OCTOBER 30, 2006
I wanted to updated this journal daily beginning with my first day of training. Well, I'm starting out a day late with that plan. LOL
First day of class Monday sort of started out being behind. We are here ready to go and the instructor is not! Just a bit of poor communication. That seems to be the norm for the trucking industry so I got of on the right foot I guess. They called an instructor to come in for the missing one. Today a few hours was spent watching some films/movies about safety and road rage. How do keep a three point contact to enter and exit the truck safely. This also applies to climbing on a load in the case of working with flat beds or anytime your feet must leave the ground. A couple of films on Road Rage and then a film on how to turn the truck and keep the trailer from running over everyone in the process. We learned to turn using the Square Out, Button Hook, Standard Right Turn, and the Short Button Hook. The rest of the class headed out to lunch, but those of us prehired with CFI stayed to give "integrity" interviews and enjoy lunch provided by CFI. They answered any questions we may have had about the company and what they expected out of us. This concluded our class room time and we headed out to the trucks.
Instructors showed us how to perform the PreTrip Inspection and then we were off. Driving the BIG RIG on the very first day!! We took turns with the instructor with us to talk us thru upshifting and then we were on our own. Three of us to a truck taking turns until about 5:00pm finished up the day.

OCTOBER 31, 2006
Trick or Treat
Happy Halloween!
Day Two...
Two hours of class room to learn a bit about HOS or hours of service and loging in our DOT required log books. A little bit of paper work and pay our tuition and then off to the trucks. Again the instructors went over pretrip inspections with us and then we were off on our own for most of the day. In the afternoon, our instructor introduced us to the art of down shifting. It is done differently then the upshifts and requires throttle control to hold the RPMs at the correct rev to allow the downshift.
Shift up, Shift down...Shift up, Shift down...Shift up, Shift down... Continue with right and left turn practice and shifting between the turns. I expect we did as much shifting as would be required for and entire trip to the west coast! LOL ... My left leg is beginning to complain a bit and is a bit tender in the upper thigh area from all the shifting. But keep in mind about the only thing I've done for the past few years is raise my legs with the recliner in front of the television. Hahahaha
Well tomorrow will introduce us to needed new talents. We start learning straight line backing.

Still dreaming

Today puts me one GIANT step closer to obtaining our new life. Some of the requirements for a commercial truck driver are a DOT authorized health certificate, and drug screen. This is required to protect the general public as well as all other commercial drivers. You really don't want to share the road with an 80,000 pound missile coming at you piloted by an unconscious driver. So we are screened for high blood pressure, high sugar levels and other things that may prevent a driver from remaining in control of the big rig.

I passed my physical and got my certificate allowing me to pilot a rig. So now off to attempt the written test portions for my CDL license. I arrived at DMV and announced that I was ready to take my tests. I was asked what endorsements I needed and replied that I had studied the whole manual and was ready to take them all with the exception of Hazmat. They asked me again if I really wanted to take all of them, and I said sure, nothing to lose but a bit of time.
So I took 5 tests...
General Knowledge and earned a 93
Combination vehicle and earned a 94
Air Brakes and earned a 100 WooHoo
Doubles/Triples and earned 94
Tankers and earned 89

All passing grades and got me a brand new shiny CDL class A permit in my pocket.
I am now legal to pilot a big rig as long as I have a licensed co pilot in the jump seat next to me. All I need now is some instruction and a whole lot of practice. That will soon begin as My 1st day of class begins Monday, October 30.

I also had a final interview with my recruiter from CFI and all is set up for when I come out of class for the Thanksgiving Holiday. The way things are working out, I'll graduate CDL school the day before Thanksgiving and then attend orientation at CFI the following Monday.
Home for the Holidays, it just doesn't get any better then that.
I guess my next update will be after 1st day of class. Stay Tuned and Follow Your Dream

Well, I guess we have to start this blog out somewhere. So I'll start by bringing us up to date.
This journey began back in January as I researched companies to determine who would be best for us. Actually, I really must begin further back then that. Our original plans were to retire in our mid 50's and basically live in a motor home and travel this great country of ours. Those plans fell apart a little over 5 years ago. But that would be a whole book unto itself.

Needing to go back to work now that our children have left the nest, I decided that maybe we could keep part of our plans and travel this great country. I began researching companies and found several that put us through training and then hire us to driver for them. Of course to do this, you have to sign a contract to drive for anywhere from 8 months to 2 years to satisfy the contract depending on the company. I had just about decided to just keep saving and try to pay for schooling myself and then our opportunities were much broader in choosing a company that would treat us better then most training companies.

About this time CFI or Contract Freighters Inc. started a new program in wich they sponsored part of the cost of attending Crowder college Truck Training in Neosho, MO.
And they will do this without any contract to satisfy. They are taking us on faith that we will drive for them once we have completed the course and have CDL in hand. Now the reputation of this company far exceeds any of the training companies and any other company that I know of that will hire a new driver. So this is the place I want to go. Belinda will continue to work and keep us fed and in insurance as I proceed with this new plan. Once I get on the road and am there long enough to get our insurance, my darling will join me and we'll enjoy this journey together.

I was pre approved and set up to go to school November 27th. Now all I had to do was gather my needed funds, pass the tests to get my cdl permit, and obtain my DOT physical.

October 3rd I received a phone call from CFI and they have an opening for the October 30 class and moved my shool date up a month. I am now trying to put everything in high gear and move things along faster. I am studing now to go get the permits and will contact CFI to set up my DOT physical within two weeks of my start date.

Well, that about brings us up to date and I'll try to keep this up as I progress and get into school. In a few short months, Belinda and I will be living the dream.