Profile For Gina D.

We are training for 180 hours and I'm at 140 hours today. It's been REALLY rough training as a team... 3 people in a truck. I've had 4 showers in 3 weeks and when I do get food, I'm told "you don't have time to sit down". I basically sleep for 10 , wake up, wash my face and start driving for 10-11. I've never missed my husband more and he's always 5 feet from me. My husband says that this is just training and we have to suck it up and plow through but with 7 more days to go... I feel kind of numb not to mention dirty and exhausted. Is this the career? Husband and I have logged over 15k mikes in 19 days of driving- 2 1/2 days were sitting and waiting on loads. I want to drive and team with my husband but this feels like ... well I'll keep it upbeat. Looking for some motivation to keep on keeping on. I'm resigning from my 9-5 teaching job today and understand this is 24/7 job but feeling really torn about this pace. Is all training just brutal ? 😐 Maybe a good shower, bed with a bathroom close by would make me feel human again. This website always makes me feel better ... hopeful.

I PASSED!!!! Couldn't even parallel park my car this time last month but did it with no points for my test. Honestly, never thought I would get this far.

Hello all well I tested again and unfortunately when my examiner had me pull up for my parallel I forgot to go back before I started my move. My husband was watching from the doorway and said he wanted to cry because up until then I had set everything up and we really thought this was it. So I'm back at school and I'm still practicing the parallel which I can do with no problem next time I want alley dock. I've decided that until they give up on me I'm not going to give up. I'll keep you posted on whether I pass or not but I have learned to drive my trailer And can now fix my offset which is something I could never do before. I think it's all attitude and after this year where I lost a family member to cancer in her early 30s… Truck driving school is not going to be what breaks me ☺ so please God let me pass this next time!

Thank you Susan! I just needed to hear someone besides my husband say keep going. I took my test last Saturday and prayed for any maneuver but Alley dock. I don't pray but I literally would have sold my soul to just parallel. We are random in Florida and I felt pretty confident in my offset and either parallel but NOT Alley dock so of course, I got Alley dock! The examiner told me before I started the test and true to form I just burst out crying. Why? I didn't want to let my husband, my teachers or myself down. I was so nervous but so prepared to get this test done but I also knew I didn't have that skill nailed. My set up was off and I just couldn't fix it. The examiner was very nice and told me that he needed me to stick it out and not give up. He said that he'd seen a lot of improvement since last week and told me that he felt I was 2 hours away from a CDL. The tears dried up and my school director told me (assured me) that he would have my alley docking blindfold in one day. I had to ask the what if I don't pass question and he said that then I'd take it a fourth time but that I would not be leaving trucking school without a CDL. So, I took yesterday off and it was the first day off I've had in over a month of non stop work. My body and brain feel rested again and I feel like I needed the rest if I was going to keep going. Honestly, I feel great today, haven't felt this positive or not sore since the beginning of March! I'm going to finish out my school contract year and the last day for work is June 2nd. I'm going back to Road master on June 5th and plan on working on all maneuvers that week and test out on June 9th at the end of the week. Leaving the truck on a Sunday and knowing that I wouldn't be back in it for a week was also really messing with my confidence. I think that was my old body was saying take a day off and finish one thing so you can move on to the other. I appreciate your story :) and I'll be testing in an automatic! Feeling relaxed and grateful for the next chapter in my life. Thanks again for the encouragement and I'll let you know when I pass that test. No longer if but when

I finished my hours at Road master and took my CDL test last Saturday on May 13th. My teachers have all been wonderful (unbelievably patient and supportive) and they have really worked with me in a very small group setting the last few weekends. The teachers all say, "you'll pass, quit overthinking it!" While I appreciate the vote of confidence I'm a nervous freaking wreck. Last weekend all I did was work on maneuvers and I did them most of the time without assistance on Saturday and Sunday morning. But by Sunday afternoon after 10 hours of getting in and out of that truck in 97 degree heat by 4:00 p.m. I couldn't do anything. Felt like amnesia and I also felt this guilt for wasting the teachers time when at the end of the day I couldn't retain anything. My husband and I have been in a weekend class since the beginning of March and still work at our Mon-Friday teaching jobs. No days off for months and I feel like I'm going to fall down from exhaustion.

I know the pretrip and can drive the truck but I keep getting stuck on the maneuvers. I got through my pretrip just fine and then just got the worst case of nerves I've ever had. I'm in Florida and the skill test is a randomly generated thing, so I have to be able to do all maneuvers and can't really just focus on nailing one thing. Last Saturday I didn't get past offset before my brain turned to mush and I felt sick. I know how to perform the maneuvers and what to do but I'm really scared to death that I'll never pass. I'm a 48 year old school teacher with 2 post graduate degrees and 5 children.

My husband (who does everything well) wants to be team drivers and I'm just consumed with self doubt. He passed his pretrip and skills test but hit a curb and has to take the driving portion again. Nothing worries my husband and he's confident that he'll do his best and pass on to get his license. I've never thought I couldn't do anything, ever in my life but now I just feel so stuck. I want this new job and life so bad that my nerves are fried from thinking about "what if" all week. I have another test this Saturday, 5/20, and all I've done for days is study my written moves and practice with my toy truck. I'm a weekend student so I haven't been in a truck all week and no, there is no opportunity to practice the day of the test. I'm looking at what else I could do if I just can't pass. I'm a planner and right now I'm so worried. Never felt so dumb in my life as I do when I'm trying to alleydock or parallel. The anxiety is killing me and I'm thinking about what else I could do for a living. I'm finished with my teaching job on June 2nd and want to be in that truck with my husband. Any advice or better ideas. Pretty blue at the moment.