Profile For Trucker B

I test out for my cdl jan 12th 1130 am going over pretrip guess theres nothing else i can do a little nervous I am

steve j

Good luck Steve J.!!! Will be looking forward to hearing you shout out that you PASSED!!!

Yep, they take backing serious. Serpentine (back around 3 barriers and Dock), S curve backing (back down a series of curves), Off set dock, 45 degree back, 90 degree back. Instead of cones it's barriers. They want you to get out and look. Drivers have been known to hit them and even tear bumpers off. The big thing is if you make a mistake to report it and tell the truth. They will work with you to an extent if your honest and trying. They are watching.

Some of the customers places, like small building supplies can be tight to get out of. Backing a split axle flatbed is a big difference, takes getting use to coming from a van. 18 ft reaction, tires slide, can't jack it much loaded. Once you finish backing with McElroy, you should know how to back. Entire days of backing and getting a feel of the trailer. They put you out there on your own, as they figure you got to learn by your own trial and error. Got to pass the road test and backing tests.

Hey S.B. I am headed out this Sunday for Cuba! Looking forward to getting started, finally!!

Today I tested out for my cdl and am the proud owner of a class-A CDL with all the endorsements. Has been a long and interesting road to get to this point. But it was made easier by using the High Roads Study Program. And also giving a shout out to everyone who posts on here, as there is a lot of information found on this site. The respect shown for each other here is what makes this site so unique.

Headed down to Cuba, Alabama the 18th of January for orientation with McElory Truck Lines. Flatbedding here we come!!!!

It was a hard decision to decide which company to go with. I was all Maverick till McElroy came on the radar screen. My decision finally came down to McElory having free healthcare for their drivers and that they send drivers home on Fridays. It has been stated again and again on this site to pick a company that has what you want and the insurance and hometime are what I need/want at this point in my life. Also, I thought for my first year it would be to my advantage to go with a company that had manual trucks. I can move into automatics at a later date. I am "only" 53 and my left knee is in decent shape!! ha ha ha

My plan is to access where I am after that first year and then decide if a move to another company, Maverick maybe, is in my best interest or to just stay put. Don't like to move around, as I am one who finds something that works, then I stick with it.

One thing is for sure, who knows what will transpire a year from now. If someone would have told me a year ago that I would have closed down my business to go to school to learn to drive a truck, I would have told them they were crazy!

Life is good!!!

Thanks again, stay safe out there and I hope to met some of you all in person out on the road.

Congrats Matt W.!!! 5 January is a mighty fine day as I also passed my CDL with the same endorsements you have. Feels good to have that behind us and now we can move on to working our way into our own trucks!

Hey there everyone! I am making my way through High Roads Training and have a question about the split sleeper berth rule. I believe I understand the split sleeper berth rule but just wanted to double check here.

Section 13.4 on the bottom of the page where there are two days of log books entries. Using the example there on day two, I am off duty 2 hours from 5 a.m. till 7 a.m. This is the second rest period as I took the first 8 hour rest period from 2 p.m. till 10 p.m. where I could then reset my 11 and 14 hour clocks. From 10 p.m. till 7 a.m. I was on duty for 9 hours (7 hours driving, 2 hours off duty which counts against my 14 hour clock). I now have 5 hours left on my 14 and 4 hours on my 11 hour clock.

If I then drive from 7 a.m. till 11 a.m. and am then off duty from 11 a.m. till 12 p.m., I am out of hours on both my 14 and 11 hour clocks. Then at this point I have the option of going off duty for a full 10 hours which would reset both the 14 and 11 hour clocks or I can take another 8 hour rest in my sleeper from 12 noon till 8 p.m.

If I understand this correctly, if I take a 8 hour sleeper berth rest from noon till 8 p.m., I can then reset my 14 and 11 hour clocks but I would have to recalculate my hours starting at end of the 2 hour off duty period that ended at 7 a.m. If I was on duty for 5 hours from 7 a.m. till noon and drove 4 of those hours, this is prior to my 8 hour sleeper berth rest, I would have 9 hours left on my 14 and 7 on my 11 hour clock and within those remaining 9 hours on duty I would need to do the second two hour off duty/sleeper berth rest and would be out of hours on my 14 at 5 a.m. on day three. Does this make sense or should I just delete this post and start over?

For those who have stayed with my post reading it up to this point, thanks! I am not sure if I would have! ha ha ha As someone who is just starting out, there is a lot of info to intake. But I want to understand how this works. I just finished my 1 st week of CDL school, we watched a video about HOS and I know this will be covered once I get to a company. Lastly just curious how many drivers with experience use this rule.

Thanks for you time.

Just turned 53. My working life these past 30 years has included farming (raising tobacco and cattle), building houses (I love framing and trim work! but as someone else stated up above, my body does not like it as much anymore and the next house I build will be my own, on a piece of land where I can see the sunrise and the sunset, where we will again have animals, gardens, greenhouses, a barn for my wife, a wood shop and our potter studio!). I quit high school at the "knowledgeable" age of 16, but found my way to a 4 year degree at the age of 35. Worked 10 years at Oregon State University on a research project studying wheat. These past 8 years my wife and I have been self-employed working as production potters. Pottery is awesome, a true labor of love. We both decided to make career changes, she went back to school studying statistic's and I just finished my first week up at CDL school! I plan to be with a company by mid January pulling flatbeds. Depending on where my wife goes to grad school, we are making plans to make our way back to the big sky county west of the Mississippi within the next couple/three years. Life is good! Fun post to read through to see the varied backgrounds we all come from.

First off good luck on your journey. I can't tell you anything about the other companies but I'll vouch for McElroy as they have been good by me so far. I even had to take a week off when my dad passed and at that time I'd only been there about 2 months. They've been nothing but good to me. Plus you get home every weekend not just off every weekend. So I get home on Friday and leave either Sunday or Monday morning on occasion.

Thanks Parrothead66! I have an app in with them and a recruiter for them will be dropping by our school next week. Looks like it is coming down to a decision between Maverick and McElroy. Thanks for your input of the company. I followed your posts a while back when you first started with them.

Talk to Kelli at Melton she has been so helpful. I hope to be there this spring

The only about Melton I did not like was being out for 2 weeks before coming home. Have not fully decided yet, still have some time before deciding. Good luck to you this spring!

Congrats! You are so right. Used the study guide myself and aced all the tests. Hope to start school here in Mi on the 30th. Just waiting for my wife's insurance to start before leaving my job.

Thanks Hickabilly! Started school today and had a good time. Since I had my permit, I was able to head right out to the yard to practice pre-tripping and backing. Straight, off set and even got a couple parallels in. Fun day! Good luck as you head into school.

I read just now about someone starting training soon, and that he took all the endorsements with his permit exam; if I do that myself, does that mean that I automatically get the endorsements added to my license when I obtain it, or do you have to re-test either way in order to get them added to your actual license? Does it cost more to take the endorsements tests for the permit? And if you have to re-test anyway to have endorsements added to your actual license, what's the point of paying to take this part of the test just for a permit?

Hey there RebelliousVamp, I am the one who took all the endorsement tests when getting my permit. I thought it would be easier as I was dialed in from studying High Roads. Even tested for hazemat but like Bret was referring to I have to wait on getting my hazemat on my CDL. Started school today, anticipate testing out late Dec. School is only 4 weeks but with the holidays it is throwing everyone's schedule wacko. Need to also get finger printed for my hazemat and will be able to do that on next week. You might give thought to taking all the tests at once also, High Roads really prepares you. Good luck!