Profile For B Team

Well, it’s time for a real update. Sorry that it’s been a while, we have been extremely busy since the last update. We reported to Werner Enterprises’ Atlanta terminal on Monday, December 11th for orientation. It was a jam packed couple of days! Day one was a bunch of employment paperwork, drug screens, physicals, and computer based training. Day two was more of the same with lots to learn in a short period of time. You sure get a lot crammed into your head in the two day orientation! While in Atlanta, we stayed at a hotel called My Place; it’s about a mile and a half from the Atlanta terminal. It is owned by Werner, and it’s where they put up all of their trainees, and drivers when their trucks are in Atlanta for repairs or drivers need retraining. The rooms are set up for two trainees per room, but since Mrs. B and I are married, we had our own room. After orientation the trainees continue to stay there waiting for drug screens to come back, more advanced classes, and waiting to be assigned a trainer. All new employees are assigned a trainer that you go on the road with for 275 hours of driving before being assigned a personal truck. The process usually takes about 6-8 weeks. Since we will be training in the same truck, we were transferred to the Omaha terminal. It’s called 2 plus 1 training, and it’s only for couples, or family members that are team drivers. We were given a rental car to drive to Omaha last Saturday. We dropped our personal vehicle at the house and had about a two hour visit in Montgomery. Then we headed for the Midwest. We drove non-stop to Kingdom City, Missouri and grabbed a little sleep at a Super 8 motel. On Sunday we completed the 1200 mile trip to Omaha. We checked into the HomeTown Lodge, also owned by Werner, on Sunday afternoon. Monday and Tuesday consisted of 8am safety meetings and shuttling back and forth from the hotel to the terminal. It’s about a five minute ride. The Werner shuttle makes round trips back and forth about every 20 minutes. They’ll also run you to Walmart, restaurants, or the movies. We have also attended classes on backing, how to install tire chains, and other driver stuff. We had a nice meal at the truck stop down the road on Sunday night, and Werner gave us a real nice first day lunch at their cafeteria, but most of the meals have been vending machine and microwave meals. Mrs. B has been doing her best to be the food police and keeping me from going junk food crazy. The best news is that we were assigned a trainer today. He’s on the way to Omaha to pick us up within the next couple of days. He’s currently delivering a load in Missouri, and should arrive in Omaha late Wednesday or early Thursday. We talked on the phone tonight; he sounds like a really nice guy, and we’re looking forward to meeting him. We will be on his truck for the next couple of months, so we hope that we like each other. We’re spending the day wrapping things up at the terminal, shipping our Christmas gifts to family, and packing for the road. We’ll continue to keep all of you updated as time allows. Til then, MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you! We appreciate your prayers and support.

Alright! Bananas, Bananas, Bananas. Thanks!

We are so excited! Mrs. B an i both passed our CDL road test yesterday. We now have our Class A's with Doubles/Triples, Tanker and Hazmat. We have decided to team up with Werner. We feel good about what they have to offer for teams, and as a bonus, we will be able to train in the same truck. We will celebrate our 39th anniversary next Saturday. We know we love each other, now we get to see how much we like each other. We'll report for orientation on Monday, December 11th. We have a training diary on the training page if you care to follow the adventure. We are ready to roll!

By the way, please pardon all of the verbose explanations about things that are commonly understood by those in the industry. These same posts are shared on FB for our friends and family. Hence the long explanations.

We have been waiting to update our status until we had some news to share. We have some great news… Cheryl and I did our road test for our CDL this morning and WE PASSED! We now have Class A Commercial Drivers Licenses!! All the studying, shifting and backing practice has paid off. Thanks to the staff at Trenholm Community College; our instructors there are the best! Our tests went great. We both had to perform a pre-trip inspection for the first part of the exam. I had to do an “A” inspection. That is the front of the tractor; the exterior, engine, suspension, steering, and braking system, Cheryl got the “B” inspection which is the tractor from the engine compartment through the rear of the tractor, including the rear axle, suspension, tires, and braking system. We both had to do the coupling system; the fifth wheel and all of its components. Following that, we both had to do the three backing test required by the State of Alabama; a straight line back, and offset back, and a 90 degree alley dock. After that, we headed out with an examiner for the actual road test which is about a ten to twelve mile loop of divided highways, city streets, and interstate driving. Every turn, curve, intersection, and stop is graded. We both did very well, it really went by pretty fast. After a celebratory lunch at Mickey D’s, we went to the DMV and got our actual licenses. We have a few more nights of classes; we will cover subjects that we need to know that are not part of the testing, and we will graduate and receive our diplomas on Thursday (12/7). We have decided to go to work with Werner Industries. They are a large, national trucking company based in Omaha, Nebraska. We will be over the road (OTR) team drivers and will be traveling in 48 states. We will begin training at their Atlanta terminal on Monday, December 11th. We plan on doing some clothes shopping this coming week since us southern folks don’t have much real winter gear. We hope to be ready to report to work next week. Thanks again for your prayers and good wishes, keep them coming as we begin our training phase with Werner. We’ll post about our progress as time allows. More updates soon!

Worked perfectly on my iPhone. Thanks Brett!

Just curious, About how long did that plan take you to do? I'm starting to panic here. I live out west and take one hwy across a state not 10 different ones.

Jim F - It probably took about 30-40 minutes to prepare the plan, and about another 45 minutes to actually create the log entries. If you are having trouble figuring out a route using an atlas, you could use Google Maps, or a GPS to get a basic idea of how to get from city to city. However, you MUST compare the route to a Motor Carriers Atlas to be sure that big trucks are allowed to use those roads. In the Rand McNally Atlas, the truck routes are highlighted in orange. In fact, in the example that I gave you, the route between Huntington, WV and Lynchburg, VA only has a couple of options to use, since trucks are not allowed on many of the roads in that area of the state. It's a mountainous area, and some of the roads aren't safe for trucks. After you do the pre-planning a few times it should become easier to do. If you have any more questions, just post them here, and I, or some of the other drivers on the forum, will be glad to try to help you.

We now have four calendar weeks until we begin our new adventure. We only have fourteen class days left, and we are scheduled to take our driving test after only 8 more class days. We will not be going to class during the week of November 20-24; campus is closed for Thanksgiving. We’ll spend the final days of class after testing (December 1-7) practicing coupling & uncoupling, and talking about customer service issues. It’s coming together real fast now. We have been spending class days alternating between backing practice, driving the test loop, and studying our books getting as we get ready for our final exam. The final will be on November 27th. Our driving test will be on November 30th. We have both improved a lot in the backing department. We also are pretty confident that we’ll be okay on the pre-trip portion of the test. The part that is the most nerve wracking is the actual driving test portion. It will take place on several fairly busy roads, and you never know what the other drivers will do. Hopefully we’ll have a good day, and a successful test drive. We have now applied to six companies as team drivers, we’ve only ruled out two so far. The bonuses for team drivers are fantastic, and most of the benefits are similar at all of the firms. The length of training is also pretty much the same at most of them. The final decision is probably going to end up being a “gut feeling” kind of thing. We will probably update once more before we test out. That update will likely be at the end of next week. Keep us in your prayers. More info as soon as we have more to share.

Jim F. - Hope the following helps you see what our trip planning training entails. Here is one of our trip planning exercises --- Using your Motor Carriers Atlas, you must determine your route, rest stops, daily shutdown times and locations, and make all scheduled appointments at the scheduled times. All required inspections should be logged, and all HOS rules must be followed. Home Terminal: Montgomery, Al – Tractor #98-01 Trailer # 94-01. Trip # JPT-03-1 NOTE: Each time you load or unload, show ¼ hour on-duty not driving and 2 hours in the sleeper berth. Starting date is first day of the month. Fuel every 1200 miles. When fueling, show ¼ hour on-duty not driving and ¾ hour off duty. Do not log more than 11hours without taking a 10 hour break. After driving 5 ½ hours, take 1 hour off duty, then continue driving. Flag town & state where you take your break. Lines 3 & 4 count against your70 hours. You cannot log more than 70 hours in any 8 consecutive days. You must do a pre-trip inspection when you leave your home terminal and once every day, before beginning driving. You must perform a post-trip inspection when you return to your home terminal. You must also show ¼ on-duty not driving each time you perform required inspections. **TRIP BEGINS** Day 01 – Leave Montgomery, AL at 10pm. Load goes to Huntington, WV. Manifest # 36674620. Day 03 – Unload in Huntington, WV at 1:30pm. Run empty to Lynchburg, VA. Day 04 – Load in Lynchburg, VA at 8am. Load goes to Cleveland, TN. Manifest # 5476980. Unload in Cleveland, TN at 9pm. Day 05 – Load in Cleveland, TN at 8am. Load goes to Montgomery, AL. Manifest #3462810. Unload in Montgomery, AL at 4pm. *END OF TRIP** We were required to do a written pre-trip plan showing our route, miles on each highway, hours to drive those miles, and all rest stops, and 10 hour breaks. Once that was complete, we then completely filled out a drivers log as if we had driven the trip. Hope that this helps you see how it worked.

Only 12 more class days til Mrs. B and I take our final CDL test. We are both scheduled to test out on November 30th. We took our mid-term written exam last week, and we both scored in the high 90’s. It was a written exam of about 60 general knowledge questions, a vehicle systems and parts test, a pre-trip knowledge test, plus a simulated trip that had to be planned and logged. This past week we continued backing practice on the driving range, and practiced driving the test loop. We also took another road trip of about 100 miles. We began in afternoon drive city traffic, and continued driving through several area towns on rural two lane roads. We would drive 25 – 30 miles, and then swap with one of our fellow students. This is great “real life” practice since some of the turns are in small towns, even in little downtowns with small intersections. The classroom work has been more study on general knowledge, including customer relations, cargo securement, and international driving. It’s mostly practice, practice, practice as we get ready for the final driving test. We are still talking with 2 or 3 companies to see which one looks like the best fit for us. We should make a final decision within a week. We are finishing all of the final prep of turning the house over to our son and his fiancé. The will be renting our house when we take to the road. They have agreed to let us have a room for our home time stops. HaHa. Again, keep us in your prayers. We still have a little way to go. We’ll update everyone again at the end of this weeks training.