First Day and Good News

Well, the first day at school was just about what I expected I think.

Showed up at 6:45am for the 7:00am class and met our instructor. Steve seems like a pretty nice guy, been driving OTR for about 18 years and seems to know his stuff. Only time will tell you know.

We got our schedule for the next four weeks, it is pretty straight forward so at least we know exactly what we are supposed to be doing and when we are going to do it.

Today and tomorrow we are studying the books and taking pre-tests to check our knowledge. Luckily for me I've been studying the books for nearly a month now and have just about blown the pre-tests away. My buddy in class got started a bit late on the program but he's doing pretty good as well, he just needs to hit the books after hours to shore up what he's learning.

Today we covered the Texas specific laws (Class A & B test) as well as the General CDL, Air Brakes and Bulk/Tankers.

Tomorrow we are supposed to cover Combination, Doubles/Triples and Pre-Trip/Post-Trip inspections.

We won't cover Hazmat till the last week of class because you can't even take the Hazmat test in Texas till after you have your hardcopy CDL license. (I plan on getting mine will just have to do it on my own.)

Wednesday we are supposed to head down to the DPS CDL Testing station in Waxahachie and take all seven of our written tests.

Thursday and Friday we will be covering all the other classroom related stuff such as logging, mapping, trip planning and such.

Then for the next three weeks after that, we'll be doing parking in the mornings and road driving in the afternoons.

We are supposed to be ready and go down to Waxahachie and take our skills tests on March 12th. Then spend two days after we pass our test brushing up skills and dealing with recruiters and company offers. Luckly the recruting and offers stuff won't apply to me.

Which leads me to the "Good News" part of the post. Crete's HR department called today to let me know that they were offering me my pre-hire notice and that with my record and history that I only needed to graduate from class and retake the DOT physical and drug screen to start my orientation and training with them on March 18th.

I am so happy now it isn't even funny, Crete is my first choice (some may not agree) but it has everything I want and I never even talked to a recruiter to make my decision. I made my decision based on information I've found posted by others on trucker forums and actually speaking to Crete drivers at truckstops and at the Wilmer, Texas terminal which is about an hour from my house.

I still have my pre-hire from Schneider and Prime but I hope I do not have to fall back on it.

That's all for today ...