Sage Truck Driving School - Phox

I think overall I just misunderstood the wording of the question and answers. no big deal, still passed the test and I understand how to test the braking systems as well as park the truck.

So I was only supposed to have 1 drive today, from 10a-2pm, but because one of the other students couldn't make it for his drive I was given his place and id 2 drives today, the 2nd from 2p-6p

It went soooo much better than expected. my instructor was very relaxed and explained everything including pre trip in very good detail without making it complicated, he showed me how to do everything before having me do it. everything went very well. so for my 8 hours (more realisticly when you factor in breaks, pre and post trips, etc it was prob 6-6.5 hours of driving) of driving I drove in circles around the school yard shifting up from 2nd to 3rd, 4th and then 5th and back down to 4th, 3rd then 2nd. first couple hours was without a trailer just bob tailin' around (that just sounds fun to say it that way) the yard then we hooked the trailer back up and the other 6 hours was with trailer. about an hour into the 2nd session my trainer taught me how to straight line back... no biggy pretty easy and then how to make the trailer swing a certain direction and then get the truck back in line (turn the wheel the opp direction you want trailer to go, left to go right and right to go left) that whole shabang... did that no problem.

Now my classmate who's king of the big mouths, likes to talk a lot of smack then when it's his turn to do stuff... man he was a cone killer, stalled the trucks a bunch of times... overall slowed me down a lot cause he was in a separate truck and I kept having to stop and wait for him to get going again. the first session we both had our own trainer, but 2nd time we had the same guy who took turns with us and well lets just say the 2nd time he was only with ME maybe an hour at most... I don't wanna pat myself on the back to hard but damn i'm impressed with myself. I was thinking it was going to be so much worse.

so since I did 2 drive sessions today I got 1 more in the yard, then 7 on the streets, I think 3-4 of those 7 are in industrial park and the rest are on same path DPS has us take for test so we can be prepared and know what to do in advance. I think we learn how to shift into 6th through 10th when we get on real road. not enough room in the yard to really get up to speed for 6th+

Even though I did real good with manual today I would still rather have an auto. that much less to deal with BUT at least now I think I could handle a manual if I had to.

One of the other students called off today so his trainer called me and asked if I wanted to fill in his spot, so I'll be doing my 3rd drive today :D

I'll report back later with how it goes.

One of the other students called off today so his trainer called me and asked if I wanted to fill in his spot, so I'll be doing my 3rd drive today :D

I'll report back later with how it goes.

Seems like you are well on your way, Phox. Congrats on the extra time. How did today go?

So I did my 3rd 4 hour drive block today... to my surprise it was not in the yard. Nope today I drove to the outside of the gate then trainer drove to wherever the heck he took me... looking at google maps (map provided below) it looks like loop 410 and i37 south of san antonio. He pulled over on the side in a patch of gravel and explained there's very rarely any other traffic here and that the access road goes up about a mile or so then goes under the 410 and loops back around and he would have my practice making the turn and shifting from 4th up to 9th (9th was highest needed since it was 45mph speed limit and since we just had an empty trailer we could start in 9th) and back down to 6th, except when stopping when I would go down to 6th then while stopped go into 4th.

here's the map of that route:

I bassicly made the start and end point right next to each other and set it to avoid any highways...

You can see the part where it goes under 410 and back up north (ish... more like ne), from that start point to end point, once I got comfortable with shifting into high ranges I could easily shift up to 9th and at least down to 7th before the turn, but little iffy with getting into 6th before the turn... kinda panicked cause I was afraid of hitting the guard rail and going into whatever was beyond (grass, a cliff... hell... no idea). for that bit of the turn around he had me go into the shoulder a bit so trailer could make the turn while staying in my lane, there's 2 on the access road and we used right lane whole time. Once we made it through the turn I went back up to 9th gear and back down and back up if I still had time before s ww white rd... that came a new ball park of fun.

so before getting to it I would downshift to 6th, get into the left lane while yielding to traffic if there was any exiting freeway (think I had maybe 3 vehicles the whole time). Then I would stop about 4-5' from stop sign and shift into 4th then making sure my right was clear would sort of jack knife the truck into the right lane, just the tractor and just basically making it so it was almost perfectly perpendicular to ww white. the way the map looks is how it really is.. you can not see the traffic coming from the east if you stay straight... you just can't, so you needed to have the truck angled to see both directions, once it was clear I would straighten the truck out, make my turn, shift into 5th and try to get 6th (sometimes I did, other time I could not) and make the turn back into access rd going sw and do it all over again. We did several laps of this then once I felt good about shifting and what not he had me drive to a truck stop along i-10. route is as follows:

Nothing super special about this route... few right turns, other traffic to deal with... did have to run red light because I was both not prepared and the light kinda changed fast plus it's rainy out... I should have been better prepared for it to change but instructor was telling me about how DPS takes points off if you don't stay in your lane lines on both sides and I was looking in the fender mirrors making sure and next thing I know I look up and the lights yellow!!! trainer just said speed up and go... was long since red at that point. so I partly blame the trainer for distracting me but in the end it is my fault since I was driving and I accept that. We had the misfortune of me discovering where our local landfill is... yeah it was pretty bad smelling. that point on i-10 is where we took a bathroom break, then the final stop is the industrial park where trainer showed me how to parallel park and let me try it a few times. I have the concept down but need more practice.

From there we went back to the yard (where it says sage truck driving school).. pretty much onto the access road for about a mile, then a right then a left into yard. then back it up to dock space old dominion lets the school use.

Feel free to look up those locations yourself and get a more zoomed in or street lv view if you want...

I didn't hit anyone or anything and truck was still running good so I think I had a good drive shift.

Trainer said he's very impressed with how fast I'm learning, especially the shifting... says I am getting it down much faster than most of his other students. I don't know if he's saying that to be nice or if it's true.

Oh and my left leg hurt once I was done... truck we used has a lot of tension on the clutch... it's brand new.

My next drive is scheduled for this Wed 6p - 10p... of course weather forecast says 50% chance of rain so it might be rainy, dark and might be a fair chunk of traffic to deal with... this should be interesting.

Still a possibility of getting drives before then,t hat's just what's scheduled so far.

My next drive is scheduled for this Wed 6p - 10p... of course weather forecast says 50% chance of rain so it might be rainy, dark and might be a fair chunk of traffic to deal with... this should be interesting.

Still a possibility of getting drives before then,t hat's just what's scheduled so far.

Phox good luck on your night drive tonight. Not sure if this is your first night drive, but things look a bit different in the dark (obviously), even more so when it's raining. Take your time, increase your following distance. Safe travels.

My night drive went well. It was an in yard drive so following distance wasn't a big deal cept the fact had another student doing same stuff as me (but with less experience as it was only his 2nd time driving) for the first 2 hours. trainer had me practice shifting 2nd to 5th and back again for first 2 hours then he taught me how and had me practice paraelle parking... on my left side. That was difficult in the sense because it was dark, the yard has lights but not a lot. took me about 3 tries before I could do it even once then I failed it again 2x then I was able to do it every single time (about 6 more times) from that point on.

The way he told me to do it was (and this is for doing it on left side not right): Turn the wheel 1 full turn (easiest way I know to do this is put your hand on the side and turn it till it gets back to the same spot) Then start back until you can just barely still the front corner of left side of trailer in mirror. Then quickly turn the wheel to the left 2 full turns and back till your truck is in line with trailer again, you should now be backing up straight to curb but at about a 45ºish angle. Then slowly keep back up till trailer wheels about a foot or so from curb and (very) quickly turn the wheel all the way to left, for like a half second which for the most part makes the trailer straight with curb Then after that half second or so (very) quickly turn the wheel to the right to straighten the tractor out and be parallel with the curb.

It's one of those things you just have to do, you can read how to do it till the cows come home but in the end... you just won't understand till you do it.

Obviously parking on the right side is the same steps but the direction you're turning the wheels is the opposite in each step.

Pretty boring night but made it through. the rain wasn't a huge issue, just had to deal with sprinkles. the only annoyance there was figuring out how to turn off the whippers in the truck... seemed like nothing worked till I tried at least 6 various patterns... was like trying to figuring some combination lock pattern or something. so much easier with my car... you move the handle on steering wheel down for intermittent, again for slow, one more time for fast, pull towards ya for a single whipe and push the button on the side of handle to use washer fluid and get 3 whipes. nice and simple.

My next 3 drives are scheduled as well.

I have a drive this afternoon 2p-6p that I know is not in the yard Another one tomorrow 10a-2p that will not be in the yard and again on Saturday... I think it's 2p-6p in the yard.

That last one is supposed to be practicing for the drive test, but I still have 3 more drives to do after that 3rd one... no idea why the school does things in the order they do em in...

Last bit of BIG news... I am scheduled for orientation with US Xpress on Jan 18th! Will be doing it at their Dallas terminal. Well actually Irving, but not everyone knows where Irving is, same could be said for a number of cities in the dallas/ft worth area, hence why most locals call everything around there the DFW area.

Lol, you are right, or, is it left? That is a rather confusing read, but I got the jist of it. I am hoping that pulling my parents 5th wheel camper, and my own popup trailer, will have given me a small edge, as I learn the backing of the 53' trailers. I plan on going flatbed, but that is always good experience to learn. Congrats on your USX orientation date.

Stay safe

Hey Phox,

Be careful in and around San Antonio, please. I have In-Laws, Nieces, Nephews, and Friends who live around the area where you're driving.

Congrats on your accomplishments, and good luck with US Xpress!

Do you ever get near Sea World in your travels?

Lol, you are right, or, is it left? That is a rather confusing read, but I got the jist of it. I am hoping that pulling my parents 5th wheel camper, and my own popup trailer, will have given me a small edge, as I learn the backing of the 53' trailers. I plan on going flatbed, but that is always good experience to learn. Congrats on your USX orientation date.

Stay safe

I also have small vehicle trailer experience, and it does help a little, but that trailer is MUCH longer than almost anything you haul behind a personal vehicle. Straight backing should be easy for you but all the other maneuvers will require different timing and angles, and your off-tracking will be very different.