This is me in the driver's seat
Heres a view of the dashboard
This is the truck in the express bay waiting on the tire changes.Sorry for not updating everyone. I haven't had internet access since we checked out of the hotel on Friday. Here's what happened:
We took the written test. Everyone passed. One person had to stay for backing remedial. We had the graduation ceremony, took pictures, etc. I managed to get the honors student award. I guess a certain "incident" that I had to call in to safety on Wednesday didn't affect my driving score that much. No, I didn't hit anything, but it was mighty close. Basically, some guy ran a red light and forced me out of my lane while I was trying to make a right turn, and I came within about 1 or 2 inches of a light pole.
So, we all graduated and got our assignments. My teammate and I were assigned to the same TE who is on a Sears dedicated account in Delano, CA. We were supposed to ride a van to Delano on Friday, but the hotel was sold out, so we had to hang out in Ontario, CA for a couple of days and pick up a rental car on Sunday. The great news is that we get to keep the rental car for the week so that we won't be trapped at the hotel.
Anyway, my teammate and I are out with our TE. He is home every night, so we're staying in a hotel instead of sleeping in the truck every night. Pretty sweet, except that we're based in Delano, CA. If you've never been to Delano.. well.. don't hurry.
At about 2300 on Sunday night, the TE calls us and tells us to meet him in the hotel lobby at 0200 on Monday. That's right. We had 3 hours notice. I had the fun task of driving from Delano to Modesto on less than 3 hours of sleep. The TE drove from Modesto to Stockton, and I drove the rest of the way from Stockton to Sacramento. My teammate drove back to Delano while I slept.
Our TE told us that he is pleased with our driving. He's also great about giving us some pointers. So far, he's not seeing any reason not to release us from his custody on Friday, which means that we'll be back in Colorado on Sunday. Woohoo!!
I know, I know.. but I just haven't had the time or energy to update the blog, especially when not much new has happened.
Today was the driving test. Pre-Trip, pump down (aka "air brake tests"), four-point inspection, trailer integrity verification ("terror check", newly implemented), drive around, and 45-degree alley dock.
It really went well. I took a right turn a little too wide and my mirror scans weren't quite quick enough, but everything else was fine. I'm pissed that I had to take a pull up on my backing test. I had the perfect angle to get the hole-in-one, but then I overcorrected and ran out of room to fix it. Damn. Oh well. One pull up isn't bad.
Everyone in the class passed except one who failed backing. He gets to try it again tomorrow.
We have one more obstacle: the written test. Piece of cake. After that, we discover our fates and where we will be going for further training. All that I know now is that we're checking out of the hotel tomorrow morning.
Time to pack.
Wow, I've been slacking on this blog lately. It's been busy around here, and I've been fighting this evil head cold that our class seems to be passing back and forth to each other.
Anyway, Saturday was slow maneuvers and backing practice, which was great fun. The second half was Haz Mat class, which was not fun. Sunday was excruciatingly dull. Permits, Qualcomm, and Map Reading. Map Reading was by far the most interesting. As a kind of techno geek, I thought that the Qualcomms would be fun and entertaining, but no. They're terribly, terribly dull. By far the least fun day thus far.
Today we were back in the trucks. Since my instructor ditched me in order to accomodate the huge class that's in Week 1 now, I've been shunted to another instructor. And there are three of us on that truck. Which meant an 0600 to 1900 day. The first guy drove us out to Huntington Beach. I drove us to San Diego. The last guy drove us back home. We each got roughly 4 hours of wheel time. I even got to drive through my first weigh station. Joy.
And now, it's back to homework. Whee. And Jill, if you're reading this, I love you!
