This is scary. I think I actually understand it! And I've never driven in a backwards country before. :lol:

The outer circle (normal for Brits) allows quickest access to the 2 spurs to your left.

The inner circle allows quickest access to the 2 spurs to your right.

The tiny circles allow you to merge into the inner circle and also to perform a U-turn to go back down the street you started on, and to go from the inner circle back to the outer circle if you change your mind (or lose it!) or from the outer to the inner. :shock:

Hey! I think I saw this in a T/A truckstop in Amarillo once! :roll:

Do I get a T-shirt now?

 

ha ha ha . the magic roundabout. scary in atruck i can tell you! where,s he? how did she get there? is she gonna hit me? is he an idiot or what? help i want me mum! :lol:

 

Funny stuff, but I have a serious question or two.
As I mentioned I will be starting my 10 Weekend CDL course in on 1 April.
I will be training with Northeast Tech Institute in Scarborough Maine (near Portland). It is a 200 hour course that includes the following endorsements:
Hazardous Materials
Tank
Doubles/Triples
Air Brakes

The difference is I will only be seeking to work part-time for a few years, and I do not see a lot of conversation on this board about part-time opportunities for INEXPERIENCED CDL drivers. Places like Fedex and UPS are probably out as I am not a student. I have a 8-5 job and unless I have a bad hair day or get the SUPER MAD itch to dump it all and make a lot less money initially doing OTR -- getting experience is going to be tough. Especially living in Maine!

I will only be able to work for 6PM to midnight and or Weekends so OTR and Regional is out. I have researched some potential places, and I have not started to network HARD yet.

One of my questions is what will local miles count for later?
Any OTR credit? I am sure that depend on the company?

Example: somebody that interviewed at my company (non trucking) was putting in 400-600 miles a nite throughout Maine (18 wheeler) while he was going to school. I wonder how much OTR credit he would get since he was doing it for 2 years -- were he to take up Trucking as a profession?

Anyway, I am sure I will network and learn more during school, but I was wondering if anybody here (the board) has been "been there -- done that":

1) Paid for their schooling (versus the school mill)
2) Gained experience through part-time work (versus the school mill)
3) Succesful in getting OTR credit. If so, how much? What was your experience?
4) From the endorsements above, what do folks think the is the best for getting SEAT TIME as a part-timer?

Cheers,
Nomad

 

Looks like some of the Roads on the Base I was out of north of Baghdad with the exception of the Green Grass :P

 

So Yoopr, was that recent times or when places like Libya ran resorts? :P

 

Well, I started CDL training on 1 April as planned. Nothing too exciting as we won't be touching the trucks for the next 4 weeks. This is a weekend only class which lasts 10 weekends. Should get decent behind the wheel time as we have only 13 students. We had 15 originally. One is doing a refresher, so he went to the yard after day #1. Another quit after the first day of training. Demographics: Two females, one of which is a school bus driver (Class B) and the other already has some experience (exposure) with her partner, but she does not have a CDL A. We have 2 Green card guys from Eastern Europe and another Latin green card holder. I would say that 40-50 percent of the class have been exposed to heavy equipment or 18 wheelers (from conversation). All in all is seems to be a good group. One of the trainees (previous class) and instructor did come by with a truck day #2 and the usual gawking, intrepidation, fear came over us wannabes (some worse than others). Then one of the instructors made it worse by whistling (with actual whistle) at somebody in our group for climbing in the cab incorrectly (no 3 points of touch at all times). We had not even covered that yet, so we got an early lesson (SAFETY). The instructor spelled out how unless we want ro risk having a face that looks like a partially chewed Big Mac to do it right (SAFETY).

So I got my first sit in a Tractor (Volvo) yesterday. The first thing that jumped out at me was not the size but the blind spots. Anyway, mostly book stuff until we hit the yard in May, so not much further to say.

I look even more forward to my weekends now

 

Well, we still have our heads in the books. Besides the seemingly endless videos and General Knowledge tests, we did get into more of the daily/monthly logs and double clutching this weekend. Seeing how we don't hit the yard for another 3 weeks, I will have to continue with practicing the phantom Gear patterns and Double Clutching using the hotel room lamp pole :roll:

I did make one observation (maybe it has already been coverered on this site. I have not checked). Another bennie of being an O/O is the DAC. We were going over the log books and the fines and how the LOGS are a legal record. I asked the instructor if they can effect your DAC. He said "what is a DAC"?

I looked back at him stunned until he explained (again) that he has been an O/O since day one. Makes sense, but I was surprised that DAC had not come up in conversation (Truck stops etc..) in his 10 years of trucking. I believe he had 6 over the road.

Hence, I have a rookie question for O/O's. When you contract with Carriers as an O/O does the DAC ever come up or become part of your history. Or does DAC exclusively pertain to company drivers?

Thanks in advance

 

Nomad wrote:

Yeah.... right!! Bet I know what you REALLY use to practice shifting! :shock: :lol:

Good news is... you can practice anytime! :lol:

Good question about DAC. I'd like to know the answer, too.

 

I believe dac is everywhere....

 

Thanks, I think :?: :idea: :?: (lol.. I did leave the "pole line") wide open) ops:


On the DAC question, I did post it separately. Here is the thread:

http://www.classadrivers.com/phpBB2/...ic.php?t=16389