One of the RE West Trucks 

CDL Day

OK to catch up a little.....

Monday

Sam, the yard trainer who is also a city driver, was covered up all day making deliveries. So we took turned in the yard truck practicing for the skills test. By the end of the day I figured I could run the course with my eyes closed (See Skills Test below)

Tuesday

To make up for Monday we spent most of the day running around town in Sam's truck and going through the driving test portion of the test.

Wednesday

We spent the first half of the day driving around town and then ran the yard truck through the course. Sam said there wasn't any need for us to drive around for the rest of the day and waste fuel (there was also an ozone alert for Nashville so we were doing our part) and let us go about 3.

Thursday (Otherwise known as The Big Day)

Skills test.... Coming up to the stop line I hit the brake too hard and stopped about 10' short. I screwed up the parallel park worse than the first day we were there. I did manage to get it in but cut way too late and ran than bumper out the back of the box. I still passed and could have run over 6 cones if I wanted to.

Pre-trip... This went surprisingly well considering that 3 days ago I was sure I was going to fail it. I passed.

Driving test.... This was fun. Sam had taken us on the course twice and told us what to expect and exactly how to deal with each corner. So we're (me and the tester) running up the road to the first right turn and they've got the road blocked off working on the sidewalk. She looks at me and says "Have you ever been through the town square?" and I say "Yep, but only bobtail". So we drive up to the town square which is perfectly adequate for the wagons that were rolling through town when it was built but a little on the tight side with a 200+"wheelbase tractor and a 45' trailer. Particularly, since none of the people going around the square when I was through there had any idea what that little lever on the left side of the streering wheel is for. I managed to make it through without crushing anything or anybody and we ran back down and picked up the last of the test circuit. I passed.

After I got back to the yard and got my paperwork and test scores I was released for the rest of the day to go to DMV and convert my permit to a CDL-A. While I was there I took the Haz-mat test and passed it. I do have to admit to a moment of concern when I missed there very first question. I answered the next 24 right, so it all worked out in the end.

Tomorrow is orientation and then we're assigned to a road trainer and hit the road.

Weekend Update

Sorry no Tina Fey.

Finished my first week of training. We spent most of Thursday and Friday on the road around town and then a little of the afternoon on the yard. Unless I have a complete brain hemorrhage, I’ll ace the skills test. Shifting is coming back to me. I still don’t feel like it’s that smooth but at least it’s livable now. Mostly, I need to remember to turn off my blinker. I feel pretty good about the way things are going. We take our skills test, pre-trip and road test next Thursday morning and then they’ll send us down to DMV to get our real live CDL. I’ll probably take my HM and Tank test then.

I feel pretty good about West. We’ve gotten a chance to talk to several drivers and none of them have had anything bad to say about the company. There seem to be as many miles available as you’re capable of/willing to run. The trucks all have 2 stage Jakes, Sirius radio already installed, and they have Dish Network receivers that they’ll put on your truck if you want one. I don’t remember if I mentioned it before or not but they got 42 new Century Class Freightliner’s this year with 70" condo sleepers, 10 speeds and 500hp 60 Series Detroits.

On the Yard

Got to go out on the yard today. Helper Sam, the trainer, set up the cones. They we took the yard tractor down to the truck stop and filled it with gas. During this time the guy in class with me was at DMV taking the tests to get his CDL permit. Sam ran me around the course a couple of times and then said he had to take a trailer to the Ashland City terminal and that he'd be back later. Dustin (the other student) was coming out on the yard just as he took off. We didn't see him again for the rest of the day. We just ran ourselves around the course. I was mostly back in form by noon. dustin's never driven a truck before so he spent most of the day trying to get straight line backing down. It didn't bother me that Sam wasn't there all day but I'd probably have been a little pissed if I was Dustin. I helped him out where I could and by the end of the day he was doing a pretty good job but I'm not a trainer.

Got to talk to several of the drivers and I'm encouraged by what I heard. The miles are good (avg 3000/wk), the company backs the drivers up when necessary, there isn't an idling policy, and the equipment is good. One of the guys I talked to started with no experience in NOvember and was assigned to a 2005 Century class Freightliner. They have Eaton 10 speeds & 500hp Detroit 60 Series, walk-in double bunk condo sleepers... pretty choice rides. More later...

Paperwork

First day was deadly dull paperwork and reading. W-4s, stuff like that. Plus reading the TN CDL manual a thousand times even though I already passed the tests. About lunchtime they let me go down and get my CDL Learner's Permit. Never got to touch a truck.

Job

OK, So I got hired by RE West. I have to be in Nashville at 7:30 Monday for my physical and drug test (they want to do their own physical even though I already have one). Then I report to the yard for training. The recruiter told me I'd be in training on the yard for up to 2 weeks. Less if the trainer thought I was ready. Then I go on the road for up to 3 weeks with a trainer. The really cool thing is that West pays me during training (not a lot but it's still money).

They're equipment is all fairly new -- 2002 or newer Freightliner Centuries. 73" Condo sleepers. Straight 10 speeds. I keep forgetting to ask about the motor but I'll bet they're Detroit 430-450's. All the trucks have XM radio and Direct TV recievers (driver has to pay for service). I think they have about 100 power units and 42 were new this year. Pay seems to be about middling for a training company - 27 cpm - a little better than some, not quite as good as Werner and Schneider. The recruiter claimed I'd get about 3000 miles a week.

The Adventure Begins Monday.

Interviews

Had my interview with RE West today. Looks pretty good. They have really clean equipment equipped with XM radios and satellite tv receivers. Tractors are 2003 and newer Freightline Century class with condo sleepers and double bunks. She was going to run my previous employment stuff and I'm supposed to call on Friday the 17th. I could start as soon as Monday the 20th.

Haven't heard from Millis. Things are looking bleak there. PGT called and left a message and I talked to a different recruiter. The story was still pretty much the same. Take a refresher. She gave me some names but all the courses are 3-5 weeks plus and cost lots of money. I've got 2 days to find a better offer

Prelude

Ok, here's the story... I spent the last 18 years as a network guy in Research Triangle Park, NC. For the most part I enjoyed it. But I got laid off 9 months ago and haven't found a job yet. Rajneesh will do my job over in Delhi for $8.50 an hour and I won't. After much pondering and soul searching I decided to return to trucking -- a career choice I made once before in the early 80's while I was trying to figure out what to do with my life.

My name's... well, you can call me lojak. This is my blog and I'm planning to use it to document my journey from on career path to another (It's probably more like a portage than a journey, but whatever). It will also, I hope, give people some insight into the daily life of a trucker so people can see what it takes to put the products on the shelves. And hopefully, what it takes to get started in the industry for people who might be interested in a new career (like all you other network guys out there). There's an excellent chance I'll wax political on occasion. I used to be really into politics -- I was State Vice Chairman of College Republicans in WV & got invited to the Inauguration in '84. Political parties for the most part disgust me now and I've turned predominantly libertarian (not Libertarian - they're as bad as any other party, maybe worse). Don't be surprised if the general demeanor of my politcal posts leans that way.
Here's my plan.... I'll drive as a company driver for 12-24 months and then buy my own truck. Within 5 years I'd like to be a small fleet owner. One of the things I discovered during my 9 months of soul searching (unemployment) was that I hadn't done much in the way of career management during the last 18 years -- mostly surviving on being very good at network administration. But sometimes being very good is not enough. This time I'm going to be master of my own ship.

What has gone before (through June 14, 2005)...... You already know I lost my job. I used up 6 months of unemployment looking for computer work. Due to the general incompetence of the employees with which I dealt at the NC Unemployment Security Commission in Cary, NC I didn't find out about the Workforce Investment Act until well after my unemployment had run out. It would have paid for me to go to truck driving school (if you are unemployed, ask about this program if nobody has told you about it). Then I could have gone to the excellent PTDI certified Driver Training Program at Isothermal Community College in Spindale, NC (5 wks $2900 + lodging). So I relocated to Clarksville, TN based on the word of my sister's ex-husband that I could come to TN and get my CDL by passing the test and paying somebody to sign off on my road test. Turns out he didn't know any more about that than he did about being married.

I found out once I started doing research that the 2 years of experience I have from 20 years ago is every bit as good as the experience that I would have acquired by being Ramses II's chariot driver. This had led to no small amount of wheel spinning since my first 2 choices were PGT and Arrow. Both are flatbed companies, both run my area, both pay pretty well, both take driving school graduates. Both told me to go to take a refresher class and they'd be happy to hire me. This sounds like a great plan -- except that I've been unable to find anybody that offers a refresher course except Smokey Mountain Trucking Institute and they want $1700. Back to the drawing board.

Before I left NC I talked to a recruiter for Driver Solutions. They're a placement agency for PAM Transport, Star (out of IL), and USA Truck. He scheduled me to start school @ Arkansas State University's Driver Program the 13th of June and was pre-hired with USA Truck. I went to TN and took the CDL written test for General Knowledge, Air Brakes and Combo. I didn't take the Hazmat test because a less than fully functional state employee said I couldn't but couldn't really explain why. I gather it has something to do with the TSA background check. I passed all the tests. I also called back the Driver Solutions recruiter and told him I wasn't coming on the 13th. He told me they'd hold my application for 90 days and so that's my backup plan.

I got an appointment to take the DOT physical June 10th (for TN readers, DOT physical is required prior to them issuing any license or permit, so if you want to walk out with something get your physical first.) I passed that too. Then I started going around to small companies. I basically got the same story from them -- 20 year old experience doesn't count. One of the people I talked to recommend R.E. West out of Lenanon, TN. So I talked to them and have an appointment for the 15th. I also have an application in with Millis out of Georgia. Millis is looking at my application. The recruiter said they generally don't take people with employment gaps longer than 6 months but that she'd try to get it approved since I was in my last job for 9 years. They're my first choice but I'm not confident that it will go my way. RE West pays less than Millis but they only require a 100,000 commitment versus 12 months for Millis. RE West also pays during training ($200/wk during yard portion (2 weeks max) and $300/wk during road training (3 weeks max)) and Millis doesn't. There also isn't any up front cost for RE West and Millis wants $500.