Question:
I'm flying out to the USA next week, and will do my CDL A at Ardoch,ND. Since I'm not familiar (yet) with the US way of doing things, any tips for a British straight truck driver who is off to feed you lot with the help of elderly semi trucks?
I can double declutch, despite most of our trucks having synchromesh gearboxes, and I'm pretty sure I can remember how all the hoses go, unless of course, yours are different to ours...
Hints and tips?Professional Driver's Association UK Member
Owner of a threadbare gypsy soul.

Answer:

www.cristcdl.com

Answer:

Don't believe anything you "hear".
You may face a language barrier,we don't speak English.
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Many thanks JhF, I'm having a go through the general knowledge tests at ChristCDL, and getting an average 12/15 on them. Not bad for no preperation.Professional Driver's Association UK Member
Owner of a threadbare gypsy soul.

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Raeblam, I spent 2 months down in NC 2 years back, y'all speak close enough to English, I can cope Professional Driver's Association UK Member
Owner of a threadbare gypsy soul.

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Looks like I need to do some reading up on Hazmat, I'm not doing too well on those tests... And those Air-brake tests confused the heck out of me, it's as if I'd not been driving suckers with those things before... sheesh... Excuse me while I go spend a day driving 70,000 pounds of straight truck round...
Live and learn I suppose. Just goes to show how widely test requirements vary across this world. I have a LOT of reading to do before I take the real thing.Professional Driver's Association UK Member
Owner of a threadbare gypsy soul.

Answer:
After a couple of days on 'the range' practicing your hooking up, driving, unhooking, etc......it'll come to you like 'second nature'......except we don't drive on the 'wrong side' of the road like y'all do.
Dang! "Y'all" has GOT to sound funny with a British accent.
Good Luck with your new adventure!

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Sorry to disappoint Hoss, I tend to slip into a vague approximation of a southern accent when using those terms...Professional Driver's Association UK Member
Owner of a threadbare gypsy soul.

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Try not to take advice from people from Minnesota, they talk funny. Go further east to upstate New York or Florida. :
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And this helps me how much? I'll be in the back end of North Dakota... if you ever meet someone out there, do they talk funny too?Professional Driver's Association UK Member
Owner of a threadbare gypsy soul.

Answer:
dear a,
also try layover.com newbie section scroll to other for other practice test,good info can be found at olblue.com,someone from here told me about that site
also try newbiedriver.com search for brakes scott has posted a great air brk training tool.
good luck,hope we can meet someday
who are you planning to drive for?

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Hint. The right side of the road is the right side of the road not the wrong side of the road.
Good luck.
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Thanks Maineac.
What's the pass rate for those tests? I'm getting between 75% and 88% on them.Professional Driver's Association UK Member
Owner of a threadbare gypsy soul.

Answer:

Yah, they shoor do, don'cha know. Sotra like them Minnesotans, but kinda funnier. Yah, you bet'cha!
ND is filled with Swedes, Norwegians and Finns. See the movie "Fargo" to get an idea of how they talk up there. Once in a while, Garrison Keillor still does his "Minnesota language systems" skits on Prarie Home Companion. Listen to that some time (you can get it on WNYC at 6:00 pm, EDST every saturday online). It will give you a good insight on how people in the northern plains are. Hope you like gravy on your food, because the put it on top of everything except the canned corn!
Driving the harvest, huh? Man, you don't know what you're getting into! Watch out for those Hutterite hay-haulers who bomb around up there on mountain doubles. You'll know them by the way they dress: white linen baggy shirts, suspenders (braces to you..), black pants, straw hat, long beards. Hope you speak Mexican dialects of Spanish pretty well, too. Most picking is done by migrant worker gangs that come from the interior of Mexico.