Profile For Len S.

Celadon is a great company and the facility is awesome, but they lack in instructor/student ratio. Brian is a great range instructor and will help you wherever you need. The biggest downfall to Celadon is the training program can last up to several months.

good luck to you

Got to CRST on Dec. 1st. They had me retake the testing and skills testing. Then last Monday I went and got my CDL. Had to stay in class through Wednesday and started orientation on Thursday. Became an official employee as of Saturday. There is a shortage of lead drivers so they routed everyone home in rental cars for Christmas and should hear from a lead come next Monday.

Gonna fill everyone in on the story. Back in mid June I attended CRST training in Cedar Rapids, IA. I knew that I had a high chance of sleep apnea. I would doze off occasionally during class. Instead of them earl on in the program saying, hey let's get you home so you can do a sleep study, they waited. I went through the whole training, got my permit, passed my state skills tests, pre-trip and drive test. The day before graduation they came over to me and said I needed to go and have a sleep study done. ONE DAY BEFORE OBTAINING MY CDL!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??!!

They told me after I got the test done and was in compliance, I could return and pick up where I ended. This was in mid July. It took til early October to get everything done. I left message after message for my recruiter, no response for weeks. That is when I contacted Celadon.

I was contacted by CRST on Monday afternoon. Apparently, my old recruiter was no longer there. They said they could have me back in Iowa on Dec. 1st and only repeat the last week on driving because of scores being over 60 day. I'd do the orientation and then head out with trainer for my 28 days. Looking at 2 weeks and gone, I told them I had to think it over.

I got talking with many students at Quality and the one's who just got there CDL had been there a minimum of 9 weeks. And a few of them had previous experience. Some of the 1's I talked with had been there since July.

While the accommodations and food are much better at Quality Driver, I cannot afford to be there waiting around for another 7 to 8 weeks just to get my CDL. Then another week or two waiting on a trainer.

So, I got to go home and spend turkey day with the family and now I'm getting ready to head back to CRST. I leave out this evening and get there Sunday afternoon. Here's hoping I made the right call.

I will update this again on Tuesday

Sorry for the delay in posting. Well, we have now ended week 1. Going pretty good. On Wednesday I took the Indiana state license test and CDL general knowledge test. Some yahoo at the local BMV deleted my test scores. It took them all day Thursday to get them re-scored. Yes, I passed both. Friday, I took and passed(thank you HRT training guide) Air Brake, Combination, Tanker and Doubles & Triples. I took Hazardous Materials, but hadn't looked it over yet. Needless to say, I failed.

Now we have a weekend of studying and pretty much nothing else to do. I am at the Greenfield Quality Motel. If I was on center, I could study the Pre-trip better. Talked with several students and the general consensuses is that while the training is great, the wait time to go through the skills portion and road driving takes time. Several get bounced back and forth from lanes 1 and 2 because trainers are not talking back and forth with each other.

We'll see how week 2 goes, even though it will be a short week due to Thanksgiving. We only have class til Wednesday. They offer to send you home for the holiday, but they will only pay 1 way. You have to find you own way back to center.

End of day 2. We had Steve come into the class this afternoon. He seem to be a great guy. Down to Earth everyday man. More studying today. They are sending people for testing tomorrow, hope I can pass all my exams so I can get out on the range.

Most of it is. With the education you get from Max (you'll see him monday morning) and the prep you get from here, You'll pass all your permit tests and endorsements by thursday.

Day 1 in the bag. Food is ok. Motel is a bit of a ride, but nice only sharing a bathroom with only 1 other person.

Didn't see much of Max, but Brian is a trip. Not on schedule for physical until Wednesday.

Mix up with recruiter. I leave Tomorrow @ noon and get in at 10pm. Can't wait to get there and get going. I've been working on the HR training mods. If they are anything like the actual tests, I should be set to get all my endorsements.

Yep, been using High Road and viewing videos of Indiana Pre-trip.

Once you hit the road with trainer.

Got Greyhound info. Leaving Saturday @ noon getting there at 9:40 same night. Gives me all day Sunday to settle in for the long haul(pun intended).

Waiting on my Greyhound confirmation from my recruiter. Really looking forward to the training. I have been studying the Indiana DL book and watching video's on backing and pre-trip for the state. Might start a youtube diary along with this, we'll see. I'll be starting class on Monday and can't wait to get driving.