you have any question about whether your vehicle will fit under something, get out and look!

The entire thing only lasted about 2 1/2 hours. The rest of the day we were off.

Tomorrow we meet at 7:00 am at our truck for one last day of driving practice before the CDL driving test. Our instructor told us that we would probably only get about 1/2 hour behind the wheel. It's just to get us back into the driving thing after being off for the weekend.

I feel fairly confident about my driving. I figure if I can survive my instructor, I can survive the test. But, that's still two days away. For now I'm going to just enjoy some football on TV and maybe eat some dinner.