going back to work soon

[dolinick]

I have been off for over 2 years taking care of my mother. I dropped my CDL (commercial) driver's license also. Now I have decided I may want to drive commercial vehicles again so I am going through the process of renewing my licence. It really isn't that bad. First I had to apply for a learner's permit which was $11.00 then after I passed one test I had to pay $57.00 to take three more tests. After I passed those I can take more tests for endorsements like haz-mat or tanker. The last thing I need to take is a road test. I had to get a DOT physical first which I think was about 50 bucks. This is for my medical card. I passed even with my high blood pressure but the card is only good for one year instead of two. I don't have access to an eighteen wheeler so I called a truck driving school sponsored by the local community college St. Phillip's. They agreed to rent me a truck for a few hours to take the road test for $300.00 but recommended that I take about 2 hours of training(practice) with their instructor for $100.00 per hour. Today I paid them the $500.00. If I find a good job it will definitely be worth it.

So saturday I was heading home from the country and going through a small one traffic light town. I saw the light turn yellow in time to stop but I just kept going. I was going slow but I saw it change to red as I got close/under the light. Before I got my brakes fixed I wouldn't have been able to stop but they are working good enough now to stop relatively quick. I was driving the '67 f100. The police busted me for running the light and since I seem to have forgot to take the old plates off the truck and didn't have my proof of insurance card I got another ticket for no insurance. I didn't even remember that I had a new set of plates. He would have run the plates and discovered I was insured. The judge will drop the no insurance ticket but probably not the running the red light. I believe my last moving violation was in october 2008.

Anyway, I should have my CDL by the end of the week! I hope I find a good company. My main priority right now is to have medical insurance.

[ford4x4fun]

Good Luck with the Hunt!

[Mancar1]

Yes, the best of luck on finding a good job.

[STROKER69]

Yes the very best of luck to you and I will put in a special prayer for you.

[dolinick]

Thank you all.

[ezernut9mm]

good luck in the job hunt. are you looking for local, regional, or otr?

[dolinick]

good luck in the job hunt. are you looking for local, regional, or otr?

I would like to be home every night, or every day if I have to work nights. I don't want to do otr for sure. Some extended trips might be okay but I don't want to be on the road for a week or weeks at a time.

[cowbay]

Hey good luck on the job search. It is not easy in this economy

[ezernut9mm]

actually there are plenty of good driving jobs around here. i don't know about austin though. i would find a smaller regional ltl carrier and see about getting hired on with one of them. they usually pay less, but will start someone with little or no experience.
most places want "current" experience or they wont hire.
or maybe starting on the dock with one of the bigger ltl companies and then after a year or so they will usually let you transfer to a driving job and they pay really good.
just some food for thought.

[dolinick]

Well I did it! I got a couple of hours to practice with the truck driving school's trainer. He took me around (I drove) the exact course that the DPS examiners take during the actual road test. I got to familiarize myself with what speed and what gear to drive in. He also gave me plenty of pointers. I straight backed and parallel parked a few times. Finally we went over the points of the air brake test. I enjoyed being in a truck again. It was a freightliner with double sleeper and I think a 48 foot dry van trailer. The road test itself went smoothly and I passed with a 96. She took off a few points for poor observance on my turns. She said I didn't check the mirror on the right enough.

Now that I have my CDL Class A I can take a haz-mat test, pay about $90 dollars , bring a copy of my birth certificate and then get a background check to get the hazardous materials endorsement. I think I should go ahead and get it.

[Ranchero50]

That's great. I got to ride along out of high school from MD to Boston, back through NYC, NJ, the Eastern shore and Delaware to VA and back home three times during week long runs. Lots of fun and interesting stuff to see out there and plenty of characters too.

My buddy has an ex Roadway single axle we use to move junk trailers around and it was up at my house for about a month or two trying to get it to shift right and fix the air leaks. Fun buggy to tool the neighborhoods in, after about ten miles of constant shifting it loosened up enough to drive it on the road.

Jamie

[ezernut9mm]

Well I did it! I got a couple of hours to practice with the truck driving school's trainer. He took me around (I drove) the exact course that the DPS examiners take during the actual road test. I got to familiarize myself with what speed and what gear to drive in. He also gave me plenty of pointers. I straight backed and parallel parked a few times. Finally we went over the points of the air brake test. I enjoyed being in a truck again. It was a freightliner with double sleeper and I think a 48 foot dry van trailer. The road test itself went smoothly and I passed with a 96. She took off a few points for poor observance on my turns. She said I didn't check the mirror on the right enough.

Now that I have my CDL Class A I can take a haz-mat test, pay about $90 dollars , bring a copy of my birth certificate and then get a background check to get the hazardous materials endorsement. I think I should go ahead and get it.

glad to hear it. congrats! getting the hazmat is almost a requirement to work most places. may as well get it. i hope you land a good job and have fun.

[dolinick]

Well, I took the Haz-Mat test yesterday and only got 77%(failed) or 23 of 30 questions right. I took it again today and missed only one and got a 96%. I said that labels on hazardous materials packages were square not diamond shaped. I also passed my tanker test yesterday. Now I have to go get fingerprinted and my photo taken as part of a background check before the hazmat endorsement can be added to my Class A CDL. Yay! I have an appointment for that tomorrow and it costs $78.20 check or money order only. I will finally be done with my driver's license stuff.

[Brokenarrow]

I have family that live in Uvalde, they tell me there are lots of openings for transport drivers in the area

[dolinick]

I have family that live in Uvalde, they tell me there are lots of openings for transport drivers in the area

Yes there is! I think most of it is related to the oil and gas boom. It's getting crazy around here. And they are just getting started.