Getting Started With CR England

Just to let you know i am reading this and i find it very interesting just to compare experiences. I also was a pack rat and had to leave almost everything behind in the care of my future wife. Lol im not even sure how much is going to be left when i finally get back home.

Just to let you know i am reading this and i find it very interesting just to compare experiences. I also was a pack rat and had to leave almost everything behind in the care of my future wife. Lol im not even sure how much is going to be left when i finally get back home.

7-16-15

Thanks Jake! I wish you the very best of luck. I don't think I'd be brave enough to try to do this career and lifestyle if I had to leave a significant other at home. Maybe if they were going to be joining me on the road, but it takes a lot to handle long distance relationships. Technology makes distance seem smaller, but Skype can't give you a hug when you need one.

I've thought about doing this since I was 18, but I got married and shortly had kids. I couldn't even consider it until they were adults. I did always tell them that I was going to run away from home one day. Good thing they believed me.

The only things that's really going to take adjusting to not having while on the road are my books and my computer. Sure, I like the 4 pillows that sit at the head of the bed and the quilted comforter and crocheted blankets I've bought or made. I like having artwork on the walls, jewelry in the boxes, nick-nacks, furniture, and kitchen stuff. I like having my own bathroom, and washer and dryer. I like all of it.

The packrat keeps saying, "It's all mine! I can't leave it." The future over the road trucker says, "Meh. It's just stuff. The kids need it more. Adapt."

One of the interesting things about the process is that I'm realizing I haven't really utilized all that much of the accumulated crap I've surrounded myself with all these years. There's a refrigerator box-size pile of clothing I won't be needing. There's 5 bookshelves filled with books. (Many belong to my mother. She's in a nursing home so she's not using them either.) If the furniture, nick-nacks, shelves, and a lot of kitchen supplies disappear in the time it takes my daughter to settle in here, I'm not going to miss them.

CD's and DVD's I might miss a little bit, but I plan on purchasing a laptop at some point. If I can't get my music from that, an MP3 player or iPod will work. Books on Kindle or Nook are compact. I don't wear a bunch of jewelry so it just sits there in the boxes. I hate dusting, so the nick-nacks would be better loved in a yard sale or donation box. Clothes will wear out. I don't need 15 pairs of jeans, 5 coats, 8 pairs of shoes, etc. It's just stuff. If I can't live without something, it can be picked up when I finally make it home or purchased again. Even the car could go bye-bye and I wouldn't have difficulty letting it go.

Even as little as 2 weeks ago, I don't think I could have said that or felt this way. I think I'm already planning my future truck driving life, getting into the mindset that will allow me not to miss home. I'll see my family once in a while, but I already see them once in a while. Nothing will change, except maybe me. I'll even have better stories to tell and way cooler pictures.

Following...You sound a little like me, except thanks to health and/or relationships gone sour, I don't have much left to lose in the way of material things. I could totally live in a tiny house! I actually plan to plunk one down somewhere, someday :)

Following...You sound a little like me, except thanks to health and/or relationships gone sour, I don't have much left to lose in the way of material things. I could totally live in a tiny house! I actually plan to plunk one down somewhere, someday :)

Hi Christy! Thanks for reading my Diary!

I sent a PM.

Basically, I do live in a tiny house. With my brother's help, I purchased a trailer in a court about 7-8 years ago. There have been a lot of ups and downs during that time. A lot of changes regarding who lives here and who doesn't, but the one thing I count on is that my house will still be here when A) the kids don't need it anymore, and B) they haven't burned down the trailer court during my time on the road!

I like that I can provide my kids a stable place to live whether I'm home or not. I KNOW the difficulties life can throw at young people. Relationships going tits up, financial problems, job changes, and lifestyle choices make finding and keeping a place to live hard. Most places don't want pets anymore. We've got three.

Giving them basically free access to a home that's not going anywhere is the very least I can do for them. Growing up I remember at least twice where we had to move into my grandfather's house because mom was having a really hard time. When I was on my own, I had to do the same thing. A bad breakup, a 2-month old baby, and trying to drive my 3-year old back and forth across states every two weeks was brutal. Mom and Grandpa put me up for a year while I got my act together.

As for not burning the house down...my, at the time, 15-year old daughter tried to clean the oven when I had to go pick up mom from where she was living in Oregon. She turned on the self-cleaning feature. All good so far. Wait...you're supposed to make sure the oven doesn't have anything in it? Wait...when it catches on fire, you shouldn't throw cold water on it? Wait...that's the smoke detector! Wait...that's the glass window on the oven door shattering!

I was driving 65 down the freeway in Portland when I got that panicked phone call. Luckily, my phone sucked and all I heard on the speaker was crying and hiccups. We pulled into a gas station and I called home. My brother answered because my daughter was still freaking out! The only things damaged were the oven door and my daughter's nervous system.

7-17-15

Pins and needles. Going to try to sleep for a while. I can almost guarantee a night of tossing and turning, but occasionally I do surprise myself.

Wow! What can I say? Or should that be what can't I say?

I apologize for the long delay since posting. I didnt have a phone or tablet, laptop or computer available since beginning my schooling.

What?! No internet? How could you survive? Other than not being able to communicate except through phone calls to family, I did fairly well, after I did my technology detox. Withdrawal sucked!

The reason for the technology blackout was because the school blocks alot of sites. Of course if you have the mobile tech you're still covered, but I'm me, so of course it took this long to get it. Still learning so please bear with me.

My adventures in salt lake city at the cr england school were fairly mild actually, but I have to admit that I don't think I have been so busy and tired since I was a teenager.

One surprise was elevation-related swelling. The clinic doctor evaluated me after I tried everything I could think of and finally gave me some water pills. I'm still holding on to a week's worth just in case.

Another surprise to me personally was how outspoken I became. I made a lot of friends and talked with strangers. That was my original childhood personality but school and life ground that part of me into the dust. It was good to see that person again.

I'll cover my training ups and downs in the next post. Stay tuned.

Happily driving a big rig,

Renae

If you're still following me, I will try to give you a rundown of my training.

I arrived in salt lake city and had a huge culture shock. Getting from the bus station to the end school, we crammed 7 passengers plus the driver and copious quantities of luggage into a smalll shuttle minivan. I was the only female. Can you say SARDINE? I knew you could.

We arrived safely. Which shocked me. Checked into the facility's driver and student hotel. Students were given bunk-style accommodation. 8 bunk beds. No joke. Really! I was early enough in the day to only have one roommate while I unpacked. Super nice lady walked me and another woman through the place and showed us where everything was.

More people showed up throughout the day and on into the night. Monday morning bright and early, we filed into a large classroom where we we separated into on groups. Some people needed their permit, some were upgrading, some were testing, some were getting hired, and some were like me. I just needed the driving training, practice, and test. Yeah "just".

We filled out paperwork for the office, listened to lectures, and read and quizzed and tested. That was just the morning. During all of this, they sent us to medical for physical evaluation, drug tests, and dot physicals. I already had my dot medical card so that was good, but some people had to redo them because they weren't filled out correctly.

The physical consisted of walking under a trailer and touching the fence on the other side and then back again, climbing into the back of a trailer and getting back down, and lifting a 30 lb metal box from the ground to overhead to the ground three times. Not too difficult but you had to avoid touching the trailer or the ground, not fall out of or off of the back of the trailer, and not drop the wright on your head. I witnessed all of these things happen, including one guy who smacked himself in the face with the weight, another slip off the dot bar, and another whack his head under the trailer.

Then, a large group of very neon colored people started coming in. No, they weren't neon. They were wearing a lot of neon shirts and vests with neon. Hmmm? Who are all these guys?

They were our Road Instructors and Backing Instructors.

Our names were called by the different instructors in groups ranging from 2 to 4 people per instructor. Shortly after that we were directed to the backing range to meet our instructors and go driving.

Yes, I said driving. Three men and myself drove out to the "shifting range" and were instructed on double clutching , rpm and speed, and general control of the truck. I did okay, one guy couldn't get it at all, another was about the same as me, and the last guy shifted like it was a race to get to the highest gear. No one died. We visited salt lake and took a break at a gift shop inside a concert arena that looked like a sultan's address.

They let us go about 5. After starting at 6. It was a long day.

Each day was classroom, driving, and finding time to eat, sleep, and study. I have to admit, I didn't study too hard except for the pretrip and in cab inspections.

Day 2 with the road instructor was turning. 3 was advanced turns, liitle narrow streets, etc. 4 was supposed to be mountain, but we worked on shifting and then mountain driving. Gotta say that was an adventure.

One of my group scared me so bad I refused to come back into the truck going down the mountain if he was driving. We got to where the instructor wanted to turn around and demanded a break. I got out cussing and crying. I'm not a bad passenger. But some people I just don't trust behind the wheel. I'd been a passenger with him for several days and knew I couldn't trust him not to get me killed.

You want to know what he was doing? Okay. Let's speed up coming to a stop sign. Let's slow down entering the highway. Let's not find any gear at any time. Let's not look in mirrors. Lets drive down the middle, crowd corners, posts, and other vehicles, and last but not least, let's not listen to the guy in the jump seat trying to teach you.

Now, let's repeat every mistake every day. Repeatedly. Honestly, he had a language issue but the biggest problem was being 21, male, and arrogant. I flat out told him he was 21 and male which equalled stupid. I don't like being mean or discouraging but I think he just made me mad and scared me. That's a bad thing. Normally, I would say I regretted saying something like that, but not in this case.

Fortunately, he didn't make it through training.

That covers the first 4 days of training. See? Pretty cut and dried.

During down time we sat around talking to other studenrts, drivers, and school staff, went shopping, eating, and sleeping.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we trudged in 95+degree temperatures to the backing range where we were given instruction doing 3 different kinds of backing, straight line, parallel, and offset.

Monday, we were tested on what we learned. Some people passed the first time, others, like me made a stupid mistake which became a bigger mistake, and had to be retested. I took my 2nd test on Thursday and passed. Friday, I was hired and went through orientation.

Now, to get a trainer, get to my home staye dmv for my license, and spend 180 hours of paid training. And the adventure really begins!

Wow! SLC school sounds busy/crazy. I have been reading your diary since I too am going with CR England. I am having a totally different experience. I noticed you only live a couple of hours from me. Luckily for me, they sent me to a small school in Olympia, WA. A great place called VATA Commercial Driving School. I did not have to get my permit (upgrade for me) nor DOT physical before leaving home. They will ship me to the SLC for orientation when I get the actual Class A. Only completed my first week, then had to go home while I wait for my Federal Waiver to get here so I can go back to school and finish my last 2 weeks.

Keep sending updates please. I am looking forward to your notes on their orientation.

So far I covered going through the course at slc. I have to say that after visiting other cr england facilities and schools, they're is set up differently at each one. The basics are the same but every person does have a different experience.

The school's main goal is to get you familiar with the truck, driving, and getting your cdl. They require 180 hours of training on the road. After school a trainer is chosen for you or they choose to take you as a student. I know that sounds confusing, but it really is like that.

I was talking with a trainer who had just dropped off his latest student. My friend was ready to go on the road and they were still looking for a trainer for him. I introduced them to each other and that day they were on the road.

My experience was different. I didn't find a trainer I was able to go with, so they found one for me. It took about a week. I was only with her for 10 days and I got a call saying I needed to get back to idaho for my regular license. So, 5 minutes later, my trainer was given a new student and I was wondering how to get to my state. They pulled me without having a solid plan. That turned out to be good and bad.

I wrote an update last night and my wifi disconnected. Grr.

The long and short is it took 3 driver managers, 3 training coordinators, 4 trainers, and 2 months from when I was hired to get my cdl.

No, it's not an exaggeration. One trainer quit, one was so allergic to cigarettes I couldn't stay in the truck even with daily showers, clean clothes, and smoking far away from the truck on breezy days. I refused to get back on his truck for medical reasons.

Out of those two months I only drove with trainers for half. The other half was waiting for trainers to be assigned. I finally got to the idaho dmv and was told everything was great but they needed to clear my permits and class d off my state record.

The next thing i heard was, "How long will the system be down? "