Continental Truck Driving School In Lancaster Tx

You're not supposed to push the gas down while you're on the clutch. What gear are you starting out in? It sounds like you're in too high of a gear. Start in 2nd.

You're not supposed to push the gas down while you're on the clutch. What gear are you starting out in? It sounds like you're in too high of a gear. Start in 2nd.

That makes a lot of sense. The school has us starting in forth gear. I thought that was a little strange. But I passed yesterday. Finally. I'm so happy that I won't have to start like that again. I, plan on starting in second from now on.

You're not supposed to push the gas down while you're on the clutch. What gear are you starting out in? It sounds like you're in too high of a gear. Start in 2nd.

That makes a lot of sense. The school has us starting in forth gear. I thought that was a little strange. But I passed yesterday. Finally. I'm so happy that I won't have to start like that again. I, plan on starting in second from now on.

Good for you, girl. We are all rooting for ya.

We graduated today! Got our hats and everything. We will be heading off to Oklahoma for the orientation. I hear that the hotel provides breakfast and they will give you some sort of lunch. I'm excited about that. I'm very tired of beans and ramen.

Hey congrats on passing! That's awesome!!!

Yeah, you might get away with starting in 4th with an empty trailer, a strong motor, and a forgiving clutch. By why make yourself and the truck work so hard? Start in 1st or 2nd when you're loaded, start in 2nd or 3rd when you're empty. Once you get your own truck you'll quickly get used to what it can do and what it can not. You'll adjust to it and you'll never have to worry about it.

That's a shame you had to keep retesting over something as simple as starting in a lower gear. And the examiner obviously could have told you that but isn't allowed to. Sometimes schools or individual trainers will get set on a certain policy and stick with it no matter what. I know there's one company out there that teaches the same thing - start in 4th gear. I have no idea why they would do that. It's tearing up the clutches and making life needlessly stressful on the drivers.

But now you're through it and on to the next step. That's great news! Before you know it you'll be out there on your own and you'll finally be able to do things they way you want to do em. You'll be much happier and more relaxed when that day comes.

Hey congrats on passing! That's awesome!!!

Yeah, you might get away with starting in 4th with an empty trailer, a strong motor, and a forgiving clutch. By why make yourself and the truck work so hard? Start in 1st or 2nd when you're loaded, start in 2nd or 3rd when you're empty. Once you get your own truck you'll quickly get used to what it can do and what it can not. You'll adjust to it and you'll never have to worry about it.

That's a shame you had to keep retesting over something as simple as starting in a lower gear. And the examiner obviously could have told you that but isn't allowed to. Sometimes schools or individual trainers will get set on a certain policy and stick with it no matter what. I know there's one company out there that teaches the same thing - start in 4th gear. I have no idea why they would do that. It's tearing up the clutches and making life needlessly stressful on the drivers.

But now you're through it and on to the next step. That's great news! Before you know it you'll be out there on your own and you'll finally be able to do things they way you want to do em. You'll be much happier and more relaxed when that day comes.

I'm going to start a new diary for the orientation and training at CRST. That way people can find both of the parts of this easily.

Thanks so much Brett for being there. I'm very happy and tired all at once. But I know that we can continue to battle this uphill battle.

You most certainly can!

We'll be following along on your new thread. Can't wait!

Welcome aboard Mistelle and thanks for all that info!

I guess it's after the fact now, but life sure would have been 1000 times easier on you guys if you had gone through our High Road CDL Training Program before heading off to CRST. You would have been able to learn all of those materials from the comfort of your own home and had your permit in hand right away, basically allowing you to sleep through the entire first week while everyone else is trying to cram those materials down their throat day and night. But for anyone else reading this, make sure you go through our program before you start your official CDL training wherever that may be.

Now I have a question. You mentioned "Continental Truck Driving School" but you're going through CRST. Is CRST using a private truck driving school to train you guys? I was under the impression they have their own schools on their own property, but maybe that's not the case? Any info you can give us would be great!

CRST in Iowa uses Kirkwood Community College, in Cedar Rapids, last time I checked. Usually, if I remember correctly you go to Kirkwood for two or four weeks, then you go out with a trainer for about four weeks, then you finish your training at Kirkwood.

Dave

Just re read this. I laughed and smiled. It was so very hard then. Now, it all seems so easy. Can't believe how hard i fought that clutch.

I am a recent grad from this school, some things have changed and it seems that they have changed for the worse with one exception.

I started off by contacting them to find out if they are approved by the VA post 9-11 program and they informed me they were; while filling out the forms to attend I spoke with one of their personnel and he informed me of how to word the class title "Commercial Drivers License Class A" Wrong! it needs to be filled out as Tractor Trailer Basic Course. Next I show up and I meet our instructor Mike; He is awesome (Ray is still there and he is funny and informative as well). We pipe through our chapters in the Texas guidebook to do all of our testing no big deal, then in week 2 we chug headlong into the JJ Keller books backed with plenty of informative videos from Youtube and the 1970's lol. Now our class was unique in the fact that we did not have many recruiters visit us, so we left on Friday to head to the range.... Now bear with me because this is where things really took a dive for the worst and began what I will know as 2 full weeks of stress and frustration.

We head out to the range and meet up with the best instructor out there Truly he really is. He has a flat on his trailer and trying to take pressure off of it to try and reseal on the bead... no joy so he risks driving to the tire shop to get it taken care of 45 mins later we make the right hand turn to the tire shop (mind you we have passed 1 sheriff and 2 DPS) we are 300 ft from the shop and Whoop Whoop, he managed to avoid the ticket thank goodness because he could have put us out of service. So tire on and off to the kiddie track to practice shifting and so forth. Rest of the day is uneventful.

Monday we come in and the backing instructor asks me if I know how to back (mind you I did have a CDL in the military and drove there) I tell him yes I do, he asks me to move the truck over to a particular spot. I perform a 45 blind side backing, he walks up to the truck and says wow that was awesome can you teach these guys how to straight and parallel park I will be right back.... Ummm sure I guess, 2.5 hours later he shows up and says great job man. To avoid a long read for the first 3 days I taught them other 2 how to straight, parallel, do their 45, 90, and 180 both sight and blind sides. Then on days 4 and 5 we went out to the kiddie track and the other 2 learned how to shift I only assisted in teaching this because one of the students did not speak english very well and I am quite clever with my drawings to describe things. Thank you NCO leadership classes.

Now Monday week 4 we are sitting at the range waiting for our instructor to show up so we can go out and terrorize the streets, he is not there neither is his truck. The backing instructor walks over and asks me if I can get started teaching the new class that showed up, and that we are going to be waiting there until the shop can fix the truck we are to be in. Ummm sure here we go again. about 1330 or so we have a truck and off to the roads and highways and negotiating space and all that jazz right... Wrong off to the kiddie track and my rear posted in the back seat.

Tuesday we are pushed to a different truck and different instructor bc our friends that does not speak english complained about not getting enough drive time??? I mean really at this point I may have had a total of 45 mins seat time. So now there are 6 students in one truck with an instructor. I managed to get 30 mins seat time, was told that I am an excellent driver and that he needs to work with the rest of them. Although I am not instructing anymore so that is a bonus!!!