Twenty-Three Days and I Made It!

A Swift 18-Wheeler ala Freightliner

I’m happy to report that I passed all three phases of my testing with the state examiner today. The Department of Licensing office, just across the Snake River in nearby Clarkston, is closed on Monday but Tuesday I will trade in my Washington State Commercial Driver’s License Learning permit for “the real thing;” a new Class “A” C.D.L. (Commercial Driver’s License) I will never again have to take these tests so long as I keep my C.D.L. in force.

As I expected the worse part today was actually the 100+ point Pre-Trip inspection. I was nervous at the start and felt like I had missed quite a few things. From the beginning “in-cab inspection” and then struggling to remember the exact “key words” on various components on both the tractor and trailer, I ended up very surprised to find out I missed only 5 items.

After I got out on the road I literally kept repeating to myself in my mind “stay calm, have fun, know what gear you’re in, watch those downshifts, and don’t forget that big trailer behind you.” I made some mistakes along the way but was pretty confident when I made my last turn, returning to the starting point, that I had made it okay with error points to spare. There was one tight turn made much more difficult by an illegally parked car. I missed second gear on my first left turn (I never do that!), I ground the gears a few times, and allowed the truck to roll back a couple of feet while demonstrating a complete stop and shutdown along the road side on a fairly steep incline.

A Lonely Motel Room With Just 13 Hours to Go!

I’ll try to make this short, but wanted to add an update. It’s been a hectic week as I and my Idaho and Washington classmates made final preparations for testing with their states to receive their CDLs (Commercial Drivers License). In fact most of my classmates have already passed their tests in the last couple of days. Among them, my roommate. He, along with the others who have finished their 3 weeks of Academy training, have left the Super 8 to take the next few days off. They’ll be back here in Lewiston on Monday to begin Orientation. All those in Orientation stay at a swankier and more conveniently located motel. It’s a lonely room here tonight and I miss my new-found friend.

As for myself, I’ll finally test tomorrow in Spokane after a couple of delays. The road test and pre-trip are more difficult in Washington than they are in Idaho, but I’m pretty confident I’ll pass them both. No matter what, my plan is to have fun tomorrow and just take a leisurely drive through the streets of Spokane. The skills test should be a piece of cake.

Two of our five Washington students passed their tests yesterday while one of them, who came from an earlier class and failed the pre-trip the week before, managed to fail again. He’ll retest sometime next week and, if he fails a third time, will be sent home without his license. His relationship with Swift will be over. All that remain for testing are myself and another Washington student, a 29 year old married school bus driver from the Seattle area.

Worry and the Journey(s) Ahead

Just when I think I’ve made it past ‘the worse part” I realize that it’s still a rather hectic process of advancing through my training here at the Swift Academy. Things have not really let up for us. Even since that first tough week, and now that we’re the “senior” class, it’s just a different set of challenges that lie ahead. The stress, along with the fatigue, continues. Getting up each morning at 3:50 a.m. and moving from one task to another throughout the day, with just the usual 15 and 45 minute breaks, during an 11 hour stretch, is beginning to wear me a bit thin. But the goal line is now just a few days away.

There’s a favorite saying of mine regarding worry. There are two things about which I should never worry. First, I shouldn’t worry about the things I cannot change. If I can’t change them, worry is foolish and a complete waste of time. Second, I shouldn’t worry about the things I can change. If I can change them, then taking action will accomplish far more than wasting my energies in worry. So, give worry its rightful place and keep it out of your life.

So that’s where I’m at on this early Sunday morning as I contemplate the final three days of training that lie ahead.

Knowledge and Skills: Preparing for the Road

Hello again! We Just today began week three, the final week of our training here at the Swift Academy in Lewiston, Idaho with graduation scheduled a week from tomorrow. The last week went by rather quickly now that we’re out of the classroom and driving on the “range” most of our day.

In order to qualify for our Class “A” Commercial Driver’s License we’re required to pass four different categories of testing. This is what our schooling is all about. Training and preparation to meet the state’s licensing requirements. Nothing more, nothing less. I’m frankly amazed that they can do it in as short a time as they’re able. Of course they simply give us the tools and the training and it’s up to us to make something of it.

Milestones and Miles Yet To Go

Wow! What a week we’ve had. I can’t believe all the things I’ve learned in the past eight days of training.

We lost one of our Washington drivers on Wednesday. The examining doctor claimed he found blood that showed up in one of those tests we’re all familiar with. This immediately disqualified the student for the medical certification required to hold a Commercial Driver’s License. I was stunned to see him have to suddenly leave after putting in a full week of training. He was a good guy and part of our little group of five drivers from the other Washington. We work closely in a group as we prepare to pass Washington’s “Pre-Trip” and “Road Test” which varies in several ways from the tests our other classmates will take here in Lewiston for their Idaho licenses. We’ll be traveling across the Snake River to either Spokane, or possibly Pasco, where we’ll test, I believe next Wednesday. There’s a reason we’re not testing in nearby Clarkston, Wa.,

One Week Down … Two to go!

Another milestone of sorts as our class advances into it’s second week beginning tomorrow. With the change we move out of the classroom and to a group of new instructors who will begin teaching us the real meat and potatoes of the job, the driving of a 70-foot long tractor-trailer. Sad in a way to leave the tutoring of the classroom instructor we’ve enjoyed for the past week. But he’ll be nearby as we move onto the adjacent “Driving Range” and he moves on to indoctrinate a new group of students.

Today we spent the morning testing our skills at reading maps using the ultimate map book, the Rand McNally Motor Carriers’ Road Atlas. Gotta get me one of these!

“I’m going to fry your brains!”

The title of todays entry were the words of our classroom instructor last week in his description of the course work ahead for us and all the information we’d be required to learn in a short period of time. Now, after four days of classes, I’m convinced that he knew what he was talking about!

Today we learned about Driver Daily Logs and the rules, regulations and guidelines governing our Hours-of-Service.

Mandated by the U.S. Department of Transportation driver logs are legal documents that we’re responsible to maintain and update throughout the day. These logs account for all 24 hours of our day, right down to increments of 15 minutes, whether “on duty” or not. Even our days off have to be documented as “off duty” and the logs are required to be turned into our employer within 13 days.

Truckers are held to strict rules allowing them to be on duty for no more than 14 hours in any 24 hour period. Of those 14 hours we can only drive 11 of them. In addition we cannot be on duty more than 70 hours in any 8 day period. If we hit that mark, we’re required to take 34 hours off in what’s called a “restart.” There are a few ways around these rules and ways to squeeze more time out of the day, thus giving us more miles. We just have to be familiar with the methods (legal by the way), but it can be a bit complicated.

The Weekend: Some Time Off

The weekend has arrived and I was able to sleep-in this morning. I woke at nine while my roommate “T” was already up. A real treat not to have to get up at 3:50 a.m. for our week-day shuttle pickup at 5 a.m.

The past couple of days have been crammed with more paperwork and several more written tests. They say we will have taken over 20 written tests during our three week training. The tests cover everything from the “General Knowledge” to the “Cargo,” “Air Brakes” and “Combination Vehicle” sections of our CDL (Commercial Driver’s License) manuals, and a few things in-between, for obtaining our “Class A” license. And our numbers have grown to ten as we inherited a student who was washed back a week.

In addition over a two-day period we watched a 2 1/2 hour video of what we can expect when stopped by a State Patrolman/Department of Transportation (D.O.T.) inspector on the road. This locally produced video was not only informative but entertaining as well as it was done by a local state patrolman friend of many of the Swift Training Instructors. A pretty “hard core” guy but understandable in consideration of the numerous experiences he’s had in dealing with truckers and trucking accidents in his career.

First Impressions: Day One

There are just nine students in my class. A bit smaller than I expected, but I prefer it over larger numbers. There are three in the class from Washington. Two of us with “Class B” CDL’s (Commercial Driver’s Licenses) and, as it turns out, I will not have to test and get a license here in Idaho. Because we’re so close to Washington they’ll allow us to simply “upgrade” to the “Class A” endorsement by testing just across the river at Clarkston. This means, instead of a battery of five different tests, that those without a CDL have to take, I only have to take one. 20 questions! How sweet is that!

It was an extremely busy day today and having stayed up late last night didn’t make it any easier when those alarms and the wake up call came in at 4 a.m.

After assembling with the other students from three different classes, in the lobby with some breakfast goodies to choose from, we piled into the shuttle for our first venture to the Swift Driving Academy.

The Arrival

Well, here I am in Lewiston, Idaho the night before day-one of a 23-day training class to earn my Class “A” Commercial Drivers License for employment with Swift Transportation.

The drive from Yakima was casual and beautiful. While passing through the Tri-Cities I get directions from a customer in a FedEx office. He says I just rode that highway on my motorcycle last weekend, you’ll love it, it’s a great ride. He was right.

The landscape changes along the way from the Columbia River through those fruited plains we all remember singing about as school kids. Along a curving and occasionally slightly climbing road I pass a number of historic markers and reminders that the route follows “The Lewis and Clark Trail.”

Along eastbound Washington highways 124 and 12 joining Pasco of the Tri-Cities with my destination there are beautiful farms and cattle grazing along the road and, in some places, scattered high among the rolling green hills in the distance. There are a number of small towns along the way I’d never heard of. This is all new road for me and hopefully just the beginning of many thousands of the same to come. There are towns like “Starbuck,” “Pomeroy” and “Dayton.” Visit Dayton a large sign says. Lewis and Clark did!