CRST - From Bus Ticket Email To Fully Employed(Hopefully)

Bob was there, too.

Brian is Charlie's step-son.

Bob was there, too.

Brian is Charlie's step-son.

Ah yeah. Good guy.

Today was our day off. Yesterday a few us went to the market in town and picked up stuff to grill out today. One of the guys cut up potatoes and made French fries from scratch, another grilled up the brats and burgers. All the food came out amazingly good. Spent some time earlier in the day studying through the book for our test out of school in a couple weeks. It was a really good day. Also made some calls to catch up with the family and some friends. Not too eventful...need to spend some time studying up on my in-cab inspection and pretrip today. Haven't been able to really go through the in-cab much but the external pretrip I've got down pretty well. Getting pretty nervous about double clutching and off-set backing, which we're starting tomorrow along with the on-the-road training. With the recent trouble I was having with my straight line backing with just using the right mirror has me concerned for my off-set backing. Hopefully I'll get it down pretty quick though. Until next time...

Be safe.

So today we started on the road training and off set backing. I had a little trouble getting thr hang of double clutching , was a bit frustrating but ended up getting it down alright. I'm not where I WANT to be, but got better though. It was pretty nerve wracking being out on the road and finally driving. My road instructor is this old guy named Bill. Pretty funny guy, but MAN does he stick on you until you get it. It's a tough love kind of teaching, but it works. The more frustrating thing was the off set backing. I just can't seem to get it as quickly as I got straight line backing. It's just not "clicking" for me the way straight line did. Granted I am learning a BRAND NEW maneuver and I only got to give it 2 goes, but it's still frustrating to me. I'm confident I'll get it, just frustrated I haven't gotten that "click" moment yet.

I apologize these posts are a bit short, but I'm writing them as I'm laying in bed absolutely exhausted from the day. Not so much physically but mentally drained. We're in our second week and it really feels like it's been a lot longer due to how much we've learned and how much we've done. New class came in on this past Saturday and I was in the classroom when they came to sign in and you can just see, they all had that "deer in the headlights" look. It was amusing to me to think back to last week when that was me. Either way, it's time for me to sleep and another day tomorrow.

Be Safe.

Hey Optical, I just wanted to add my support, more kudos for ya, and echo that "we're watching" your journey... In my case with appreciation for your finding the time when you're under the daily pressure of SO much to learn amid the successes, frustrations, tough love, etc. I don't know how you do it all, cuz I'm not sure I could've pulled it off. I did post some of my specific struggle here, but covering it like you are would've been tough. And that was even though my own schooling was stretched out over months due to COVID, it being night school, etc. Of course that makes it harder to learn in a way, but not harder to keep a training diary. Maybe I'll get one going shortly, now that I seem to be finally on the verge of a hire....

...But if this hire falls through, CRST seems to be my next choice, so who knows, your company is courting me and it seems I should be able to get into their OTR training program... And maybe join you on that road soon...maybe even literally if you'll be teaming, as It feels like we have a lot in common and the timing might work out.

So I hope you do have time to read this at some point, and will leave you to it all with my quick weigh-in on what you're going through right now-- You're absolutely right that it's gonna all be "clicking" soon... Just be sure to cultivate that confidence AND patience till you get there. This Trucker's Forum helped me a lot with that when I was having trouble with that dang double-clutching, in particular. (If I never have to do that again, I'll be happier.) As for the offset backing, no worries man, only getting two shots at it so far is way too soon to able to expect that "click" feeling to occur, though yeah, it can happen at any moment! The lack of truck time when I was most "ready" for it was the toughest part...but click it all did, and of course will for you shortly (maybe by the time you could possibly even read this) and you'll be cruising right through that big test! --E.Z.

Today was an interesting one. I woke up at 5am, made lunch, hung around for a bit then headed out to the bus. Got the yard, had roll call, and split up. Get to my road truck and help out with pre-trip a bit. As we're about to head off the yard road instructor looks at me and asks if I've been talked to yet. I mention I haven't and ask what it would be about. He tells me he can't say but he knows. So instantly my head goes to worse case scenarios. We go out and do our road training, I'm doing A LOT better with double clutching , still have an issue with going to neutral before being completely stopped, but it's finally starting to "click". We get back to the yard for lunch and the person I'm told is looking to speak with me is not there yet. My head is still completely worried trying to figure out what it could be. As I ask around the general consensus is that I'm in trouble for something. About an hour after lunch I see the person and head over to talk to her. Figure I should get this over with. Well....come to find out it was ALL because my road instructor was MESSING with me! He got me really good, but MAN was I spun out being worried. It was a good laugh, but still had me spun out. Can't be angry at it...it was a good one.

After all that settled, I went to give the off-set backing a shot and COMPLETELY missed my marks and turn directions. Still SUPER frustrated with this maneuver....again it's just not "clicking" for me yet. Even as I go over it in my head I'm finding myself questioning the directions and the timings. Hopefully it clicks tomorrow though.

One thing to take away from today, if nothing else, is that I am doing well enough and liked enough that everyone feels comfortable with messing with me. I'm also a big joker myself, so I can't get mad at taking some of my own medicine and I can appreciate the fact that I got got.

Well, here's to tomorrow being a better day. Be safe.

Today was a MUCH better day than yesterday. Got a lot of good practice in on the off-set backing and finally got the "click" moment. Just 1 more day to polish it up and get it fine tuned. Was able to go from left to right without a single pull-up as well. So the backing is coming together, and it's about time it does.

I also got to do a full pre-trip including an in-cab and only missed a couple things on the in-cab, which isn't too bad considering it was only the first time I had done an actual in-cab. I forgot to check the horns, the indicator lights on the dash, and the governor cut out test. Also got to drive out of the yard and got on the highway for the first time behind the wheel. Was EXTREMELY exciting to be finally driving on the highway and just relaxing the whole time. My double clutching is on point, my down shifting is on point, I can see the improvement I've been making and it's extremely satisfying.

Tomorrow I need to polish up my off-set and be ready for Friday when we start alley docking. Until next time...

Be safe.

Way to go Opticman!.. You probably haven't had time to read my long supportive post from yesterday, but no matter cuz as predicted, you got it "on your own"... I'll just offer you a simple confident message from my very recent experience and what I've read here--- If it's clicking, you're safe in thinking-- Just stay as focused as I am and it only gets easier to pass from the point I'm at. --E.Z.

Apologies for the lack of post last night, was pretty exhausted mentally. Yesterday was a good day though. We did on-ramps and off-ramps which I got the hang of for the most part. I do still need to work on my clutch control to make sure the truck doesn't roll backwards when on a slight incline. Once we rolled back about 2-3 feet and I ended up panicking and popping the clutch, which resulted in a VERY turbulent truck for about 30seconds. Yesterday was also our last day to work on off-set backing which I got down to being able to do with only needing 1 pull-up on each side. Today we start alley-dock and we head out to work on cornering and turns(mainly we head out to a mall parking lot and do figure 8's). It's all starting to come together and I'm feeling really confident. Tuesday we find out when we take our final CDL skills test, test out of school, and where we are going for orientation(either California, Texas, or Iowa). Time really has flown by these past couple weeks and I'm excited to get out there and just get into the groove.

Until next time....

Be Safe.

So today wasn't too bad. Went out to do the cornering course, was doing really well until I attempted to do too much at once and got all discombobulated. Took a quick second to remind myself to slow down and stop trying to do too much at once. Got it worked out and went super smooth the rest of the drive, even drove back to the yard without much incident. Bill, my road instructor, is a really good teacher even though he sounds like he's SUPER frustrated with you most of the time when that's just his teaching style and it helps. He also told us what our current grades our, and I'm sitting at 93/100 alongside 1 other in my 4man group. We're all doing well to be honest. Two of use being at 93 and the other two are at 92/100.

Started alley-docking today and that is SOOOO much simpler than off-set is. Already clicked together and just need to polish it up for the test next week. I am feeling really good about testing and super excited for the next chapter in this adventure. Tomorrow is the weekly cookout on the yard and some practice then a day off on Sunday.

Until next time...

Be Safe.