Profile For Carl A.

Congrats on working to get your class A cdl. I took my CDL about 3 months ago in Montana. With regards to shifting going through a intersection I was docked for that. As far as shifting while making a left or right turn we were told not to do so. I just started out in a higher gear (not to high of a gear so you stall it). Just my own opinion its not a good idea to shift at all doing these 3 things reason being is and it happens to most and that is missing a gear when you up shift, another reason is I have seen drivers shift while making a turn and caused a freight shift and yes they tipped over. When I did my yard test backing, offset. and 90 it wasnt a big deal that I didnt use both hands. A bad habit I had when I had a CDL a few years back was holding onto the shifter as I was going through the motions of getting my rig through all the gears and even while I was going down the road. I hope this helps some.

If I were you and you can go to the the CDL school in Vernal. You will have way better instructors. Call and ask for Andy,he is the main guy there. They have better equipment there as well as trainers. Yes they do put you in different trucks with different transmissions because even though you train in a 18 speed you may get a job that only has 9 or 10 speeds. When it comes to test out we got to use the truck we were the most comfortable with. We got to spend days or half days out on the range. We even hauled paper to Salt Lake and went to Grandjunction Colorado and picked up stuff for Halliburton. Do get ahold of Andy.

Thanks Errol, for the reply.

Hey guys and gals,I got a question. When I went to Sage I did a physical and drug test, now I am scheduled to take one for the company I am going to work for. Which card do I carry with me?

Thanks Floridabuckeye for the comment. Yep its pretty rough losing a parent. I head out to Idaho on the 9th and I plan on doing I hope daily updates on my journey. Stay safe out there.

Sorry about not posting on here in a while, lost my mom while in school and things been hectic. School went great and the instructors were great as well. Voc-rehab put me up in a very nice hotel about 4 blocks away. To let some of you know that Job Service allso has a program that pays for everything plus gives you $70 week for fuel. So I done pretty well only missed one thing on my pre-trip,which was test A ( Front of rig and engine compartment). I had my own way of doing my in cab which I started with winshield, wipers, horns and then would move out to mirrors and work my way in well I missed my city horn lol, couldnt believe I did that. On the backing I had 0 pullups on all 3 which surprised me cause I struggle with offest before testing. Once I started using the v- shape on the landing gear frame it worked well. I did all my testing in a W-900 and 53 foot trailer. I came home for a few weeks and now I start with Doug Andrus Distibution on July 11th, they are out of Idaho Falls ID. I had Knight and Swift on my list as well. Knight has a lot of good people working for them however the trailer shortage issue was not something I thought would work for me. Swift does not have a pet policy and that was a big thing with me. Doug Andrus is a smaller company,they have some very nice equipment, I think 260 trucks. I get to take my truck home beings where I live. All in all it was a great experience at Sage. One more thing which is likely the most important,I wanna thank Brett and crew for the CDL training program that ya all put together. I took all the test at DMV and scored 100% on all test and even though I had practise test at Sage I could not have done it with out this sites testing program,so with that said THANK YOU.

Thank you all for the comments,very much appreciated. My new thread is Sage in Billings MT.

I got a day behind however I did get my computer fixed,so mow I can do this with out squinting lol. Yesterday we had classroom in the morning and then went outside in the PM and went over the Pre-trip and back into school room. Some of the things we covered were the different types of transmissions we will be using here at the school. They are 9 speeds, 10 speed and super 10 along with 13 speeds, no automatics. We went over the control systems. We started at 8AM today and it was all class room. Power point presentation on Whistle Blower, FMCA regulations, Staying Healthy while on the road along with how to deal with different types of issues, like family and work. We have test after each topic. Our last test was on the Federal Motor Carrier Regulations Pocketbook. We normally start at 8Am take a 10 min break around 10,then at noon we get a hour lunch break. For now our class ends at 4PM. All in all it has been a very good experience and learning a lot. The only time we will have a schedule for Saturdays is when we start to take road trips and that will be during the day as well as at nights. Tomorrow I plan on going over and working on my pre-trip, then I am going fishing lol. One last thing is I added another company to the top of my list and that would be Watkins Shepard.

Well thanks to this site and a lot of studying. I passed all the test with 100 percent scores. Went and did the finger print part for hazmat.and then my day was done. One thing else I wanna share and many of you probably do this. When I went to college back in 2002 to be a counselor.I struggled with things. I all ways memorized most things instead of actually learning. My professor was the one that explained the difference to me.From that point on I started learning and retaining certain things instead of just memorizing things and not retaining stuff. All the studying that I done by using HRTP from this site and the way Brett and company has it set up. It's for learning not memorizing. A lot less stress in learning I have found out.Anyways I am rambling so again more tomorrow.

Well today was very busy day with pre tests. Tomorrow go to DMV to take written portion of my Cdl. This place is very busy with outside people testing out. I believe there are students that come from Legacy to test as Well. The first 2 -3 days here is strictly study time on your own. Thursday is when actual class room starts. I believe each class overlaps one week. In my class there's 5. Well better hit the books.