The Training Diary Of Kemo - The Longest Road.

Originally posted in the Ladies Forum

Has anyone on here been CDL trained by their significant other? I don't have any friends/family that can relate to it in any way or may have some stories to tell about training. Stories from either end of the spectrum would be nice to hear right now.

Present Day - We've already successfully gotten me the Class B. I've two construction seasons and one (sad) winter haul under my belt in a solo end dump. I feel like a pro with the range of different jobs I've done (paving, thru mud pits, up/down side of mountains, grindings, etc and one day I did 75 loads in 10 hours...talk about a hamster wheel) lol....but we are still working on the Class A! I have until the first week of November to complete/pass test.

The good news.....shifting is a breeze, I am not scared of vehicle size going down the road, have done generally well in taking turns with the trailer on, am confident in pre-trip inspection

the scary stuff.....we haven't done a lick of backing! I think we've tried to have me park at the yard twice which imo, doesn't count. whenever we do train it's usually on the job and we haven't necessarily dedicated any days to it. Sometimes he thinks that me driving to the yard constitutes as training lol. 20 minutes here and there isn't going to cut it!! And to boot - I'm a little gun shy still from when we trained my Class B. I kind of do better when I pretend he isn't sitting there, even when he decides to run shot gun in my dump truck if he brought me lunch/dinner lol!

Now maybe part of this is just venting...ok well 99% of it hah

Spose I'm thinking of this right now, because I am supposed to "train" tonight on-the-job again. There will be backing since it's a paving gig but apparently I won't be doing it we're just going to switch off every round....ugh!

Any words of wisdom or just a training story to relate to would be fantastic! Every time I think about training it's more nerve wracking to me than any of the scarier jobs/situations I've been on thus far.

Figured I'd throw an update in here:

OTJ training has been going well - forward driving anyway and fully loaded. I am not really nervous anymore about jumping in the truck and going down the road...the difference in taking turns & braking I am more comfortable with now but am still being more cautious than I need to, which is definitely a-o-k. Still yet to get some real back up experience. Realizing I have to double clutch for the duration of the road test I've been practicing that again too. See, for all you kids out there, this is the problem with not going to school ha ha.

I went ahead and jumped on the waiting list to take a road test, earliest they would schedule me is a month from now. Maybe put the pressure on a little more so that we will actually have me go practice backing. I also found out some interesting things from road test instructors at the dmv I'm not sure if they were supposed to reveal to me based on what the state approved third party testing company told me. I'm not sure who's wrong there about privy information to "students". I also found out the route I will more than likely be taking so we can do dry runs. Apparently there is a turn in it most ppl hit the curb on O.o

Any who we found out where one of the schools has their backing skills course set up at and it basically is always set up and is accessible to the public. So we plan to have me hit up the practice there asap.

Well I was glad that last night we finally went and tried to do some backing, for real on a state approved course and everything! To my dismay it didn't last long lol but I'm happy we went anyway. I'm good to go with straight backing at least ha ha ha and I'm not as iffy on which way to turn the wheel as I thought I would be (just in general) to point the trailer where I want. We gave the alley dock maybe 5 attempts but the problem was.....1)we didn't know exactly how we were supposed to do it. 2)Our side dump trailer is a super tri axle. So 3 axles and most rear one is extended out from the others.

I got out and was watching him try to do it though, and I had noticed that if that third axle wasn't on there, it would have been perfect line up. We had an encroachment issues with the stinger and third axle. When we go for another round we're either going to lift the third axle and pretend its not there or bring out our 2 axle belly dump to practice with. Either way I'm more than likely not going to take that trailer to my test =/

Also, I'm going to see if I can convince him to invest in paying for a 1 day course for me (offered by same people who will be doing my test. would be 8 hours with an instructor and a road test at end), and I'll use the schools rigs. With the cut off date quickly approaching....I am thinking that is the best case scenario and I want to take it. Wish me luck guys!

:D convinced my guy to let me do the 1 day course. Will be practicing every chance I get prior to but found some good backing videos based on passing the test.

Welp, looks like my date for "school" is November 7th. I'm already getting nervous thinking about it. Not knowing what it will be like, even about silly things like....will the driver's seats they have accommodate someone who is 5'2''? Will I have any decisions at all on what I know I need to practice or will they just, tell me what we're doing per schedule no deterrence. Will there be a lot of snow when I take my test!!!! (first snowfall last night, still is for a couple more hours). We haven't really stopped running so still haven't had much time for practice prior to my 1 day class + test same day. I have to confirm and pay for it today, which will be fun since I'm starting work at 8am and will probably be running all day. I will just have to use one of my couple minute stops to call them and pay. But I'm pretty sure she said (since she called me while I was working yesterday) that I will be doing review from 8am-2:30pm and then at 2:30pm I can opt in to take the CDL Class A test. I sure hope that I will at least have SOME control over the 8-230 bit, since....I'm kind of paying a nice lil chunk for this and I know what I need to work on before I test.

Some entries went over here /gasp

General Forum: Road Test Failed

Well, to skip a couple of parts, I left the DMV with a new Class IA permit yesterday afternoon with a Passenger endorsement/restriction.

The best part of the story, is going back to the DMV. Grabbing Timothy from CDL Services (guy who had been working with me all day), going straight to the one of the "teller" people up front without waiting. But then, the teller hit a block in the system where it would not allow him to continue processing my permit paperwork. His manager and the CDL Services manager end up verbally duking it out again I am told. I go take a seat, I'm waiting for awhile. They are still going at it somewhere in the building. I decide, eh screw it while they are arguing I will go take the passengers endorsement written. I pass. I go sit back down. This fiasco started at 9am that morning and it was now almost 4pm. I'm like "man I am STARVING!". So I head to the vending machines, only to discover both managers doing their verbal duke out right in front of the vending machines as poor Timothy leans against the wall...waiting for a verdict. I jokingly pretend as if I am trying to sneak by without being noticed not sure if I am not supposed to hear this conversation. Timothy notices me and starts laughing like "it's okay come over". I tell him I am just starving and just wanted to use the vending machines. I hear them arguing over the passengers endorsement (essentially for some reason there was verbiage in two different areas in the regulations that were conflicting, one on my side, the other against me). I tell Timothy, "you can tell them I passed my passengers endorsement just now so....they can probably stop arguing".

They are like "oh...well okay then. So that fixes that then". They start discussing that they NEED to fix the conflicting verbiage as the against me manager was trying to split.

Somehow it happens all the time where I am the person that becomes a "learning experience" for people in different areas of service. Funniest thing for me was that for some reason "against me manager" didn't believe him when he told her that I had passed my gen, airbrakes and combination exams the same day she ACTUALLY went and checked the computer like "oh....i guess she did then". And that whilst they were arguing.....I went ahead and passed another. I'm half expecting that she is going to check the cameras for when I was taking my tests ppfftt.

So now.....this is the plan since my permit is renewed. Stay on the waiting list with NIT for a road test. Practice in our side dump in the mean time (now that I know how to do the backing maneuvers, what the test route/pre-trip entails and how they expect me to double clutch.

Just remember folks out there, who want to skip school and try to "fast track"...go to school if you have the opportunity! So you don't end up like me : ( ha ha. This has been quite the grueling process. 9/3/2013 is the issue date of my first commercial learner's permit....just wow...still hangin in there :D

So now you only have to take the driver test? Not the other ones again? And thanks for this story btw. I know you got this.

Hehe thanks for being the first person to reply to it! I feel like a bit of an odd-ball round here.

I have to wait a minimum of 14 days since I had to renew my permit, to take the pre-trip, backing skills and road test again. I will have to pass all 3 of those although two I had passed on my first road test. If this is what you meant. As for the written exams they are valid for one year and only apply to getting the permit. So say you pass your airbrakes written exam but you fail your general knowledge and combination tests O.o! It's ok, that airbrakes one is good for a year, so just retake your other two tests until you pass (one attempt per day [in AK at least] last I checked). I sure hope I got this! I will so long as we get out there and practice! Then it will be in the bag.

Somehow I deal with immediate stress way better than impending stress or past tense stress. I may have already mentioned this somewhere in my diary but, it's true. I stressed out WAY more before my test than when I was actually taking it. Or like when I go to work, I stress out on my way to work pretty bad but once I am on the job it usually goes away and I just do what I need to. Of course there are days that stress me out while I am behind the wheel but those days are special cases lol, a few in my memory come to mind instantly and it usually involves working with guys who like to haul ass.

I've been following the 2 threads. Then I realized we were talking before, about the disgusting people with animals. I don,t have advice cause I'm gonna go thru all this myself. But I know about stress. Short of it is to breath and breath deep and slow. Get oxygen to that brain. And for me I don't have any kind of wheat flour for 3 days before anything stressful. There's a fog dulling the senses that I can't afford. The brain still functions but it doesn't trigger as sharply and quickly. EH, but what the hell do I know, I'm still stressed and worry about everything. Best of luck, I'm rootin' for you.