IT IS OFFICIAL

I am now a truck driver. Orientation is finished, after another half day of paper work. Somehow, I just knew when I got up this morning it would involve more paper work. But it has all been worth it. We also had a bit of training today on what paper work is required, how to use the on board computer system, and watch a couple of training films. Then it was off to get pictures made for our official ID cards.
We were then assigned our finishers and welcomed to the company.
I called my finisher and found out he is still out of state picking up a load that headed south and it will be Friday afternoon/evening before he will be here to get me on the truck. Unless something changes, I will be heading south this weekend. :)

Living the Dream

ORIENTATION DAY 2

Yep, you guessed it... More paper work. I had heard there was a bunch of signing papers, but now I know first hand. There is a LOT of paper to read and sign. We were introduced to trip planning today. I have made many many personal trips as well as business travel in my personal car. I have always been able to read a map and find where I wanted to go. This involves so much more. Planning where you will fuel, streach your legs, eat, and take your qualifing break so you can drive again legally. Do this while meeting the on time delivery and getting the freight there safely and no damage. Wow, there is much more to it then just picking the route you want to drive. I really got a steep learning curve to conquor on this, because if I don't, I'm going to be late before I every start the truck up. I can't belive that it took me OVER 3 hours to plan a trip from Laredo, TX to Tayor Michigan. Shucks, I could have been over 150 miles up the road by the time I had decided wich way I was going to leave out the gate. I've got to get much better at this, as I am sure they are not going to wait 3 hours or more for me to tell then what my ETA is. By the way we do not have "Estimated" time of arrival. We have "EXPECTED" time of arrival and if some unforseen problem is going to cause us to be late, the shipper must be notified in advance. This is why CFI is so successfull. I forget the exact percent, but I think it was like 99.8% on time delivery success. I have a lot to live up to. Considering that the company only hires about 3 out of every 100 applicants, I consider myself very fortunate to be accepted with this outfit.

This afternoon brought the real world road test to us. I scored just a bit above average and will now strive to improve this should I ever be tested again. I want to be the best I can be and do it safely. Tomorrow I should be an official CFI employee and be hitting the road very soon.

A "significant" ice/snow event is predicted to hit us tomorrow. Not real sure what they have planned for us, so stay tuned.

Living the Dream

ORIENTATION DAY 1

Paper work, paper work, paper work!!! I'm not sure, but I think I may have given my first born son away. I sure hope he doesn't mind. I have hired to many companies in my early life and have never seen so many forms. The trucking companies must protect them selves from all possible liabilities I'm sure, but man O man do they have a lot of paper.
Then had to take another drug screening. No problem for me and no worries here.
More Paper work.
Lunch and film about Highway Watch to help look out for trouble and terrorists.
More Paper work.
Out to the range to test our skills using a T-2000 KenWorth attached to a 53 foot box.
I was second in line to do the 45 degree alley dock back. The driver in front of me... An experienced driver I might add scored something like 60 out of 100. I said to self as I watched, "you did not set up correctly dummy"
My turn... Set up... Looked perfect as I was taught at Crowder (Thanks Kelli) Got out as required after turning on my flashers and secured my area. Got back in truck and backed to within 15 feet of gate. Got out again to check position as required. Made a pull up or two so I would be square as I slid her in. Backed about 10 feet inside the gate. Got out 3rd time as the company requires. Nailed it home and scored 100. Man that felt good.

Obstacle course...
Hmmmm, This course is tight. The instructors walked us around explaining scores and how each obstacle is graded. There is total of 120 points and the instructor piloting the truck scored 114 as we walked around with him. (Show Off)
I am glad that was not cars that I was bumping up against as I went around those curbs. Scored 62... I was not happy with that score, but as I watched experienced drivers score in the mid 40s, I did not feel so bad about my score.

This was a long full day. Tomorrow, we will take road tests for the company while interacting with real traffic. I not sure what else, but I have a feeling there may be more paper work.

Did I mention there is a LOT of paper work?

Living the Dream

RARING TO GO

Sunday night and I'm checked into my room at the local Holiday Inn in Joplin. We are supposed to be in the lobby by 6:15 AM ready to be picked up for first day of orientation. I'm keyed up and not the least bit sleepy. My plan is to get up about 5 AM and fix coffee and have a bit of breakfast. The way it is looking now, I'll probably go to sleep about 4:30. LOL
I know we'll have at least 3 full days ahead of us before we are actual CFI employee's. Stay tuned as the adventure continues....

Living the Dream

YeeeHaaa, School is out. It has been a whirlwind of a day. We had the all day thing with Robert yesterday while the rest of the class took final school tests on backing, and road trips. So today those of us commited to CFI had to play catch up.
First thing we took our road trip test. I got 121 out of possible 125. Then straight line backing. I don't know how that was scored but I backed without encroching on the lines and then stopped my front bumper on the stop line that was also being graded.

When all was said and done, I ended up with a GPA of 95
Not too bad for an old foggy like me. Look out Joplin, the new batch of kids will be hitting your streets come Monday.

Day before Thanksgiving you would think not many folks would be wanting to do business down at the local DMV. Oh my gosh! I think this was the worse part of the whole school/CDL experiance. But I do now have a shiney brand new CDL in my pocket.

See you all on the BIG road soon.
Living the Dream

SMITH TRAINING

Today Those of us that are pre hired to CFI spent a day together in a 12 passenger van learning and practicing the Smith system of defensive driving. It really is just a lot of common sense that we should be using everyday anyway. We all develop bad habits and my main bad habit is pulling close to intersections that have a stop sign. By leaving a cushion at stops as well as while your driving you always have an out or safety barrier. Learning to recognize hazards while driving is also good common sense. Anyway, this was a laid back, informative day. I think most of us actually enjoyed the day.
One day left. Tomorrow I will take a road trip for final scoring to be used by the school to determine if I earn the certificate that is required by CFI and many other over the road carriers. I have allready passed the tests required by the state for my CDL, but CFI requires a higher standard and that is what this certificate signifies.

Living the Dream

CROWDER COLLEGE DAY 22

WARNING WARNING WARNING
You may want to pull your wives and children off the roads. It appears that they are going to allow me to obtain a Commercial Driving License and pilot a big rig all over this country.
Today we took the driving and skills portion of our state required testing. I was the second person to do the backing skills. It was ugly and I PASSED. "That's all I got to say about that." I then moved over to the where the state required pre trip inspection test was being given. I only missed a couple of items out of 105 and scored 103 on this test. I then waited my turn and took my road skills test after lunch. You start off with zero and can lose up to 25 points before failing this test. I scored 13. I was told that the average runs between 9 and 15, so I performed ok with this. Over all I am pleased that I have passed all tests and will get my CDL, but I am personally disappointed in my performance. I know I can do better than what I showed the testers. I am really glad that this day is over. I didn't think my nerves would get to me like they did today. I am just now winding down and it's been several hours since testing ended. I will now take the skills that I have learned here and work my best to improve them and become one of the safest drivers on the road. My goal is to begin and end my career with NO accidents or tickets.
Tomorrow those of us committed to CFI will go out with a representative from CFI to learn the Smith system of defensive driving. This will be an all day event. So my days at Crowder College are now coming to a close and My new career will be underway.

Living the Dream

The folks that are committed to CFI and our instructor Janice Coberly in the middle front row.

THURSDAY 11-16-2006
Wow, what a week this has been. Those of you that have read my earlier posts know that I had to leave school for a couple of days to attend my mothers funeral. Belinda and I got back to Springfield about 3 AM and I just went straight to the shower and then got ready to head to school. I got to the dorm a little after 5 AM and knew I would be back up at 6. So I just laid down on the couch in our common room for an hour.

Thursday involved some general discussion about our final written test to be given Friday and a few safety film movies. The movies were "Mountain and Grade Driving" and "Truck Stop Accidents". I sure had a hard time keeping myself awake for these but wanted to learn any tricks and techniques needed for mountain driving for sure.
Then our instructor wanted to teach us the effects of drinking and driving, so she got us all drunk! LOL well sort of... I think she had too much fun with this, but she has these "drunk goggles" and had each of us put them on and attempt to walk a straight line, catch and throw a small ball, and attempt to pick up the little ball while it was rolling. Many folks almost fell down attempting these simple feats. It was a very enlightening experience.
After class we headed for the trucks. I was first driver to start the road trip through downtown Neosho. I want to apologize to all the good citizens that were behind me that morning for I missed many gears, did not set up properly for my turns and just seemed that I could get nothing right this day. I did finish the road trip with no accidents and was happy for that. The rest of the day was spent practicing on the range with backing, parallel parking, and down shifting. Keep in mind that we normally share a truck with one or two others so all of the time is not spent behind the wheel. We take turns. Sitting in the back seat, I almost dozed off several times as I was completely exhausted from the trip to Louisiana and back in the past two days and very little sleep before class time this day.
Class lets out about 5:30 and the guys in the dorm wanted to treat me to a good outside meal instead of the cafeteria at school. I agreed and we headed up to Joplin, MO only 17 miles away. We met some other friends at Applebee's and had a great visit and meal. (Thanks guys for the treat. I appreciated it even if I maybe did not show it that night.) We got back to the dorm about quarter to eight and I laid down at 8 PM. The next thing I saw was Jim turning the lights on saying "it's about that time" at 6 AM the next morning. I don't think I have slept that hard for 10 solid hours in a long time.

FRIDAY 11-17-2006
This day started immediately with our final written test. This is the last of 3 tests that will make up our class room score. We are graded on 3 areas, class time, pre trip inspection, and skills. So the class room time makes up a third of our earning our certificate. I am happy to report that I aced this test and have a 98.3% average for my class score. Some one in the class asked Janice how many aced the final and she responded "only Rick". This sure did make me feel good today.
Out to the trucks and off to the same road test through Neosho that I drove yesterday. This time I did much better and actually think I may earn my CDL.
We then practiced what ever areas we felt we were weak in and spent most of our time on backing, dock backing, and parallel parking.

The afternoon brought us a treat. We were introduced to the obstacle course. This is not required to earn your CDL but does test your skills of control and knowing where your trailer is. It involves stopping your trailer tandems on a small area that simulates a scale. Then your off to a very tight left hand turn that scores how close you can bring your tandems to a curb. Then a line is painted on the ground and your scored how close you can stop your front bumper before crossing the line and then stop your rear bumper after crossing the same line. Next is an offset alley that would simulate driving between two buildings and crossing a narrow street and then entering into the next ally but it is not in line with the one you are leaving. Sort of like the trailer is still partly in one alley as you cross a street and enter the offset alley. A very challenging exercise. Just as you come out of that you enter into yet another alley that narrows as you get into it to almost truck width and immediately sets you up into a serpentine S curve. That leads into a very tight right hand turn and again you are scored how close your tandems get to the curb. We then enter into a simulated entrance/exit type exercise that scores how close your fenders get to an object such as another vehicle or building. We are then sent to a final tight left hand turn. Whew! I'm tense now just typing up this description. I think the top score for this course is 120. They tell me that 40 is passing. I went through it two times scoring 42 and then 66. This was a most fun afternoon.
The entire Crowder College Truck Driving Class of November 2006

Monday will begin our skill testing. This is where the rubber meets the road. Tuesday will be an entire day with Robert from CFI doing "Smith Training" and Wednesday we should be new trainee truck drivers.

Back to the Dream

GOD SMILED AT US
Today started out with blustery storm clouds. Severe weather watches were all over south Louisiana and Mississippi. We had drove over to Brookhaven, MS about 2 hours from where my mother was in Ferriday, LA. We drove in the rain back to Ferriday this morning. We had a lovely service where my sister spoke of mother and brought back many good memories. One of my nieces told of her experiences with mother. It also happened that she was on duty in the ER where mother was brought in. She and my sister are nurses and they got to spend the final two hours and minutes with mother as she gently left this earth.
One of my other nieces shared some good stories and then she and one of her daughters sang most beautifully as a send off. The entire service just brought peace and happiness to me for mother moving to a better place. My heart was sad and tears flowed, but I had smile on my face most of the time just knowing she was in the Lord's arms.
I had brought umbrellas, but should have put my faith in the Lord. The clouds parted and the sun came out to give us one of the most beautifull hours you could ever ask for. We had about a 25 mile trek from the funeral home to gravesite. The cemetery sits over looking an old Mississippi River oxbow lake. My mother loved to fish and this setting just seemed to be the perfect place. I know my mother is not there and rests in the arms of Jesus, but when we do go to visit, it is just perfect to sit and reflect on her life and bring back some of best memories.

She was truly Loved and we know she Loved us all. She will be missed.

DAY 15 CROWDER COLLEGE
I made it through this day with a very sad heart. My mother passed from this earth about 8pm last night. This was not unexpected news as mother has been in very poor health for the past few years. It is still very hard to handle losing the one who loves you unconditionally and has always been there for you.
My instructors have assured me they will help me catch back up if I take a few days off to attend mothers funeral. I decided to stay in class today and go home tonight. Belinda and I will leave at 5am in the morning to make the trek to south Lousianna to share closure with the rest of my siblings and family.
Today, my instructors took a little extra time to set me up a little in advance to prepare me for missing a couple of days.
I have extra reading to do to prepare for a final written exam coming up Friday.
Then I went on a road trip to Cassville, MO. If you have been in SW Missouri, you may relate to the hills, winding curves, and narrow highways found in the Ozarks. Driving a truck that is about 8 feet wide and pulling a 53 foot box behind you is quite challenging on these roads. AS you take a curve to the right, you must run right at the yellow line to keep the trailer from taking out signs and running off the road. Then as soon as you get through that the road turns left. Now I have to run right on the edge to keep my trailer from entering into the oncoming traffic lane.
I can tell you one thing concerning the HOS. No one will have to tell me to pull over and stop after 11 hours of driving this thing. I'll be more then ready to take my break and get some rest.
Ok, that was fun, now back to the range to practice backing. Remember I could'nt put the truck in two slots the other day. Today I learned to parallel park this beast on either the right or the left. Yes, I still need some practice, but I think I have the hang of it. I then went back to the angle dock backing area and nailed each time I attempted it. It is all coming togther now and I'll soon be out there on the big road bringing the goods to someplace near you.
I'll be back posting in a few days after I come back. Please keep me in your prayers as I make my sad trek south.

This post dedicated to my Mother
Bonnie Jean Russell
January 30, 1934 - November 12, 2006
May she forever now rest in peace.

All revved up and no place to go. All of today was spent in the trucks. Janice our class room instructor had some commitments that kept her away from school today, so we spent all day practicing in the trucks. Some of the class got to go on road trips and the rest of us just spent the time working on our shifting and backing.
Most drivers will tell you that some days, they just can't back for anything. Well today was that day for me. Past two days, my backing went very well. Today, I could'nt hit the slot if you made it two trucks wide.
Andy, a former Crowder student that was here two classes ago came by for a visit. We took him to lunch and picked his brain about every thing we could think of. He has finished up with his trainer and been out on his own for two weeks. He was issued a Kenworth T-600 and invited us to climb in a take a look at it since that is what we will be assigned also after getting on the road. Andy is sort of a neat freak and had every thing in it's place. He had his truck looking really good. It was a two year old truck, but looked like brand new. I am looking forward to getting one of my very own.
Monday we are supposed to learn how to parallel park an 18 wheeler!! And unlike your car, we must learn to parallel park it both on the right side and the left side! Maybe they can teach an OLD dog new tricks.
I left Crowder for the weekend and am home to spend a few days with my wife. Posts will continue again Monday when I return to school.

Living the Dream

Day 11 Crowder College
Again, two hours of class time... General discussion, Load Securment, Driving strategies, and HOS.
Do you see a pattern here? HOS is very important. Seems we have hours of service discussions every day. I think we will have better knowledge of the HOS rules then most average drivers on the highway today.
We also had another road trip. This one was called the water plant trip since it went out by Neosho water works is my guess. But I was so busy watching the road, the trailer, the traffic, the gauges, and listening to my instructor for direction that I never saw the water plant. The trip went mostly well and I lost the gear only one time this trip that I can remember. LOL So I learned a bit more on gear recovery and tried to learn to relax a bit more. It gets a little easier each time out of our protected range and soon we will leave the nest and fly on our own.
No pictures of me today, but here is one of my new friend Turtle Bob from California with the truck we took on road trip today.


Living the Dream

CROWDER COLLEGE DAY 10
I am now officially an "INTERSTATE" driver :)
Our road trip today took us into Oklahoma. Now I only made about a half mile loop in Oklahoma since that was our turn around point at Seneca, MO, but I DID drive in two states today, heheheh
Class today was spent discussing Driver Qualification, Driver Wellness, Hours of Service, and Whistleblower Protection. These are all things required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to be taught. We then watched a short movie that covered a scenario of Driver Fatigue and the consequences of what happens when drivers do not rest. The HOS are designed to prevent accidents of the type we witnessed in the movie.
To the TrucksMore practice... shifting... turning... backing... do it again. Road Trip to Seneca, MO for a taste of a small hill and interaction with traffic.

Living the Dream

CROWDER COLLEGE DAY 9
Today's class was spent mostly watching some films concerning safe driving techniques, night driving, emergency manuvers, and effects of speed and space needed to stop.We then went to the trucks and started our 45 degree dock backing. Robert Castillo (CFI recruiter) provided luch and explained a bit about CFI to entice others to join us.Back to the trucks and more dock backing. Just look at that concentration in my face as I watch the mirrors. That is some serious backing!!! LOL I am making myself get out of the truck at least 3 times and often more to build good habits. All that climbing down and back into the truck has me somewhat sore in the legs. The clutch leg is begining to feel better though as it gets stronger from all the clutch work.I think tomorrow brings another road trip and more much needed backing practice. I did get in a little range practice with up and down shifting and did very well today. My goal is to grind no gears. Actually, I did grind a time or two, but compared to a week ago, I look like a pro. :)

Living the Dream

CROWDER COLLEGE DAY 8
Yep, day 8. I know it's only the 6th day of school time, but we are keeping logs straight thru. I went home for the weekend, but to demonstrate to us how the hours of service "HOS" work, we have been instructed to not use reset time and to keep the 70 hour rule running. You see after 70 hours of "on duty" time within an 8 day period, you can no longer drive a commercial vehicle. As the days drop off, you can pick up a few hours each day until a qualifying rest period has been taken. After a 34 hour break, you then start over with 70 availible hours to drive.
On this Monday, we had a quiz on the logs and hours of service and I just got in a hurry and flat out missed two of my questions. Yeah, they were very obvious, but I missed em anyway and ended up with only a 92 score on this first of three tests that will make up our class time score. The class time score will be 1/3 of our final score. If I remember correctly skills test is 1/3 and pretrip test is 1/3. I really need to study more for the pretrip as it requires a lot of memory to name all the items that must be inspected before a truck can be driven for the day.
Today we also left campus to go terrorize the citizens again. I happened to be sitting in the drivers seat as the instructor waved us down to go on the road trip, so I was first to demonstrate some of the things we shouldn't do. LOL Everyone else gets to learn from the first guys mistakes. I really did very well I think with the exception of forgetting which is my left and wanting to go to my other left. hehehe, but I do that a lot also when Belinda and I are dancing, so there's nothing new with that goof up.
Today we also started learning to angle back. This is to prep us for tomorrow when we will start learning to back into a dock. Now we are beginning to get into the meat of the operation and things will be very very busy for the next two and half weeks. Our last week is already a bit short since we must finish up before Thanksgiving holiday.

Still dreaming and liking it.

DAY 5
We get to go out and terrorize the good citizens of Neosho. Can you believe it? Less then one week and they let me out on public roads in this big black monster! Granted, they did not let me go very far and I think I had only one left hand turn in the planned route that we were directed to take. We even got on the highway and brought to beast up to 55-60 mph! A big step up from the 25mph cap we have out on our private range to practice our up and down shifting. It is all beginning to fall together now. Watch the RPM's, check the mirrors every 6 to 7 seconds. Check gauges for air pressure and temps also every 6 to 7 seconds. Know every vehicle that sneaks into your blind spots and where they are at all times. Keep an eye out for possible hazards. Plan how you will handle each turn well in advance so that you know what gear will work for the degree of turn and time your merge to keep yourself and other drivers safe. I think there is more involved in truck driving then in piloting a commercial airliner. You sure don't just jump in one of these things and cruise off down town. Each move must be planned well in advance and then executed all the while keeping your eyes scanning for a way out in case you get into trouble.
After our brief encounter with the good citizens we then went back to our private range to practice more. But now we have a new found respect for the truck and listen more closely to her telling us what gear she wants and how to plan our turns and stops. At 55 miles per hour, we need over a football field length to get this baby stopped. So ya'll think about that the next time you are merging onto the interstate and gun your car knowing that you can beat the big slow truck before he runs over you. What happens if you have a blowout or engine stall just as you maneuver in front of me and no longer can gun it and get away from me?

Making the dream happen.


DAY 4
11-02-2006
Today brought more class time on the HOS. These regulations are written with more leagalize then a lot of legal documents and it is so easy to mess up and not comply with the regulations. If we do, it is money out of our pocket to pay the fines and could end up causing us to lose our CDL wich is our lively hood. It is really boring to keep going over the different rules, but I do see where we must get this right. There is just no room for error in trucking. That goes for both the paper work and the actual driving of the beast.
Two hours of class, and then out to the range to practice, practice, practice. We got to throw in straight line backing and drop and hook operations today. I can back the big rig a solid mile now if I have too. Actually, our backing roads are about a 1/4 mile long and we start at one end and back to the other end as we learn to control the thing using only the mirrors.

It won't be long now before I'm in a town near you. hahaha

Crowder College Day 3

Today was sort of a boring day. It started at 7:30 am sharp with class room time spent on HOS (hours of service) The HOS are sometimes confusing and the is responsible for the majority of fines issued by federal DOT officers. Today was spent on how to complete a summary of hours so that you know how many hours are available to you as you start your new day. We also spent a bit of time discussing how to adjust your load to keep it legal on each axel.
We then moved out to the trucks for more hands on experience at up shifting and down shifting. Three of us in the truck taking turns had each of us driving for approximately 2 hours each. I am getting very intimate with each and every pothole that is on our little range course. Again, we shifted enough to take us on a cross country long haul and never left our little square mile. I am becoming very proficient though at making my turns tighter and shifting without grinding the gears. OH! yeah, would you like some dip to go with all those "chips" you are making by grinding my gears?.... LOL this is a favorite saying of our instructors.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Pinch me so I can get back to "MY" dream.