Trucking School And Beyond (My Jounal)

After months of trying to get to this point, I am finally here. Tomorrow morning, I will be leaving for CDL school in Philly. I will be attending the AAA School of Trucking in Philly, but I did not start out with that choice. Originally, I was set to go to train with Roehl at the beginning of October, but within two weeks I went from training with Roehl to training in Indianapolis at C1 to going to Philly and AAA and signing on with PAM. I started this process months ago and now it is finally time to leave tomorrow morning for the 5+ hour drive to my New Jersey hotel where I will be staying during the training process.

I have seen many people who have gone to training and starting their career in the trucking industry start a blog and write about their experiences. It seems to help them a little bit to get their frustrations out and also to tell other people about their experiences. I plan on doing the same. This won't be the first time blogging for me. I used to blog religiously about politics for many years. I am hoping this is more of a therapeutic release than that ever was!

I will be leaving my comfort zone to go learn to do something I never thought I would ever be doing in my life. I have put a lot of thought and research into this, and now I feel like I am ready to go. I know it will be tough, frustrating, and also enlightening at times, but each day will be a new learning experience for me.

I look forward sharing my experiences with all of you in the coming days, weeks, and months as I start my new career as a truck driver. I hope all you you enjoy it as I have enjoyed many other blogs and message boards out there through these past few months about life on the road, and life in training.

[Blogging] seems to help them a little bit to get their frustrations out and also to tell other people about their experiences.

Shawn, you have the experience of blogging so you know its value. (I blogged through school, training and into my first weeks driving.) You will reach a point where you think "Backing a trailer up is from another universe! It's nuts!". When you post your feelings, you will get tons of helpful comments. And you know many more read than comment. So do it for "everybody".

Thanks Errol. I appreciate it. If it hasn't been for the people on this site and those around me who have a great attitude about helping others and listening to their problems and concerns while starting this new career, I am not sure I would have made it this far. There are some other trucking sites I have visited that are very negative about a lot in the industry, to the point where it seems they try to push people who want to do it away from it rather than give them some tips on how to make it a bit easier.

I look forward to writing about my experiences, and thanks again!

Day 1: The first day was soent in classroom getting those people ready for the permit test for thise who needed it. For me, it was a very, very, very long day of reviewing things to make sure I had the knowledge fresh in my mind for when we get in the truck on Thursday morning.

My first impression of AAA school of trucking is that it is not too bad. The classroom instruction is intense and very thorough and if I didn't have my permit I would be ready to go out and take it.

Getting a little nervous about getting in that truck on Thursday, but I am feeling more comfortable as the days go on.

It also has done nothing but rain most of the day. I was also reminded today why I hate NJ/Philly area, but I suppose learning to drive around here wont hurt and might make me more comfortable in the long run.

More tomorrow....

Day 2: Today was more classroom work. Others had to go get their permit, so I stayed in going over logs and hours of service rules.

The instructor spent the last 15 minutes trying to weed out those who might be having second thoughts about this career choice by trying to scare us all. I am sure that is normal, but I know some of what the job is going to do to me and what I am going to have to do so it didn't have an affect on me.

Tomorrow will be the first day in the truck. I look forward to it, and look forward to writing about the experience.

I know I haven't kept up with this, but I did want to give a few thoughts about my experiences while at AAA School of Trucking. Im at the beginning of my forth week, and yesterday I took my road/skills test and passed everything except for alley docking, which means today or tomorrow I will have to re-take that portion of the test.

I have learned a lot since coming here earlier this month. The school is not so bad, the trainers really do take the time with you if you need help with something. The only bad thing is that there are times where there are far too many students for the trainers to take that time with you, but they still do their best and try to work with those who do not get it.

I am sure there are worse places and better places to go to get your CDL , but it has been a pretty good experience overall. I have met some nice people and while I know I still don't know anywhere near what I will learn out there on the road about driving a truck, I feel more confident now that I can actually do this as long as I keep my mind open and keep learning every day.

All that is left is to re-take the straight back and alley dock skills and then i will have my license. Wish me luck!

Shawn,

Your feelings are in the right place: you have learned almost enough to pass the tests. In most schools that's all you get - to pass the tests.

Later you should drive with a trainer/mentor who will give you a better idea of How Things Are Done.

You only have that last part and you're done! (The 90 dock was a killer for me, too!)

Good luck!

The day after my last post, I am happy to say, I passed my alley dock and got out of Philly as fast as I could!

It was a good experience and I learned enough to pass, but I am excited to get down to Arkansas for orientation and start learning the real ways of the road. I am going into this like I did with the training, I don't know anything that these trainers know, I am new to all of this and hopefully I will learn a lot in this part of my training.

Thanks to everyone who has been reading and thanks Errol for the good advice and well wishes through this part of my training. I was told I would be scheduled for orintation in Arkansas with PAM as soon as I got my license in the mail, so hopefully that happens sooner than later. I will try to keep up with this as much as possible through orintation and the over the road training process.

Thanks again everyone!

Well, I made it to PAM on Sunday afternoon after leaving Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon on a bus to Arkansas. One thing I can say about that is: I NEVER want to ride a bus that long again in my life! I tried to make the best of it though, as much as one person can.

I haven't been on to update about my week so I am going to try and condence it into this one reply.

Monday started out with being told by an OTR trainer to forget what I learned in school, this is the real world now. We spent the day in class going over a bunch of this like safety, backing, turning, logs, and other stuff.

Tuesday was spent on the range backing, which I just screwed up as bad as one could without hitting anything. I spent that night thinking maybe I am not cut out for this career. The trainers were hard on me, but I should expect that. This isn't school anymore, this is the company that is going to allow me to drive one of their trucks.

Wednesday was back to class for more on logs and more safety classes. We went over a little of pre-trip, which I only learned a little of when I was in school. I know more than what I learned in school, but still not enough at this point say I am comfortable with it.

Today was spent back on the range with more backing and a little pre-trip. I still have some doubt in my mind that I can even do this, but I am trying my best to overcome that. I know it's more about me being new and not that I won't get better at my job over time, but that time seems so long from now sometimes. The last thing I want to be is a quiter, especially since I do want to do this. There will be good and bad days, and I just have to get myself used to that just like I would in any other job.

So, tomorrow is the final day of orientation where I will find out who my OTR trainer is and if I have to hop on another bus this weekend to go meet him. I'm nervous about the whole thing to say the least, but I have come this far!

I will try to update on how the two weeks out with my trainer is going when Ibget a chance.

Thanks everyone for reading!

That's an old line they said you about "forgetting everything". Forget they said that!

Look at it this way. What are you getting the most practice in? Backing! Backing is the hardest thing in trucking to get your brain wrapped around.

There's about 20 million OTR drivers in the United States, and they all had to start somewhere!