Onward Towards Covenant Tranport Orientation

Well, I did get the finger printing done on Tuesday, and just did a few more clean-up chores around the house. I talked to the Covenant Recruiter and was told to call back on Thursday or Friday to get the conformation number on the Grayhound Bus. As it turned out, I recieved the number on Friday Morning, and was informed that I would be staying at the Claremont Hotel in Claremont, CA just down the street from the bus station. Everything, including the meals will be paid for by Covenant, and a pay check on top of that, not something that you will ever see from a cab company.

I did a few maps to show what appears to be a long bus trip (over 5 hours). I’m currently scheduled to head out on Sunday Morning at 10 a.m. from the main street bus terminal. Tomorrow, I wll be making pizza for the guys. The least I can usually do is put the frozen ones to shame. Not at lot of excitement for this week, but I shouldn’t be stressing anyway.

A Few YouTube Videos about Trucking

Well, I’ve found a few YouTube clips that may give you a better picture of what I’ve been blogging on.

Passing your CDL Part 1/3 trainee truck drivers in Kansas

PASSING YOUR CDL PART 2/3 complete unedited runthrough

PASSING YOUR CDL PART 3/3

On Covenant Transport, Inc.

Reporting of Weather Problems along the Road on a Trip.

They say a picture can paint a thousand words. So as a visual aid towards understanding my blogs, I will on occation include information from NOAA. The following is example of what you may see, if I were to blog about an ordeal of driving through something like Hurricane Gustav.

NWS New Orleans/Baton Rouge, LA Point Forecast: New Orleans LA 30.08N -89.95W

Cell Phone Weather Link: www.srh.noaa.gov/wml Last Update: 4:18 am CDT Sep 3, 2008 Forecast Valid: 5am CDT Sep 3, 2008-6pm CDT Sep 9, 2008

Hazardous weather condition(s):

Coastal Flood Warning
Flash Flood Watch
Hazardous Weather Outlook

Today: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 7am, then scattered showers and thunderstorms after 7am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 85. South wind between 10 and 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Tonight: Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 79. South wind between 5 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Thursday: Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 86. South wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Thursday Night: Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 75. South wind around 5 mph becoming east. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Friday: Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 88. East wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 76.

Saturday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 90.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 76.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 90.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 76.

Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 89.

Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 76.

Tuesday: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a high near 91.

AIT Trucking Refresher wk 4

Well to start with, it was a really rough week. On Saturday, I received notice from the Nevada DMV that they were planning to suspend my license that Thursday. Why? The only change that I had made was to sell my truck and cancel the insurance. To me, it seemed the DMV had made an error.

So on Monday, I jumped on a bus and stood in line at the DMV near Sahara and Eastern. Since I was early, the wait was not so great, but I was told that since I had my license suspend previously for not having insurance, I was required in this state to show financial responsibility for a period of no less than three years (SR-22). Even though you follow the instructions on the Insurance Verification Program (IVP) web site about surrendering your license plates “before you cancel or drop the liability insurance on any vehicle for any reason“, if you were previously suspended and are required to have a SR-22, it ” must be maintained for three years from the date you reinstate your driver license “.

So I was in a pickle, I no longer had a vehicle, but I had to have my license. You can just imagine what I did next. Since I was taking a bus, I was given a pass to skip through the DMV line and then walked directly down the street to the nearest insurance place (L.A.insurance) and bought the minimum necessary. This cost me $170 right up front cash (no check or CC), and then it’ll take $43 each month until this coming March. I know this sounds a bit ridiculous, but it’s true, and it was money I really didn’t have. To me, it’s taxation no different that when the King imposed the stamp act way back in the founding father’s time. I’m not saying that anyone should take up arms about this one, but I’d love to see someone throw a little tea party.

Well as it is that time of year, we actually had a little flooding on Monday, just as I was doing my on the road driving with the instructor. I actually did very well, for someone who have been doing cab for some time. And I did very well right up to what AIT calls it externship interview on Thursday, which gives their students the repayment requirement on the loans and the addition update requirement for the next eight weeks while on the road with the driver trainer. An then that same day, I was tested to see if I could pass the course. I got an instructor who for some reason had an issue when me not only being there for a refresher, but also because I was an ex-cabbie. I don’t know, but when they start to growl at you, there must be a problem.

Friday, I had to go back to AIT for the HASMAT endorsement, and only stay the a short time while they prepared the forms for the Homeland Security people, but it was too late to make it on that day by bus, so Tuesday it will have to be. And then do a return trip to AIT, to complete everything there.

Does this stuff look like junk to you? But no, it’s truly important and really valuable on the resale market, if you’re a constantly inebriated dumb-ass who claims that they are too valuable to sell (like my former roommate whom I kicked out six months ago for constantly being late on the rent, not replacing items, for generally insisting on rubbing me the wrong way on a daily basis, and on top of all of this, he still owes me $250 on the last months rent and half of the utilities).

Why did I mention all of this? Well, the current roommate, whom is renting the house from me, had came across a dilemma that he did not have the person that he plan to rent to any more, and there this dumb-ass was, just like some forlorn exiled house kitten, begging to get back in. To be sure, the current roommate was not in the dark about the history of previous one, but he really had no other choice. Well, I’ll not go into detail on this, but the “It’s all good” kid again insists on rubbing me the wrong way.

Well so tomorrow, I’ll be calling Covenant to schedule the orientation, and to obtain the customary bus ticket. I’ve spent a good amount of today cleaning and moving. Also, I’m sleeping on the floor tonight, with three other guys occupying the rooms. Yippie, it’s so wonderful. Not!!!!