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The following is a journal I put together in 2002.  Single, I was writing more then.  It's a trip down memory lane for any who ever drove an 18 Wheeler and a road map for any who ever thought they might like to try it.  It's still on the Internet and I occasionally get email from folks who say they appreciated my style and my thoughts.  It pretty long and takes a while to struggle through it.  I laughed some and cried a little as I wrote it.  I include it here because so many of the folks on this site seem interested in nostalgia.  I've included a bit of nostalgic day dreaming in my journal.  I hope you find something you can enjoy in reading:

Kenneth's School Journal

March of 2002

Introduction

Retired from the Army 17 years ago and can't seem to find a job I can stick with. I believe being a professional Truck Driver will provide the challenge and variety I am searching for in a line of work.

Here We Go!
October 2001

I was handed the newspaper by my girlfriend that announced the arrival of the North Carolina Truck Driver Training School to teach a two-month course at the Community College in Morehead City, NC. Being out of work, I decided to pursue my old dream of becoming an "18-Wheeler." The process began when I contacted the local college. Yes, they would be sponsoring the Truck Driving School. The course would start in March of 2002. The cost would be just over $500.00. I would need to get my Department of Transportation (DOT) certified physical and my Commercial Driver License (CDL) "Learner's Permit" before I could sign up. I would also need a copy of my driving record from the State. November, 2001: My adventure began on the Internet. I was hoping to find some help with CDL study. The North Carolina (NC) study guide is comprehensive, but confusing. I would have lost interest very quickly trying to study that guide to pass my elements of the CDL test. December, 2001: I flew through the Physical. (Believe it or not, the military gave it to me without a peep of "Oh we don't do that for retirees anymore." Camp LeJeune was very cooperative.) I have heard prices up to $80.00 from some of the other students. (If you don't have an inexpensive way to get a physical, I suggest you check with your local Health Department to see if they will do it for you.) The physical was mostly Range of Motion (to make sure I could hold the wheel, shift gears and push brakes), Hearing, and Eyesight. If you are correctible to 20/40, you're okay. They also do a blood pressure check, which is important, and ask you a lot of questions. I found a course for taking the CDL at: http://www.cdl-course.com/course-nc.html Advanced Tech Courses 6100 US 31 Grawn, Michigan 49637 I used the Internet. It was a course guaranteed to prepare a student for passing the CDL. The cost, from "Advance Tech Courses" was $95.00 for the course, and it was money back guaranteed. Let me tell you, that was money well spent. I felt well prepared for the general knowledge CDL and each of the "endorsement" tests I took, including Trailers, Tankers, Air Brakes, Passenger, and Hazardous Materials. I maxed out on a couple of the tests and never missed more than two questions on any element. The Advance Tech Course folks taught me that CDL tests are now Federally monitored. They pointed out that each state is allowed to draw its questions from a "Pool" of questions provided Nationally. While the Tech Course materials provided parallel information found in the State study guide, their "example" questions (NOT found in the state guide) were what prepared me. They gave me the confidence to walk into the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for testing each time. Oh yeah! It was the Advanced Tech Course that suggested that I break my testing up into separate trips. I studied an element and immediately went to take that test while the information was fresh in my mind. GREAT idea! The learner's permit wasn't issued until I finished taking the elements I wanted. The DMV computers kept track of what I had passed. January 2002: The Driver's school, in NC, provided the form for requesting a driver's record from the state. It cost me $7.00. February 2002: Everything was finished and I took my money orders to the Community College on Sign-up day. Now it was just sit and wait - - -. March 4, 2002: First day in School. 11 hour days from 7 am to 6 pm. The course is 8 weeks and runs from Monday through Friday. Folks were there from halfway across the state. This course, which started in 1949, is the oldest of its type in the Nation and perhaps the world. Fully accredited, the course instructors are top-notch and don't yell at the students. First Thursday - First Week: After three days in the classroom, we took off with the Road Instructor in a Cab-over (That's the flat-fronted tractor where you sit a hundred feet in the air.) Peterbilt pulling a 53-foot box (van or trailer). After watching him and listening to his instructions, we were put behind the wheel one by one and drove on public roads for an hour apiece. Double clutching (watching the tachometer) going up and down through the ten speed gearbox. All the while, we knew the instructor was sitting in the passenger seat without a set of dual controls. He never yelled, never scolded, and remained positive during the entire trip. Was I pleased when I was fourth to drive and had to take the 18 Wheeler on four-lane and two-lane roads, around 90° turns, through intersections, and all in normal traffic situations. The instructor even let me take the truck back to the training field and park it. (NO backing yet, thank goodness.)

First Friday - First Week: We have 28-foot trailers on single axle tractors with automatic transmissions for the Training Field and maneuvering exercises. These rigs are right "squirrelly" and have quick response compared to the big rigs. That makes them ideal for backing and maneuvering exercises. For testing purposes, drivers are required (by the DMV) to pull forward and back through a simulated 100-foot alley as part of the driving skill evaluation. The alley at the DMV is 11 feet wide. The 100-foot alley we use at the North Carolina Driver Training School is only 9 feet wide. That's a foot less than DMV's standard on each side. The "Forward Driving" course we ran today includes a Zigzag (Offset Alley exercise), a Serpentine maneuver, a corner turn (You must be within 12 inches with the rear duels without touching.) and the 100 foot alley with a measured stop at the end. (We have to stop the vehicle within 6 inches of a line on the ground without touching.) We also have a tractor-trailer dedicated to Coupling/Uncoupling exercises and another rig for loading dock -straight and 90° backing. The next seven weeks, we'll be in and out of the classroom and on and off the road. I'll try to make entries at least once a week. It may be the weekend before I can get anything submitted, but if something really big happens, I'll keep you informed.

Till next time, this is your one KennethR saying "Study hard, and if you aren't going to be a professional truck driver, don’t be a truck driver at all."

Entry Number 2

Classroom subjects this week included Driver Hours of Operation (Part 395) and we started learning how to fill out a log. We learned about Bills of Lading, weigh bills and other such documents . . . Important stuff! The field training made us all sit up and take notice as we improved our forward and straight backing skills as well as Pre-trip inspections and Coupling/Uncoupling operations. Today was another day, (Wednesday) and a good one. My group (four of us) got our third Road Ride today. More City Streets and tiny country roads were included in today’s driving. There was beaucoup traffic. (Beaucoup is the way you spell a French word that means "Plenty." I had to look it up.) We did more "Skip Shifting" today. That's where you are cruising along in 8th gear and you see a traffic situation where you need to be in a much lower gear. Instead of shifting down one gear at a time, you use the brake to slow and "skip" some gears to the correct "range" for your speed. I really need some practice. I'll be getting it for the next 6½ weeks. Time is flying. I'll be on the field course again tomorrow. Our classroom time was spent in Drivers Hours of Service and Logbooks. I hope I will never be tempted to overdrive my hours. I'm trying to remember that I have something that many truckers don't have. I do have a check coming in every month to supplement my truck driving income. That really helps. "Big Brother is watching." They don't use many of the Tattle-Tail Disk Machines anymore. The "Tattle-Tail was a graphing machine placed in the truck to record speed and stops on a circular paper graph printout. Some drivers got pretty good at using a straight pin to make a convincing chart they could substitute for one showing excessive speed or hours of operation. Now, trucks have QualComm. It's a satellite electronic communication device that hooks into the computer of the truck. It not only tells the terminal Speed and Distance; it tells them your exact location (When the company uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology) and they can beep you to re-route you if necessary. Dispatchers can now keep a driver out on the road and bounce him (or her) from place to place without ever talking to them on the phone. Of course they also have Nation wide cell phone communications. The upside of this "Big Brotherism" is that they can send a repair truck to your exact location and they can direct you street by street to your consignee. QualComm trucks have a printer. The QualComm has a keyboard entry. I understand that some software configurations allow you to keep your drivers log directly on the system. It knows everything, except whether you are in the Sleeper or On Duty/Not driving. They haven't put cameras in the trucks "yet!" I'm sure it's coming. They say these "Condo" sleepers are really something. Company's like Swift and Schneider are starting their new OTR drivers off with them and the benefits packages are supposed to be so much better in the last twenty years or so. I hope that's true. Oh! Yeah! I gave out some wrong information the other day. Our Road trucks only have 45-foot boxes (vans or trailers) in tow. I thought the road tractors were pulling 53-foot boxes. I was wrong. The 45's are plenty long, thank you very much. I was right about the maneuvering trucks on the training field. They are 28 foot single (drive) axle International traditional cab tractors. "You're not going to believe this one, but ..." (That's the trucker's version of "Once upon a time." It's the traditional beginning of a "Trucker Story.") My brother, a former trucker, told me he was hauling freight for the old Virginia/Carolina lines out on the road with a co-driver. Another rig pulled up beside them from the same terminal. They asked, "What you guys eating?" My brother's reply was "some of this here candy." The other co-driver said, "Well pass us some." They did. Doing about 60 mph on a two-lane road. I told that story to the other students in my class and someone said, "What kind of candy was it?" I think they missed the point. I also think my Brother needs to come up with some better stories. He has plenty. I just need to hear them. Today (Friday) was a good day at the school. My group got our 4th Road Trip. We switched to the Standard Cab Freightliner with the walk-in sleeper-berth. Nice ride. 9 Speed box. It even has air ride and a Jake brake. I did pretty well. I had no marks "against" me during my drive. My "Skip Shifting was fan-dang-tastic today. I nailed all but one of them. I was "brainwashed" by the 10-speed transmission's RPM range we've been driving. I recovered and got it in gear, but it showed me I am not perfect. The license qualification rides will start at ride seven. No one, generally, qualifies on ride seven. Students regularly get the packet to take to DMV by the 10th or 12th ride. I hope to have mine by then. Silly little mistakes may keep me from qualifying in the first few attempts. When you go to the DMV, they issue the Class A CDL without the road test on the learner's permit. (Our school instructors are Authorized Third Party Testers for NC) Then, it's back to school and begin your "solo" road trips and field event qualifications. All solo trips are done on a designated route. Another qualified student as Co-driver accompanies you. No instructor in the truck during solos. It should be more fun without them and with that "Non-learner's permit" license in our pockets.

For now, KennethR  Will be keeping it between the lines and driving defensively. I hope you will too.

3rd Entry

These entries are all dated the same date. What's going on? Well, let me explain. I have been waiting for Rachelle, the Webmaster for this site, to get back from her own Over-The-Road journeys. (Eeek!  I'm sorry - so much to do, so little time!)  As I waited, I tried to keep up with my journal entries and now you are getting them with what seems like "both barrels." I'm sorry. Hope you are enjoying my journey. My purpose in writing is to provide an insight for another who might want to become a truck driver. If you've gotten this far in reading, I'm going to share my email address with you. kharrod2@ec.rr.com If you write, please understand any delay in my writing back. If you are a recruiter, and your company contracts for bulk cargo or tanker loads from or to Eastern NC, we should talk.

Now, on with my tale... I'll drive the 9 speed Freightliner again in the morning. (Wednesday of the third week) Wish me luck. Hope it doesn't rain. Did pretty good on it last time. We have introduction to map reading tomorrow afternoon. We started making our log book entries today. That will continue till the instructor is either sure we understand it or gets tired of grading the sheets we turn in. I am figuring three more weeks or so. We'll see. "You ain't going to believe this one, but - - -." You guessed it; a "Trucker Story." On the second run in the 9-speed Freightliner today, I got to pull it out of the yard and drive on US 70 to Kinston, NC. It's a pretty good road. Parts of it, between New Bern, NC and Kinston, have a posted speed limit of 65mph. It's the first time I've gotten to drive that fast in a "big rig." I was cruising along at 65 on a straight clear stretch of road. No traffic in front or behind me and out in the boon-docks. I couldn't resist pulling that air-horn cord. "Mooooppp MOOOOooooooppppp," it said. I was thrilled. The instructor played along and pretended he was surprised. The other students in the sleeper berth were wondering "what the Hell!" I told them it was something I'd wanted to do for 54 years, and it felt really, REALLY good. Rex, the instructor, just kind of settled back in his seat, his eyes glazed over for an instant and I caught a little smile playing with the corners of his mouth. Me? I remembered the times I stood out on Granby Street in Norfolk, VA and pumped my arm up and down, begging a trucker to blow those air horns. They did too, - - - much to my joy. What a rush! Excuse me while I blow my nose and wipe my eyes a little. Maintenance classes were a hoot. The instructor came out from the Parent School (Johnston Community College) to tell us about systems, and give us the guided tour through his Van set up for demonstrations. The huge moving-van type trailer was like a "petting zoo" for transmissions and brake drums. Seeing how the range selector works and how the differential lock puts power to the back set of duels was okay, but if that stuff doesn’t work, someone else has to fix it. The most helpful thing I saw was the Slack-Adjuster event. I really learned something when I got to actually perform a brake adjustment and see, in a cut-away, exactly how my adjustment effected the travel of the slack adjuster. I've got to go and get some sleep. I just got finished with my map reading problems. Took about 3 hours constantly in the Atlas. Routing, City to City, State to State, fuel economy, mileages, time zones, weigh scales, big towns and small. They really poured it on. People, who don't already know about maps, as I do, will have a hard time with the exercise. The map reading classes began and I found out that I did about a week's worth of assignments in one night. Oh well! I guess those years in the Army and reading military maps paid off just a tad-bit. There are things about the Rand McNally map for Truckers that are 'Very' different than your automobile Atlas. If you are a good road navigator, good; pay attention anyway. They will trick you on those weigh-scale locations unless you are following their methods to the letter. Don't take short cuts when you are doing a problem. Today (Friday of the third week) was a classroom day. We went over Backing and Weights and Size. Amazing how much of that is in the Rand McNally Trucker's Road Atlas. We learned about sliding the carriage of the fifth wheel and the carriage of the rear duals and why for proper weight distribution. We have been seeing and checking the "sliding" components of the vehicles, but today's class really explained the whys and where-fors of the machinery. They had a job fair here in Morehead City on Thursday of the 3rd week. I went over after class and got some information from Swift. They were the only trucking outfit there. Swift starts drivers off at 26¢ a mile. They have a three-day "Unpaid" orientation for pre-hires. (Swift pays for the hotel and a couple of lunches during the three days. They also pay for the bus to Eden, NC (The closest Swift terminal.) or reimburse for fuel if you drive.) The first four weeks is driving with a trainer. ($350.00) per week. The second four weeks you go out with a trainee co-driver @ 16¢ per mile each. After the eight weeks, you are issued your own truck and turned loose. Company drivers drive Freightliner Conventional Cabs with 70" walk-in sleepers. Most units are less than three years old. Appointments include A/C, stereo, air-ride seats, CBs, Qualcomm communication systems, and GPS on board. It’s factory-installed equipment. You drive the same tractor every day as long as you take care of it and keep the wheels rolling. They don't put you in that tractor to have it sit in your yard. Satellite-based communications: Every tractor is equipped with in-cab computers enabling instantaneous messages, e-mail and engine-monitoring capabilities for top performance Company speed limits are 60 mph for solo drivers and 62 mph for teams. I haven't decided to go with Swift. They don't run tankers as a rule. It is good to know something about their offers. They love drivers out of this school. They won't even consider one of the two-week school drivers unless it's someone with tons of driving experience to go along with the school. They also reimburse for tuition at $125.00 per month until what I paid for the school is paid up. That's a nice bonus. My lower back problem isn't much different than most of the truckers out there. I understand it's the "industry standard" to have a bad back. With any luck at all, I won't be unloading any vans. I really hope to pull tankers or bulk cargo that dumps out. Time will tell what happens.

4th Entry

I was sitting in one of the field maneuvering course units (Internationals) Thursday of the third week. The truck was idling. (Waiting for one of my ground guides to get back from the port-a-john.) The other ground guide said "Hey! Better shut it down there's a lot of anti-freeze coming out of the front." The water pump just let go as I was sitting there. That unit will be out of commission for the next week. We still have two more, so we can get along without the one. I hope I'm not a truck jinx. They got up here from Smithfield, NC to fix the truck with the bad water pump today. (The very next day.) That was earlier than expected. We won't be slowed down at all for a maintenance delay. As I said, it looks like this is a pretty good school. Still learning a lot. We start backing up with turns next week. That's going to be a tough one to master. We also have a long 100-foot straight backing exercise. An eight foot wide tractor trailer that's forty-some feet long being backed down a one hundred foot long alley that's only 9 feet wide. It gets pretty tight. With any luck, I’ll master all our exercises and be able to back through the eye of a needle, in the dark, during a hurricane. Nothing like setting the GOAL (Get Out And Look) high, eh? An instructor did the backing demonstration and Rex was outstanding. He and Bill, (The other road trainer) are fantastic drivers. My Brother told me they just got another six inches of snow up in Maine. I've driven in a bunch of snow, but never with an articulating load behind me. I guess jeeps with trailers don't count. Anyway, It's going to be quite an experience the first time I have to go to the "white" North with a load. I'm not particularly looking forward to putting on chains and looking for highways and truck stops that will let you wear them. What a hassle! Maybe I'll just log sleeper-berth time till they come by with a snowplow. We'll just have to see. I noticed that the Swift Company allows riders. If the rider is an adult family member, it's free. What a great way to have company on a long haul and provide an interesting vacation for a family member. (Be careful! Make sure your rider has air fare back home in case your loads don't put them in the direction they want to go. If you have a week or two on the road and your brother only has three days off from his job, you may run into a giant mix-up and some bad feelings.) My brother (The ex-trucker knows the routine. We may get to do a little trucking together one of these days if he can stand climbing up into that passenger’s seat.) That's a while off, so he has plenty of time to think about it. I need to concentrate on that pre-inspection routine this weekend. They are going to start pulling students, at random, to do the pre-inspection this week. I want to be ready to "ace" it when I'm called.

Next week, a new challenge, and Kenneth R. will look forward to telling you about it.

Fourth Week

Well, what a week! It was a short one, since we are off from school for Good Friday tomorrow. We took classes in Map Reading and Weights and Sizes this week. We also started the dreaded Backing Exercises. The first test this week was the Weights and Sizes test. I lost a point on that one. I felt like a babe in the woods where the backing up came in. We’ve been doing a “Straight” back between two parked trailers to a loading dock Mock-Up. (A mock-up is a structure built to serve the function in size and approximate appearance to the actual thing. In our case it‘s a wooden fence which serves as something for us to back up to.) This week, we started backing into the space from a 90° angle. That’s when the truck and trailer are facing nine o’clock and we have to back into the dock set up at six o’clock. Sounds like fun, but I can’t do it without a couple or three pull-ups. Some of the students are “naturals,” but I feel like I’m struggling on the event. The “Serpentine” back is an exercise during which the driver has to do double turns (Zig Zag) to the rear and place the trailer into a simulated loading dock area. It seems easier, to me, than the 90° back. Usually, we aren't allowed to let the back end of our trailer (Left side) leave the driver side mirror. (That's called Losing a "mirror." It's also called losing some points because they are so serious about us being able to see that back left corner of the trailer at all times.) On this back, you get to "LOSE" a mirror when you are turning the trailer to the right. It's kind of like cheating or being able to do something wrong in front of the instructor. The last exercise is the 100 foot Alley back where we not only have to pull forward through the "NINE-FOOT-WIDE" alley for 100 feet, but we then have to back out and put the trailer into a “Jack-knife” park. There’s some forward maneuvering and driving in this event too. All the events are timed and each must be completed within 5 minutes. Fun, Fun, Fun for the home team. The map reading classes were easy for me. (Twenty years in the Army and many hours spent over topographical maps, on field exercises, taught me more than the average vacationer about reading maps.) Several of the students were completely unfamiliar with map reading and the subject was a bit harder for them. Our test was today. Only ten questions, but the time limit was an hour and a half. It’s amazing how much is in that Trucker’s version of the Rand McNally Atlas. Good book. Fun to use. I won’t know my score till Monday. Guess the suspense will just have to keep me company through Easter. For about half the class, we got our first chance to Qualify on a designated road course in one of the Road Tractor-Trailer combinations. We have to qualify on a 9-speed and on a 10-speed transmission in real-time traffic. The tractors are both Freightliners. Our road courses are 18 and 17 miles. I didn’t do as well as I had hoped I would. I got three marks against. We have to receive a perfect 24 out of 24 to qualify. The qualifying drives will continue in the coming days and I will be trying my best to master all the elements soon. The class has three days off. If I had an owner/operator friend in trucking, I’d pay for his fuel to ride along with me so I could practice and get over these nerves. Alas, the only person I know who owned a truck quit driving and is now going to school to learn Nursing. Hum? When my ride was over today, I felt like I wanted to be learning something else besides truck driving too. I’m going to hang in there. I’ll let you know how I do as time passes. It’s just nerves. I’ll master it one of these days. I did fine in my earlier road familiarization driving. It wasn’t until they said “Qualifying” that my brain turned to mush. I sure could have used a Valium or a shot of Scotch before my drive today. Someone in the class said “How about both?” I laughed, of course. It was only a joke. I did take my St. Johns Wart this morning though. Too bad it didn’t do the trick. I mentioned Easter earlier. I hope it will be a good one for each of you. I am planning on visiting my Mother Sunday. One of my Brother’s should be there with his family. That will be nice. “Keep me and mine in your prayers as I keep you and yours in mine”

Till next time, God bless. Keep those hubs rolling and do your pre-trip inspections. KennethR

Special Note:
March 29, 2002

I had a thought as I was surfing the net looking for Trucker Accessories sites. You know there aren't many out there. I can't really seem to find anyone who caters to truckers and their gift needs on the Internet. I'm talking about personal Items. Log Book covers, key chains, tool kits, personal or handheld GPS locating devices, Knives (i.e. Leatherman, or Swiss Army knives, Gerber, etc.) Tire Billys, Flashlights, Foul Weather gear, Vests, and Time pieces. (I.e. Wrist Watches, Pocket Watches, Alarm Clocks, etc) I’m talking about things that can be of use to Professional Drivers. Oh, I can find most of that stuff on the Web or in Wal-Mart sure'nuff, but It would be nice to be able to find it all without having to drive to the nearest Flying J or T/A truck stop. Seems to me someone should put out some lists, especially for new drivers, to let them better prepare for that first job. What should you take?

Here are some suggestions from KennethR:

Tools: Now some companies don't want you to have a tool in the truck because they don't want the drivers to touch the trucks. "Call in if you have a problem. We'll send help." That's fine if you blow an air compressor or water pump in the middle of Arizona. What if the FHWA (Read that DMV Trooper in NC) pulls you over and says "You've got a couple of slack adjusters with more than an inch of play?" If you had a 9/16ths box end wrench in the truck and a 12 ounce ball-peen hammer, you could make the adjustment on the spot and it might save you from an "Out of Service" slip. How about if you get assigned one of those hybrid trucks with the fuel tank switch and you ran out of fuel because the left tank ran dry and you have a full right tank? Your company mechanic might be able to talk you through the procedure of priming the fuel system and getting the engine running again, but can the mechanic help if you don't have a filter wrench? Seems to me there are some bare essentials you might consider having on your assigned truck. They would include but not be limited to: 12 Oz Ball-peen hammer (Makes a good "Tire Billy" for your walk-around inspections) 9/16 box end wrench Filter wrench Wells Lamont leather gloves (Wal-Mart Men's Department - about eleven bucks) Couple of "old" hand towels or worn-out dish towels Multi-bladed knife (Leatherman or Swiss Army) Pliers, (Needle nose, Lineman's with side cutters, Vice Grips and some Channel locks) Screw Drivers (Fair sized Common and a #2 Phillips is the minimum) Tape measure, Wisk Broom, Wire brush. Flash Light/w extra batteries. All this stuff will fit in a fairly small sports bag. You may think of something else like duct tape or 10 feet of bailing wire. The tool bag can be a lifesaver. Wouldn't you like to have one about like mine along when you need it?

Sleeper Berth Equipment: Sleeping bag (You didn't think those trucks came with sheets and blankets did you?) A Pillow you can live with (It's going to be hard enough getting used to sleeping in the "Cave" without trying to use your shirt as a pillow and your jacket as a blanket. Do you want your Co-driver drooling on your pillow? Neither do they!!!

Something to eat: A Gallon of Water, a box of Ritz Crackers and a can of aerosol cheese if nothing else. Whatever you can eat in a pinch. Someday you will run out of driving hours between eateries in a rest stop this side of Weasel Wick, WY. Be prepared. You may not eat it if you have it, but if you don't have it, you're going to get hungry in a hurry.

Clothing: What do you take on a one-week road trip? Besides what you are wearing? How about; An extra pair of jeans, four pair of socks, two handkerchiefs, extra shirt and a couple of tee shirts, four pair of underwear (unless you are an ex-seal and don't wear any - then you need extra pants.) Think about taking an extra pair of sneakers. What about foul weather gear? (Minimum of a rain jacket with hood) Coat? (You say you're running out of FL and it's March? What if they send you to Aroostic County in Maine? You're going to get pretty cold up there in your windbreaker. Sure you can stuff newspaper inside. It helps, but it ain't pretty and it ain't comfortable.) I cut back on the underwear and socks thinking that even if you don't find a laundry mat, you can wash out a couple of things at the rest stop. Over pack if you are traveling solo. Work it out between you if you have a Co-driver. A truck isn't the Queen Mary and a steamer trunk can take up a lot of space on the Catwalk.

Toiletries: Hey!!! Brush your teeth, will you? If I have to share that cab with you, I don't want to have to plant a bottle of Scope in your bunk as a hint. Might as well bring a towel and some soap. There are other areas of the body that need attention too. Nuff said? I think so. So you see? There are some areas of truck driving that aren't too well covered in that great school you went to. Even your training engineer (TE) may not help you out with advice on these things. Remember the Scout Motto - "Be Prepared."

I haven't talked about the hours of boredom in a trucker's life. Waiting to be off-loaded is an example. Do you read? Sometimes you can't sleep. If you do, you miss your "Up" at the dock and someone else is always there to take your slot. Think about it before you get there. Books on tape are marvelous "company keepers." They are available at your local library for free checkout. Many are over 10 hours long. Most truck stops have them now too. They have other things to keep your mind off the long hours of travel. I'll leave you with another thought or two. Distracted driving is against the law. Please don't "Veg-Out" at the wheel. Remember your defensive driving tips. Pay attention even if you can't pay your bills. Anyone can have an accident, but what if you kill that little kid and you know it was your fault? Keep your hubs rolling and keep your hood down. Checking those fluid levels regularly will help.

KennethR

My Email address
March 30, 2002

I scanned back through my notes and couldn't spot that silly Email address. Just in case someone felt they had a comment about my journal, I thought I would include it again: kharrod2@ec.rr.com

Fifth Week

I made a dumb error on the map reading test we took last Friday. That was the end of the fourth week. I got one question wrong - fiddlesticks! The question I was worried about was correct. They gave a +/- one-hour spread on a departure time answer. There's no excuse for the one I answered wrong. I just didn't read the problem closely enough. I put an Eastbound weigh station instead of the Westbound as the problem stated. That's okay. It's still a 90% on the test. No one in the class made 100%. Bummer! I really wish they all had. We're trying to get as many "A's" out of our class of 14 as possible. We have been helping each other out by getting together in study groups at the end of the day. We compare logbook entries before we turn them in. It's good when all the log entries agree for students doing the same activity. No sense showing yourself in the sleeper berth at the same time as your co-driver. Not only would it be wrong, people might start to talk. Ha! Ha! Monday (5th Week) I was on the training field for the majority of the day. I didn't get to drive on the road today. I should get to try it again first thing in the morning. I may be one of the first drivers to go out. We'll see. Hope I do better than the last time. I need, somehow, find a way to get over this nervousness on the road. I guess time and experience will help me do that. Thursday: Time and experience have helped a bunch. The thing that helped the most was a fellow student who expressed a deep frustration about not having qualified on either of the “Road Trucks” yet. Our earnest talk, and his heartfelt remarks, gave me a kindred feeling toward him. Just knowing that someone else was as apprehensive as I was enough to calm me down. My ride was on the "Ten-speed" Freightliner. I qualified with no bad marks and a hearty handshake from the instructor. When I got back to the training field all the other students were there to congratulate me and shake my hand. I felt so good and so relieved. I have to qualify on the "Nine-speed" transmission yet, but I'm confident that I can work through it on the next couple of rides. Thank you James. You really made the difference for me on the road today. We have been concentrating on Defensive driving techniques this week. Much of the class has been spent discussing actual events in the instructor‘s experience or events of which he has knowledge. Some “Trucker stories” have managed to find their way into the curriculum. I believe we learn as much from these as we would from the any text. I got an email from a gentleman who has been keeping up with my journal in Florida. What a nice thing to write and tell me he appreciated my story. He will be going along on some eighteen-wheel journeys with his son who is in school now. I wrote back and thanked him for his thoughtfulness in writing. I’ve got a logbook to finish an entry in before bed. Wish me luck on the road tomorrow. With any luck at all, I will qualify on the other “Road Truck” and be able to take my official CDL road test the first part of next week. If that happens, I’ll be turning in my Class-A CDL learners permit for the “Real McCoy” next week. I’ll write when I have some more news from Eastern North Carolina’s Crystal Coast.

Until then, I remain KennethR.

5th Week

Another week is finished. Guess who didn’t qualify on the truck with the 9-speed again today? It was a stupid mistake. My fault, of course. More about it in a minute. I really have to study this weekend for my pre-trip inspection Monday morning. It's something like 104 items to call out on a vehicle pre-operation check. If you miss an item, it's two points. You can see the potential for adding points. Forget to mention one of the brake drums - 2 points. Forget to mention something that could be wrong with the gearshift - 2 points. (Detent spring broken or Range selector switch missing for instance.) It's an important task. I guess they want to make sure you know what you are doing. As I said, I didn’t qualify on the Nine-Speed again today. I had trouble shifting through an intersection and had to stop the truck to put it in gear. That's a disqualifier. You can bet I'm not going to shift going through intersections again. I'll stay in Second Gear and the people behind me can just crawl through. I hate to adopt that sort of attitude. I guess it's better to be little thick skinned than to cause an accident because you stall out looking for a shift. I'm also scheduled to make the first qualifying drive on Monday. I really think they want to give me the opportunity to do it. I was so close today. I had a perfect drive except for that thoughtless botched shift. I'll just keep plugging away at it. There are several others in the class who haven't qualified on either the nine or the ten speed yet. I certainly wish them luck. I find these mistakes are teaching me valuable lessons. I am getting so much more experience on the trucks than I would if I had qualified earlier. The ones who did it on their first two runs haven't driven since the first of this week. One guy hasn't driven all week long. I would hate that. Oh, they have been able to practice the field skill events till the cows come home, but they haven't been on the road since they qualified. In this school, road driving day number seven is the first time a student can possibly qualify on either of the vehicles. The guidelines are stringent and there's no playing favorites with these instructors. If you have it, you have it. If you don't, your performance report, from the instructor, will tell you what you did or didn't do. "Rides" seven through twenty-two are qualifiers. I will be on number 12 Monday. Wish me luck. People keep stopping by the training grounds to watch us maneuver the vehicles through the obstacles. They sometimes chat with the instructors about their interest in trucking and sometimes we get to chat with a graduate student who stops by to give us some encouragement. I like that. I'm sure I will take a few minutes to stop by and do the same thing after I am "over-the-road" and see a team on location with the North Carolina Truck Driver Training School.

A thought has struck me over the last week or two. We have discussed it among ourselves as students. We just finished our fifth week of training. There are three weeks to go. How, on Earth, do those two-week CDL schools manage to train drivers? Our instructors say they could take a person and get them driving well enough in a "representative vehicle" to pass the state-driving test for the Class A Commercial License within a week or so. Perhaps, but what kind of driver would they be? I have between fifteen and twenty hours on the road in various City, Highway, and narrow Country road settings and still haven't qualified to present myself to a State DMV tester for evaluation. Map reading, Scheduling, Bills of Lading, Maintenance, Defensive Driving, and Logbook record keeping are all a part of driving. Our students will be prepared for these things. Will the students of the CDL Mills? Perhaps. I'm not so sure, and from my understanding, most of the credible carriers aren't so sure either. Many require a school to be accredited and at least four weeks in length. Be careful about where you spend your money for truck driver training. PLEASE check with you local Community College first. Your State Trucking Association can also guide you to the right school. It's yard work for me tomorrow around here. Between the lawn and studying for Monday's pre-trip inspection test, I have my weekend cut out for me. I hope you will have a good weekend. I'm off to bed.

This is your own KennethR saying: It's April 5, 2002 as I write. Please don't forget to reset your clocks tomorrow night when you go to bed. Remember, it's spring forward in Spring, so set your clocks ahead one hour if your country, region, or community uses Daylight Savings Time.

6th week (In Progress)
April 08, 2002