Zen Joker's Training Diary At Veriha Trucking

Day 1 is in the books...

Last night I didn't sleep well as I stepped into the spiritual octagon with my demons and made quick work of them and reaffirmed why I am here and why I will succeed for the love of family and the love of an old (non-adulterous) mistress I've been separated from for almost a decade...the road.

Woke up around 3 am, but the feeling was anticipation and excitement. Got in the home office at 0700 and was greeted by the recruiting HR admin and then was introduced to the whole staff. Shotgun HR and orientation in the morning. One unique thing is there is an area in the office called "Veriha Cares". It's a place where drivers and office staff gives or takes food. The director of training said "Nobody here goes home hungry, if you are in need, take some food back to the hotel" The home office had the energy vibe of a small Midwest company. Salt of the earth, genuine, and honest. Trust me in over 20 years in corporate America, I know an atmosphere where the mission statement is merely "Wall décor and nothing more". The culture of the company seems to be alive and well.

My class is 10 students. Half have their CDL and half of us are training for our CDL. Some students from Detroit got their Michigan CDL in Wayne County without ANY knowledge of HOS!! One also passed his CDL test without a trailer involved!! Anyways, the group as a whole seems good. Good chemistry with everyone. As far as I can see there are no team cancers in the room and everyone seems to interact well so far. One other student and I so far appear to be the most book smart. There is one really nice who is 21. He seems really terrified of the Pre-Trip as that is a guaranteed ticket home. I will work alongside his roommate (also the guy who seems the most book smart and has Class B OTR experience already is my ride to class) to help him out as we study pre-trip.

The afternoon was spent studying the Smith 5 Keys and getting into the pre-trip study sheets. We are also practicing paper logs for the whole week. Tomorrow we start pre-trip out on the range.

Good read Zen,

I looked into Veriha myself. Not sure if I already mentioned that in another post. I read a post from another person that kind of turned me off with them. I really liked what I read. The training time with them though was a bit long. I think it would have been like a total of 6 weeks before you got to go home after getting released solo. I think I read it's more OTR driving as well which I'm not interested in.

I'll definitely be following though.

Zen, they told my class we didn't have to pre-trip it like it is on their sheets, which I thought made more sections out of it than the pre-trip guide on here from Daniel B., we could come up with whatever worked for us as long as we hit everything we needed to on it. Maybe that can help, as long as that didn't change.

Lance, I just went through their training and got routed home right after going solo, twice actually, to get all my belongings on my truck. I felt it was pretty wide open and up to me how I wanted that handled.

Zen, they told my class we didn't have to pre-trip it like it is on their sheets, which I thought made more sections out of it than the pre-trip guide on here from Daniel B., we could come up with whatever worked for us as long as we hit everything we needed to on it. Maybe that can help, as long as that didn't change.

Lance, I just went through their training and got routed home right after going solo, twice actually, to get all my belongings on my truck. I felt it was pretty wide open and up to me how I wanted that handled.

Zen I look forward to reading your daily journals! The pre trip is a monster under everyone’s bed. I can tell you how I did it.

1. Master in cab 2. Master under the hood 3. Master all suspension, breaks, and tires 4. Master Fifth wheel and Tandem 5. Master rear of trailer and lights

I have this belief, if you can recite it without being in front of it and without the script then you have mastered it.

Took 3 days to get it all to click together. I have seen some get it much faster. Also some having a hard time getting it. But once it clicks it clicks and you will never forget it. Once you gain that confidence while saying it you are ready.

I can’t wait to see more from your journey. And as always Good Luck Zen!

👍🏿

Zen I look forward to reading your daily journals! The pre trip is a monster under everyone’s bed. I can tell you how I did it.

1. Master in cab 2. Master under the hood 3. Master all suspension, breaks, and tires 4. Master Fifth wheel and Tandem 5. Master rear of trailer and lights

I have this belief, if you can recite it without being in front of it and without the script then you have mastered it.

Took 3 days to get it all to click together. I have seen some get it much faster. Also some having a hard time getting it. But once it clicks it clicks and you will never forget it. Once you gain that confidence while saying it you are ready.

I can’t wait to see more from your journey. And as always Good Luck Zen!

Have you ever seen avian breeders force feed baby birds with a plastic syringe? That is the process of CDL School! :) Was hoping to journal earlier this week but trying to keep up with homework, keeping in touch with the wife and daughter at home time has been scarce. I'll try to do a quick recap from Tuesday thru Friday of week one:

TUESDAY: Every day starts with an hour of pre-trip. We did some more classes (mandatory FMCS stuff) and the Smith 5 Keys to safe driving. Afternoon started on the range where we learned straight line backing. Everyone struggled to get acclimated and the main thing was to get the prelim jitters out from "actually being in the truck". In the evening I pounded homework and got through all the required FMCSA modules which is due the Friday of week 2.

WEDNESDAY: We kept doing pre-trip in the morning and got in a rotation of straight line backing. Started in cab pre-trip and air brake tests to meet WI DOT testing requirements.

THURSDAY: The usual pre-trip and today was a BIG DAY. The instructor (who is the company Safety guy) drove us to an industrial park and I volunteered to go first. I got in the seat released the brakes, said a quick prayer, QUIETED my emotions and just focused on my trainer's voice. For those who have never driven a semi tractor, the throttle (accelerator) and brakes are so sensitive a mouse fart on either pedal will shake the cab. My trainer focused on resting your heal and squeezing the pedals gently. After showing me the basis of turning (extending into intersection and starting the turn when west coast mirror reaches center of the road, he then took me on the freeway, I was not familiar with the AMT works to get the biggest bang accelerating so I grannied it onto the freeway. After exiting, I went into the town of Peshtigo, WI which was moderate traffic. Overall he was pleased with how I did for my first time out. Need to work on keeping my head forward which will help with my lane management. Also need to stop favoring my left mirror all the time. Overall very happy and gained some confidence from my first day 18-wheeling. In the afternoon, the trainers wanted to see how much we retained from straight backing on the range yesterday. I crushed a cone on day 2, but also got a couple of tips that really helped me get a bit more comfortable backing.

FRIDAY: Wisco weather foiled the day so we ended up in the classroom ALL day with snow, sleet, and rain most of the day. The goal was to drive in Marinette which features more traffic and tighter roads. The city was designed by drunk lumberjacks which should make for some fun next week! Since our class is pretty sharp and engaged, they went through some basic trip planning which all found cool and very helpful. They also briefly discussed the spilt sleeper rule. Apparently I was the only student who ever understood how the rule generally works. THANKS TRUCKING TRUTH!!

Looking back at the week, the KEY to retaining info and moving along is not let emotions and self doubt creep in the back door. Considering a career? Current student driver struggling? Don't ask me HOW to do this. All I can say is when self doubt creeps in and says "you can't do this" all you can do is say **** off! Yes, I can, onto the next lesson. This may be the most important trait to possess in CDL school. This just doesn't apply to getting started in trucking but any undertaking in life. Most of your problems will not stand the test of time...in a word, perseverance.

One early victory that I am humbly proud of is being able to help others right out of the gate. One student was a 21 year old guy, just married, and I could tell was very nervous and very intimidated by a lot of things, especially the pre-trip. Having almost 4 months after my first career's funeral and getting my trucking career, I've had a boatload of time to study the fundamentals. Without taking anything from my own training, I went out of my way to give him some pointers on the pre-trip buy most importantly I gave him a little free life coaching to get him out of his own head and reminded him why he is here and that this is withing his reach, he just needs to believe in himself. By the end of the week I was floored to see him pay it forward by helping as he said "I'm going to help ****** with his in cab" another struggling student, He was confident enough to help someone else. That was very fulfilling to me.

Anyways, I am home for the weekend with my family tackling a honey-do list and enjoying the sunny 25 degrees in upper MI. Will provide another update next week, until then be safe, and make today better than yesterday.

These are great training updates that others are going to read and learn from.

I agree with PackRat. I just went through it and am learning things have already changed. I'm curious, what kind of homework are you getting?

Hey man!! Luma training, FMCSA stuff. I did the whole course in about 2 hours. Weather screwed us up Friday. Hope you are well!

I agree with PackRat. I just went through it and am learning things have already changed. I'm curious, what kind of homework are you getting?