Profile For DayCab

I’ll venture that I’ve gotten the rolling inspection, 3 unmarked that pace you for a few miles, 2 on the side and one in front, but they were so blatant it was amusing. Not sure what homeslice is on about….

Yep, not to overstate it, but your instructors are there to help you pass the test, so as your best (and really only) resource, use them mercilessly, lol. Where I went to school we used the lines in the lot for all the maneuvers “When your landing gear crosses here, counter steer til you see X in your mirror” And while you likely won’t find anyone that will let you “borrow” their rig, you can ask for extra time at school (free to ask, anyway) and if you have a friend with a short pickup and a big trailer it really can’t hurt to back it up for a while. And of course, YouTube. Best of luck, and you can totally do this!

So our 1st full day of classroom! Met our first 2 of 5 instructors, nice guys. Our 'least' experienced teacher is 20yrs/1Million miles, the team of 5 is 125yrs/10.2 Million miles!!!!! These guys have serious knowledge, I feel we're in good hands. Did Intro to Trucking, Public & Employer Relations, Personal health & Saftey, Drug and Alcohol Awareness & a CSA overview. I didn't really realize I'll never be a a "regular" driver again, in any vehicle, unless I give up my CDL. The CSA stuff is a course into itself (never heard "then they'll dig deeper" so much in one presentation....) In attempt to be proactive, and keep my job prospects as wide as possible, I'm doing fingerprints for Haz-Mat at lunch tomorrow. It can take 20+ days to process, just like a passport, which I also got rolling 2 weeks ago. Don't want to be having the driving opportunity of a life time waiting on gov't red tape to clear. Haz-Mat clearance will also clear you for your TWIC card. You don't need Haz-Mat to get the TWIC, but it's the same office, and getting one gets you a discount on the other. If the job you land involves air or sea-port access, or gov't facility access, TWIC's a must-have, best to start the process now! Well there's a 70 question FMC saftey reg quiz (just learning to look up/cross-reference stuff in the book, really) to do yet, 8 days to do it, but the sooner I turn it in, the better drive time training/truck choice I get, gotta get crackin'! Take care fellow trainees & Truthers, mañana!

Got the best advice before my writtens, the GF said, "If your not sure about the answer, pretend you're explaining it to me" Worked like a charm, good luck!

All 6 writtens passed, first try, avg 95%!!!!! Thanks Trucking Truthers for all the forums, practice tests and info boards, you helped more than you know. "Real class" starts tomorrow, can't wait!

Got my CDL in 4 weeks,as I was one of the first of my class to pass all the skills test. The instructors here have been very helpful,and even when you screw up,you are treated with respect,when they correct you.I have learned a great deal here in my four weeks,and am looking forward to working here at Celadon . Hopefully I can get some decent miles and pay,as the working conditions have a lot to do with where I choose to work. Don't give up if your having trouble passing the tests,just keep improving.

Congrats! I'm 4 weeks behind you, see you out there someday👍

Backing that trailer - the boogyman of driver training. XcelerationRules has the right idea for straight backing - turn the wheel towards where you see the tandems. Bending into a set of cones, or between two trailers is more usual and harder to do. For this, two things: 1. The tandems will move back 10 feet before they "get the message" about the turn/adjustment you just made. 2. A hard bend/jackknife will steer the tandems, where a small bend will push them in the direction they are heading. The hard part is in between those positions, and where the art of backing is made.

Suggestion (stupid sounding, but it works!): buy a good toy semi trailer. I bought a cast Ertl at Walmart ($12.00). On your table top, move the tractor part as realistically as you can and watch as you back between two spoon handles. Hope for the Weary: I speak from experience - the backing thing will get easier. I finished Swift Academy/got my CDL in early January 2015, then went on 6 weeks of road training. Just finished. Backing is now not all that hard to do. Even at a truck stop!

Fantastic idea Errol! I'm heading in for the writtens today, gonna stop by the toy section @ Tractor Supply afterwards!

Well I gotta say, day one was not super exciting, but I'm in and on my way! We got materials, CO CDL Handbook, Federal rules and regs handbook (there's a cure for insomnia!) and our first logbook, which were going to start using today with class time as "on-duty". Lotta papers to sign, school agreement, DOT drug awareness policy, image release form if I become The Worlds Best Trucker and they want to use my face for their ads....The afternoon was just using the CO Handbook & "Truckers University" computer program to cram for the permit test, Wed @ 9:45 for me. Who knew you could actually make an appointment at the DMV, not just walk in and wait for 1/2 a day? Hitting 90-100% on the practice quizzes, even Haz-Mat, so I'm not even as nervous about the DMV test as I was 24hrs ago. Gonna focus on Combination Vechicles today, pulled and 87% on one of those, but that was me clicking the wrong box, always double check your work! Get after it today truckers! "You don't have to carry the truck, you just have to drive it"

Sounds like you've got your head on straight and your eyes wide open. Might not be the Ritz, but you know it's only temporary, and hey, you're not sharing a room! I'm starting with my school tomorrow too, best of luck Sammy!

I knew that one Errol! Man, I wouldn't run tread that shallow on anything I own. I tried to indicate in the title, the school is Sage http://www.sageschools.com The trucks are a little older, but all 10spd manuals (don't want that 'Restricted/Automatic' on my shiny new CDL) & in good working order. Their job placement seems good, but drivers are in demand out here, you'd be unemployed by choice if you were. When I was interviewing the school I ended up talking to one of the instructors, Dan, for about an hour and he even took me for a little ride around the area, which was a brilliant move on his part, I wanna drive that truck now! Got the clock set ahead, don't wanna be late the 1st day.....