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.

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