On The Road Again.......

I must apologize for the short post yesterday but it was pretty late and I had to get up early to buy donuts for everyone. Sort of a ritual that everyone that gets their CDL does. On my test I got a total of 9 points, points being items that I did incorrectly. I got 3 points out of 15 max on my pre-trip. I forgot to mention the rear running lights on the trailer, "Cuts" in the rear tire, and cracks or welds in the rear wheel rim. The last one I did mention I was checking it for and my instructor was willing to change my score and give me credit for it, but it really doesn't matter. Passing is Passing.

I did fine on my straight line backing and my alley dock backing. Neither were perfect but I got the job done.
On my road test I got 6 points out of 20 max, 1 point for rubbing a curb (there wasn't a actual curb there, but for the test they treat all roadway boundaries as curbs and my instructor felt that I came a little too close, in that, if there was a curb there I would have rubbed it.), the other 5 were on my up-shifting of all things. I was shifting about 1/10th of a sec too fast (according to my instructor) and my instructor said that he heard and extra "click" on my up-shifts. It is possible, as I was a bit nervous (I ended up taking my test in the middle of rush hour traffic) but I personally think what he was hearing was the shifter entering the gear slot and then the gear engaging. But regardless I am VERY happy with my performance. I lost 0 points on my traffic checks which is the biggest area and easiest to lose points on.

After my test my instructor told me he was very impressed, and that I showed to him that I really cared about what I was doing and was always thinking of safety, not only of myself but of the other motorists on road as well. I verbalized allot of what I was thinking during the test as well as my rational for what I was doing and how I was doing it. There were 2 times that I probably could have made it through an intersection, but choose to wait till I had a larger gap in traffic, my reasoning for this was, in case I miss a gear that on coming traffic (moving at 55+ mph) won't have to take action to avoid me. It was safer for me to just wait a moment or two until I had a larger gap in traffic.
I have to admit it gave me a very good and positive feeling hearing that from one of my instructors. Kind of reassured me that I was doing things the right way.

This morning after dropping off 3 dozen donuts for the staff and my classmates, I went down to the DMV and got my official CDL license. Picture still looks horrible though.....LOL

The rest of the day I got to drive 3 new road routes and put on 123 miles. After today I have a little over 450 miles behind the wheel driving, with a minimum of 550 more to go. Tomorrow will the probably be the last day I can relax a little now that I have passed my CDL test, as I will be given a new truck with a 53' trailer soon. I also need to start working on my offset, and blind side backing, as well as keeping up on my straight line and alley dock. Can't let myself become complacent as I still have a final backing test to pass. In the weeks that follow I will also have to pull a flatbed trailer, a set of doubles, and a tanker. I will also be getting assigned to new trucks with different transmissions (super 10, automatic, etc). Then there is still skid pad training as well. So it won't be boring, that is for sure!

This weekend there is a big truck show at the Green Bay Fairgrounds that I am going to attend. A few of my classmates are going to be there as well, and the school has one of our trucks and a booth there. Admission is free to all, so if your going to be in the area this weekend I encourage you all to stop by.