The Adventure Has Begun

It's been almost three years of research, soul-searching, communicating w/ family, and prayer. Today I visit the CDL school I'll be attending. The director meets with each prospective student in order to ensure that the school is a good fit for the student, and more impressive, that the student is a good fit for the school! A welcome approach after hearing horror stories of CDL mills. Just one of many reasons why I really like this school. Basically, the school will not let you attend if they know you won't be hire-able for most companies.

Each class only has 6 students. I'll be attending the 8 week evening class which starts May 5th. They fill up fast, so I'll be reserving my seat with my deposit today. I'm gonna ask to sit in one of their trucks before I leave - I've never even been inside one yet!

I should graduate by the beginning of July. Hopefully I'll be hired shortly after by Crete / Shaffer. The school I'm attending is one of their approved schools. Still not sure if I'm rolling w/ dry van or reefer yet. My decision will ultimately be based on the availability of dedicated accounts out of the terminal that is close (very close) to my home.

I'm not sure if I'm going to start a training blog or not. I know Anchorman has already provided one for Crete that I found very insightful. I at least wanted to share w/ you folks that today is the first step amongst many. I'll let y'all know how the meeting went. In the meantime, I'll get back to the High Road CDL training materials on this site. I've also downloaded the CDL manual for PA. Very excited to get rolling!!!

Hey that's awesome man! And I most certainly hope you do start a blog about it. The more the better! There are an infinite number of perspectives and insights people will gain from it. There's no way any 10 people could ever truly convey the full spectrum of the experience. We'd love to hear how it goes for ya and you can be sure it will help a ton of people!

I'm gonna ask to sit in one of their trucks before I leave - I've never even been inside one yet!

The first time I ever saw the inside of a truck was day 6 of truck driving school - our first day out in the range. I'll never forget that raggedy, dusty, grimy, vibrating piece of garbage. But it was beautiful enough for me! I mean, I didn't care - I was so excited I could hardly breathe!!!

OK, well I gave my deposit that reserves me a seat for the next round of evening classes that starts May 5th! The owner / director of the school is a class act guy. He's actually an educator, having spent time as a teacher. He was also a professional driver. Not every trainer / instructor is actually a teacher, and you can tell this guy not only enjoys what he does, but is a teacher at heart. I met one of his instructors as well. Friendly guy.

After going through the paper work and chatting for well over an hour, I asked him if I could sit in one of their tractors before I left. By that time the day class had left and we had the lot to ourselves. He led me to a 2002 Kenworth T-600. He opened the driver's side and showed me where to grab on to climb into the tractor. I climbed up that truck and sat in the driver's seat. He hopped in the other side. I felt like a kid! Finally, I turned to him and said "I"m speechless!" I wish I had more time to take it in.

Three years of research and this website your going to have a huge advantage over your classmates. I wish I found this website when I was in school. I wore out my copy of the dmv manual and watched a ton of YouTube videos to prepare for school. Good luck, before you know it you'll be a rig driver!

I work with 3 guys from my class, we laugh when we talk about how we used to get nervous and all sweaty when it was our turn to drive. Good memories, you'll enjoy it.

Congratulations, Bill. I envy you, but my adventure should be starting in less than a month; perhaps weeks. Good luck with school. Sounds like you found a good one.

Best of luck to you Bill,

You and I are enrolled in very similar types of school. I will be starting my schooling in less than two weeks, at a private CDL school, it is a ten week course, I am scheduled to graduate on June 13th.

I am getting so excited (and nervous), but really just can't wait to get this adventure rolling and finally turn the page of a whole new chapter in m y life!!

I do plan on chronicling my training time with a journal, it should be fun and I've never done anything like "journaling" before. Heck I'm not just beginning a "new" chapter, I'm opening up a whole other book!

Slainte'

Jim

Thanks for the responses and encouragement!

I left with a stack of paperwork from the school yesterday. He makes it easy w/ a check list of things that need to get done before school starts in May. He prints out PA DMV forms ahead of time and includes them in the intro packet. I've got a DOT physical and drug test to do, need to complete the learner's permit application and self certification form, find my passport, and bring a copy of my driving record. I think I'm going to hit the books hard so that when I go to Penn Dot (PA's DMV place) for my permit application, I'll just test for my driver's permit and endorsements while there. Not sure if that's ambitious or not. I'll have a few weeks.

The permit is a two step process where you actually have an application for a permit to fill out first, and then obviously you'd need to take the test to receive the actual permit before operating the tractors on the road. Some schools prefer you to have your permit before starting class. This private school I'm going to requires that you have the application for a permit filled out before the first day, and then you need to take the test to receive the permit within the first week before operating the tractors on the road. The first week of the class is mainly spent in the classroom preparing students to be able to take the permit test. The director said some folks just take the permit test ahead of time for less stress.

This school actually has docks to back into! They bought an old trucking company and it has a yard and docks. The director told me that we would not be doing a lot of highway driving - as he said "that's the easy part." He said most driving time will be spent backing, bumping docks, jack knife parking, a lot of shifting on York PA's back roads that are filled with hills. Then, city driving in Harrisburg and York, PA. We get to get in the trucks on the first day in the yard for backing. Then of course you have all the yard work like pre-trip inspections, coupling, etc...

For any of you that'd like to check it out, the school is DCS School of Driving in York, PA.

Bill, I like your plan of going ahead and taking your endorsement tests at the same time as your permit. That is exactly what I did, and thanks to the High Road Training Program it was not difficult to do at all. I always recommend that you have your permit before you even arrive at your school. Often times while all the other students are cramming during that first week the instructors will allow the ones who showed enough initiative to get their permit ahead of time to do some maneuvers in the tractors out in the yard. Once you get started at school you will be surprised at how much knowledge you have over the others. You are already one step ahead thanks to your involvement here.

Best of luck to ya! Keep us posted.

Bill you're gonna have some setbacks and struggles, everyone does - just take it in stride and keep working at it, you will get it just like ten thousand others did before you, you've got this!

Thanks for the kinds words and encouragement Old School. The way I see it, I'll have about 3 weeks to study. The last week of April I'll be on vacation w/ my family. We kind of planned it that way. One last 'hurrah' before school starts in May. I'd be great to have my permit and endorsements out of the way before our vacation. Then, I can just focus on going to school come May 5th and hopefully get some of that extra maneuver time you mentioned - that'd be cool if they granted that!

For just the permit test, I was told I'd need to study the first two sections, transporting cargo, combo vehicles, and air brakes. That's not including sections for endorsements.

For just the permit test, I was told I'd need to study the first two sections, transporting cargo, combo vehicles, and air brakes. That's not including sections for endorsements.

Bill, you're a smart dude. You're going to fly through the permit and endorsement tests like they're a joke. Probably ace em all. Here's the breakdown of our High Road Training Program:

Permit:

• Rules & Regulations
• Driving Safely
• Transporting Cargo Safely
• Air Brakes
• Combination Vehicles
• Pre-Trip Inspection
• Driving Exam

The main sections for your endorsements which are optional but we highly recommend you get:

• Transporting Passengers
• Doubles And Triples
• Tankers
• Hazardous Materials

And two sections we've built ourselves with info you'll need for everyday life on the road but the manual doesn't really cover it:

• Logbook
• Weight & Balance

You'll have no problem getting through our program and getting the permit and endorsements before going on vacation and I highly recommend going that route. And if you get the chance, go through the Logbook and Weight & Balance sections. You really will need that pretty much every day of your life out there and nobody teaches that stuff very well at all. It will be a huge advantage to walk into the classroom on day one with that level of knowledge under your belt already. It will give you a chance to relax and help your fellow students with tissues for their tears and CPR for their stopped hearts from the stress they're going to go through trying to cram all of that information in such a short amount of time.