Soon To Be Flatbed Truck Driver For Knight Transportation

This morning I got the news from my recruiter that I will be starting my training in Phoenix this coming Monday. I'll be flying out Sunday morning and be checking in to the hotel later that day. Super excited for what is to come!

That's great news Stephen!

Keep us posted. Believe it or not we are excited too. We always enjoy hearing about our members training experiences.

This morning I got the news from my recruiter that I will be starting my training in Phoenix this coming Monday. I'll be flying out Sunday morning and be checking in to the hotel later that day. Super excited for what is to come!

I'm also starting Monday. I'll be the old man. See ya there!

This morning I got the news from my recruiter that I will be starting my training in Phoenix this coming Monday. I'll be flying out Sunday morning and be checking in to the hotel later that day. Super excited for what is to come!

This morning I got the news from my recruiter that I will be starting my training in Phoenix this coming Monday. I'll be flying out Sunday morning and be checking in to the hotel later that day. Super excited for what is to come!

I'm also starting Monday. I'll be the old man. See ya there!

Well, Stephen and Bush Country . . . what GIVES ?!? Just checking, waiting, wondering !!!

A month of 'Mondays?' Hehehehe...

Love those posted loads, Rob . . . and OS! That Flatbed thread NEEDS PICTURES, for the greedy wannabees like me, haha!!

~ Anne ~

This morning I got the news from my recruiter that I will be starting my training in Phoenix this coming Monday. I'll be flying out Sunday morning and be checking in to the hotel later that day. Super excited for what is to come!

This morning I got the news from my recruiter that I will be starting my training in Phoenix this coming Monday. I'll be flying out Sunday morning and be checking in to the hotel later that day. Super excited for what is to come!

I'm also starting Monday. I'll be the old man. See ya there!

Well, Stephen and Bush Country . . . what GIVES ?!? Just checking, waiting, wondering !!!

A month of 'Mondays?' Hehehehe...

Love those posted loads, Rob . . . and OS! That Flatbed thread NEEDS PICTURES, for the greedy wannabees like me, haha!!

~ Anne ~

Anne -

Stephen and I met on the first day of class and have ended up in the same truck. We talked about Davy A.'s magnum opus of a diary and feel like there's nothing much either of us could add so probably no training diary from either of us.

Not wanting to hijack Stephen's thread but - Everything is going great so far. We pretty much have the pre-trip down. Wednesday - straight backing. Thursday - offset and road driving for the first time. Today was technically a holiday (no school) but one of the instructors said he would come in so we both took advantage of that. He showed us parallel parking. Only three of the seven of us showed up so Stephen, I, and one other student, after each pre-tripping the truck, had about four and a half hours of running through the three backing skills. Not sure how many reps that gave us - I think at least five each, maybe more. Since we did that, and the rest of the class needs to learn parallel parking, the three of us will be working together again on Monday which will give us more reps on the skills.

Cheers!

This morning I got the news from my recruiter that I will be starting my training in Phoenix this coming Monday. I'll be flying out Sunday morning and be checking in to the hotel later that day. Super excited for what is to come!

This morning I got the news from my recruiter that I will be starting my training in Phoenix this coming Monday. I'll be flying out Sunday morning and be checking in to the hotel later that day. Super excited for what is to come!

I'm also starting Monday. I'll be the old man. See ya there!

Well, Stephen and Bush Country . . . what GIVES ?!? Just checking, waiting, wondering !!!

A month of 'Mondays?' Hehehehe...

Love those posted loads, Rob . . . and OS! That Flatbed thread NEEDS PICTURES, for the greedy wannabees like me, haha!!

~ Anne ~

Anne -

Stephen and I met on the first day of class and have ended up in the same truck. We talked about Davy A.'s magnum opus of a diary and feel like there's nothing much either of us could add so probably no training diary from either of us.

Not wanting to hijack Stephen's thread but - Everything is going great so far. We pretty much have the pre-trip down. Wednesday - straight backing. Thursday - offset and road driving for the first time. Today was technically a holiday (no school) but one of the instructors said he would come in so we both took advantage of that. He showed us parallel parking. Only three of the seven of us showed up so Stephen, I, and one other student, after each pre-tripping the truck, had about four and a half hours of running through the three backing skills. Not sure how many reps that gave us - I think at least five each, maybe more. Since we did that, and the rest of the class needs to learn parallel parking, the three of us will be working together again on Monday which will give us more reps on the skills.

Cheers!

Awesome to hear; thanks for the reply!!!!!! That is SOOO coool y'all hooked up, 'Buddy Systems' really work well, in these instances.

How cool is that? Y'all got a whole extra day of training/backing (while the less serious played games and such... smdh!!) I'm really excited for BOTH OF YOU... and even though Davy's diary IS EXTRAORDINAIRE, you gotta realize that people 'hungry' for information (ANY!) on a prospective company will be interested to read EVERYTHING they get their paws on!

Just one (or both!) of y'all stop in every once in a while and drop an update...please! Stay, safe so happy for y'a's!

Awesome to hear, sounds like both you guys are grabbing the bull by the horns. We really do want your guys perspective and experience too. Everyone has a different take on things and your experience can help others.

Sorry for taking so long to make another entry. The first week has come and gone. It's been a lot of fun and a lot of work. The second part of the week got a lot more exciting since we got out of the classroom and into the trucks. Like Bush Country said we had a holiday Friday, but since one of the instructors offered to help us out a few of us decided to take him up on that offer. We also came in this morning to get a little more practice on the pre-trips since we have our evaluation (practice DOT exam) early next week. The extra practice has definitely helped. I think we finally have all of the parts and terminology down. Our biggest hurdle is not rushing and overlooking anything. Rushing can really cause you to overlook even the most obvious parts or terminology.

One thing I have noticed is the professionalism of everyone from Knight involved with training us. Apart from just being really nice and making us feel welcome, you can tell they really want to help us out in any way possible. They don't give you the impression that they are only there for a paycheck. You can tell they really enjoy what they do. I'm trying to get as much knowledge from them as I can. That's one of the reasons I felt like applying to the Top Gun program was a no-brainer. I'll have the opportunity to soak up more knowledge from the instructors. We haven't found out if we have been accepted yet, but hopefully we will at the beginning of the week.

As for what has been the most difficult for me, it has definitely been being away from my wife and dogs. Hopefully she will be flying in at some point to stay for a week or so. Also, it can be quite difficult to eat healthy while staying in a hotel. At least I have a fridge and microwave. I have been cooking my veggies in the microwave. The mini fridge stays very cold even packed with groceries so that's good. I've also gone through two cases of water so far this week. I've found drinking water to be very important here in Arizona.

Unless anything significant happens then I'll probably wait until the end of the week to update everyone on the week's details. See you Monday Bush Country!

Week two has come and gone. The first three days consisted of us driving part of the day and practicing our back skills. Tuesday morning we all had our pre-trip evaluation. It's basically a practice test for the actual DOT test. Those of us who did well would continue practicing our backing skills while those who did not would have to spend the remainder of the day practicing the pre-trip. Basically, we have an evaluation for each portion of the DOT test (pre-trip, skills, driving). By passing each evaluation it shows the instructors that we are on track to pass out actual test. If we don't do well then the instructors will help us work on our weaknesses. I only missed four things on the pre-trip, but one was unfortunately an automatic fail. I did not specify in the emergency/automatic spring brake test that the trailer parking brake would engage before or at the same time as the tractor parking brake. Instead, I just said they would both engage. Since I did well otherwise, I was able to go on to practicing my backing skills with the three others that passed.

This Monday we have our driving evaluation and Tuesday our skills evaluation. Thursday, I am scheduled for my actual DOT test. I am feeling very confident with my pre-trip and backing skills. I can perform each step without looking at our paper that has them all written down. If I am off, I can pretty much correct it in order to get the trailer where it needs to go. I really hope we are able to get a decent amount of driving time in this week before our test. While we have gone out driving pretty much every day since Thursday of our first week, we haven't necessarily gotten a lot of individual driving time. There are seven of us and only two instructors at a time can go driving. One instructor has been on vacation and will be back this week. The other has to remain at the terminal with the first week class. That being said, I am very appreciative of our instructors. They have been nothing very professional. They bend over backwards to help us out and have stayed after class hours in order to help us get some extra practice in. All in all, I feel confident that when test day is here I will be ready.

Was down at the terminal this morning, stopped in to say Hi to you guys, but you were out driving I think. Mario said you guys are doing great!