Starting TDI Tomorrow

Im going to start school at the TDI Dallas campus in a few weeks! I cant wait to get this started. Thanks for sharing!

You're welcome, Kevin! And just FYI, I visited the TDI Milton (FL) campus today...and they seem to have a good crew of instructors there, too. I can tell that the morale among the students is good as they all exchanged information so they can stay in touch with each other once they go their separate ways.

Stay positive...ask questions, and if you need help ask for the help until they give it to you! These instructors all seem to love their jobs and to help in any way they can.

Rick,

Hang in there man. It will all work out! You can not fail until you quit!

Roger that, WT! I mentioned that to my bud PC who just got his CDL from the Milton TDI campus... I've had several opportunities to quit. I could easily justify having given it my "all". Even my wife said to me "seems like this may have not been meant to be". I told her that I saw the same signs and the thought passed through my mind...but, I want this too bad. I know that this career move will provide me with the opportunity to prosper, and take GOOD care of my family.

When I went to Milton today they told me I was approved for my three-day refresher course to give me the 4-1-1 to get my FL CDL. I'll find out Monday or Tuesday when I start. In the mean time I'm going to study for my endorsements!

Hey Rick,

Good luck to you man! You'll be fine, just relax and it will all fall into place.

I have enjoyed your daily posting, keeps the interest and enthusiasm alive for me!!

I start private driver training on April 7th, can't wait!!

Be safe and stay cool.

Jim

Hey Rick,

Good luck to you man! You'll be fine, just relax and it will all fall into place.

I have enjoyed your daily posting, keeps the interest and enthusiasm alive for me!!

I start private driver training on April 7th, can't wait!!

Be safe and stay cool.

Jim

Thanks, Jim...and best of luck!

Today was day three of my refresher training. Yesterday, I learned to parallel park the rig and ran the alley dock maneuver a couple of times. To start the day off, today, I blind side parallel parked on the first try! That was reassuring....

The State of Florida randomly selects a couple of parts of the hands on CDL test: the pre-trip inspection and the ground skills. I drew section C for my PTI and only missed a couple of things. I must add that the. PTI training in SC well prepared me for the test today. The computer also randomly selects which maneuvers you must perform during the second part of the CDL test. Everyone does the straight line backing. The computer selected for me the off-set parking to the right and, you guessed it...the 90-degree alley dock. I had near-mastered the parallel parking but had to giggle when my examiner told me that my nemesis-maneuver would be maneuver three for my test. I knocked out all three and got 'er done! I did try to mess up on the alley dock....oh yes! But, I didn't give up and raised my hands in victory when my second G.O.A.L. revealed that the rear bumper was in the box.

For the past few days I've been learning how to use the tachometer primarily during downshifting. Once my actual road test began, I nailed the hazmat road crossing section, then noticed as I was clearing the tracks that my tach was kaput! My instructor and I had a good laugh over that irony as a new beast appeared to delay my CDL...mechanical failure. My instructor drove the rig back to the school and he got on the horn with one of his mechanic buds and one of the instructors to see if they had ever experienced and knew how to resolve that fault. We checked fuses, wiggled wires, pulled the gauge panel off....and somewhere in the midst of that tinkering we must have done something right as the tach worked the next time we fired up the tractor.

My instructor told me, before we began, that I had driven well enough yesterday to pass the road test. I appreciated the reinforcement and went out and knocked it out of the park!

The TDI Milton instructors were awesome! They explained the maneuvers in a way I could better envision and then told me how to do them. Fourth time was the charm, and they made the difference. The key was when one of them gave me the key to straight-line backing: 9 and 3. With that key in hand, every other maneuver became a piece of less complicated cake. Perfecting that reduced the difficulty to me of everything else.

Never give up! Rick

Pre-trip Inspection:

A pre-trip inspection is a thorough inspection of the truck completed before driving for the first time each day.

Federal and state laws require that drivers inspect their vehicles. Federal and state inspectors also may inspect your vehicles. If they judge a vehicle to be unsafe, they will put it “out of service” until it is repaired.

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

• Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
• Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

HAZMAT:

Hazardous Materials

Explosive, flammable, poisonous or otherwise potentially dangerous cargo. Large amounts of especially hazardous cargo are required to be placarded under HAZMAT regulations

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

So awesome! You did great! Glad to see you stuck with it and got it done.

So awesome! You did great! Glad to see you stuck with it and got it done.

Thanks, WT! Hope everything is working out for you, too!

We will see tomorrow. I have my CDL test for my full CDL tomorrow!

So,the CDL school portion of this new adventure is behind me. I head to Roehl's Ellenwood terminal via rental car in a few hours for Phase 1 of dry van training. It's taken more time to get to this point than I had anticipated, and can normally tolerate. I'm going to enjoy this drive...