The First Week

I'm late getting this going. The first week of truck driving school was pretty stressful, but a lot of fun and as much of a challenge as I imagined it would be. The school is in Taylor, about 25 miles from home. A fairly easy commute, actually. 94 to 275 South to Eureka Rd east. The school is on Eureka just past Telegraph. At 7:15am the traffic is very manageable. We're in school from 8am to 6pm Mon-Thursday with 40 minutes for lunch. There are 8 guys in the class. I'm the oldest (naturally), but there is one guy in his early 50's. The rest range from late 20s to mid 40s. One is an FBI agent. They're sending him through because they have some vehicles requiring a CDL (Commercial Driver's License). It's a good group. We're all helping each other when we can, including the all-important moral support. A couple of the guys have driven large trucks before, but the rest of us are novices. One of the experienced guys told me a great story about getting stuck at the Canadian border for 13 hours once because the bill of lading for the load of prototype dog food he was hauling didn't list 100% of its ingredients. He ended up losing it and punching out a loud mouth Canadian driver and things went down hill from there. He vows never to enter Canada again (maybe because there's an outstanding warrant waiting for him?) I'll spin the whole tale another time.

Man, these are big vehicles! The tractor is 20 plus feet long and the trailer is 53 feet. We spend most of our time out in a big parking lot maneuvering these things around. Some class time, of course, but no more then necessary. All of us were required to get our CDL student permit before classes started. That requires passing a number of written tests give at Sec of State offices. I took a total of six tests, including the one for a hazmat endorsement. Apparently other schools waste a week teaching you this stuff.

So last week we learned to back the truck in a straight line just using the side mirrors. It took a while, but eventually, you get a picture of what you need to see and it becomes pretty easy all of a sudden. The next maneuver is backing into a space. In this case it's an area marked off by cones. They do get run over. So far, the hardest is a 90 degree docking maneuver. I've backed little trailers before, but this transcends my experience. I got pretty frustrated late Thursday afternoon, and I wake up in the morning thinking about how the hell I'm going to see what I need to see (like the straight line backing), but I'll get it (by Gar).

And we have been out on the road! We had some double-clutching practice on the lot first and we only drove the tractor (the trailer gets added this week), but it was a rush (OK, pretty scary). Driving a tractor without a trailer is called "bobtailing" and it's more problematic than when the trailer is attached. The most advanced guy--Clarence aka Lumpy (our nickname for him)--got a shot driving with the trailer Thursday afternoon. He did great! I'll get my shot tomorrow or Tuesday. We drive around the area the Eureka Rd/Telegraph area and down towards the airport and back. We do create "trains" behind us and occasionally get the "number one sign" as they pass us. Hey, they shoulda left 5 minutes earlier!

This weekend, I started memorizing a 113 point pre-trip inspection you have to know to pass the CDL test. You have to walk around the truck and point out various parts and say what you should and shouldn't see, e.g., "All mirrors secure, clean, not cracked or broken." There are repeating patterns, so it's not too difficult to remember everything, especially with all the visual cues.

So far, the whole experience is fun and I'm trying to keep it that way by not to put too much pressure on myself.

I'll get to adding pictures and sound to this thing eventually. My theme song is gonna be an old country ballad called "Gimme Forty Acres and I'll Turn This Rig Around."

Cheers!

Joel