| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
benny the deuce
Joined: 22 Jul 2006
Posts: 67
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 1:36 pm Post subject: SCHOOLS IN SESSION! |
|
|
Well the wife and I are in school now and got through day 2!...dang there is a lot to learn.
It is coming fast and furious...3 more days of classroom and then a day of pre-trip and getting to know the truck and then 3 weeks of driving.
I was a bit worried about the wife since she comes from a retail background and i have a solid mechanical background...but guess who is the top student via test scores in the class so far..yep..the only woman..go figure!.
The instructors told us she would do best as she has no bad habits/thoughts to get in the way and will learn the right way the first time. I am real proud of her!! |
|
| Back to top |
|
golfhobo
Joined: 16 Oct 2005
Posts: 4212
Location: the 19th hole / NC
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 4:57 pm Post subject: |
|
|
YES it is! At least by after Labor Day, school children WILL be out and about many of the roads WE drive down. Let's ALL pay attention to the signs, and the LAWS! What is 10 mins driving time compared to a child's life?
As the First Shirt of that precinct on Hill Street Blues used to say, "Let's be careful out there, folks!"
[NO... I didn't misread the topic title, OR misunderstand the original poster! I JUST wanted to say this... and this seemed lke a good thread to do so!]
Hobo |
|
| Back to top |
|
rickll
Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Posts: 94
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:27 pm Post subject: good Luck |
|
|
| glad to see you are going for it .... my wife and I went to SAGE in AZ a few months ago ... we are now going to drive for Covenant as we want to train together ... hope to see you out on the road soon ,,,, HAVE FUN and be safe |
|
| Back to top |
|
benny the deuce
Joined: 22 Jul 2006
Posts: 67
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 1:55 pm Post subject: |
|
|
well got through the first week, boy does my brain hurt!!
there is quite a bit of paperwork involved, not sure how you find time to drive the rig LOL!
They gave us a "nightmare trip" to plot for our final written classroom exam. Multiday trip, a couple of trailer swaps, 6 states,3 time zones,
4 load-unload, all with our assistance. 3 tight deadline delivery, and a relay load in the middle of all of it.
had to show a correct logbook, fuel usage, time, mileage, sleeper time ect....did pretty good got everything right except missed my overall milage by only 6 miles!
did take about 2 hours to figure it out!
Now we spend monday on pre-trip with the rig, and then clear the roads..we will start driving (well in the lot anyway) on tuesday....
thanks for all the assistance on here so far!..it has helped a lot! |
|
| Back to top |
|
yoopr
Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 12865
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 2:29 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Good Luck |
|
| Back to top |
|
benny the deuce
Joined: 22 Jul 2006
Posts: 67
|
| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 1:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Yesterday we did the pre-trip learnin' and since we got done early the instructor moved on to drop and hook and a little yard driving. My wife was the first one to go..I sure wish i had brought my video camera...
She has wanted to drive the "big rigs" for over 20 years and now she was driving one...I was about 10 pm at night, but you could have turned off all the yard lights, dash lights and headlights..she was beaming so bright that it would have been daylight anyway!!!
She did great (better than me in fact!)..The other students were excited and proud of her as well. IT WAS A VERY GOOD DAY!
When she was done she was still excited..but her back was drippin in sweat as well...LOL.
I did pretty good to...but i think the instructors lip prints are still on the inside of the windshield..LOL! |
|
| Back to top |
|
4roses
Joined: 28 Aug 2004
Posts: 2016
Location: BrokenArrow, Oklahoma
|
| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 3:53 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Quote: She did great (better than me in fact!)..The other students were excited and proud of her as well. IT WAS A VERY GOOD DAY!
When she was done she was still excited..but her back was drippin in sweat as well...LOL.
I did pretty good to...but i think the instructors lip prints are still on the inside of the windshield..LOL!
I laughed so hard my sides started hurting when I read this .... isn't life good. It's always nice to know we can still get excited about learning. Keep up the good work and know that your life is just about to change forever .... |
|
| Back to top |
|
benny the deuce
Joined: 22 Jul 2006
Posts: 67
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 12:18 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Oh Boy what a night last night!...it was our first time driving in the streets.
Since we are in the late class they took us down to the industrial part of town where it was pretty deserted and had us drive. My wife went first, the first tight turn she made she was still pretty nervous and as she upshifted just prior to making the turn, she "buried the clutch" and actvated the clutch brake, which made her miss the shift and she slammed on the brakes. I found out that the theory of "an equal and opposite reaction" is true (and the 3rd driver in the back with me can fly! LOL). A few blocks later we came up to a stop light and guess what...a 4 wheeler cut right in front of her to beat her to the light....She made steady and upward progress and ended her 2 hour drive shift smiling wide and no death grip on the sterring wheel!
Me...dang I keep forgetting what gear I am in and either over/under reving the rpms when i shift. I figured out a good double clutch trick that works well for my feet..just have to get the right arm to go along with it!
I asked the trainer who sits up front if they pay him about $500,000.00 per year to put up with us...because that is what it would take for me to do this training new drivers week in and week out!!
It is tough, but we are loving it and already are VERY thankful that when we get to our new place of employment they require 5 more weeks of training!... |
|
| Back to top |
|
benny the deuce
Joined: 22 Jul 2006
Posts: 67
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 1:56 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Well another interesting night...doing real well on the upshift timing, but still struggling with the downshift timing..think that will take a few more days.
Instructor did a neat thing..took us to the steepest hill in the area (not sure of the grade..but it is very steep). Has us shift into 4th and then had us watch the applied brake pressure gauge. of course we started about 90! LOL, then whole time he was "less pressure...less pressure" we were down to around 5-7 psi and doinf just fine. That was real interesting.
Even though we only haul lightly loaded trailers, I was very surprised just how quick gravity speeds up the truck going down hill.
All of also saw a good lesson tonight...a J.B. Hunt semi laying on its side on a curved freeway on ramp. (guess he's looking for a new job today!)
We were out in traffic yesterday and while the other 2 drove I counted 6 traffic problems of 4 wheelers trying to get around us or dive in front of us. I swear when i get out on the road i am going to mount a video camera on my dash and make a training film! |
|
| Back to top |
|
Bigmon
Joined: 13 Jan 2006
Posts: 701
Location: S. Cal.
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 9:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Hey Benny,
Good job. There was a JB Hunt driver in my area about 2 months ago that flipped onto his side going 55 around an on ramp. When the cops asked what happened he said he didn't get enough sleep. |
|
| Back to top |
|
benny the deuce
Joined: 22 Jul 2006
Posts: 67
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:28 am Post subject: |
|
|
well we just finished our first full week of driving, boy what a difference practice makes. Not a pro by a long shot, but doing pretty good.
Ran a trailer up on a sidewalk last night.. learned a valuable lesson about "driving the trailer" when going around curves!
Getting the hang of downshifting, keeping an eye on the tach makes all the difference.
The wife finished up all of endorsment tests today, nailed the double/triple test 100%..The whole class was very excited for her (and me to!).
Did my first dead stop big hill today, the guy behind me left me a reasonable amount of room, and then some butthead angled into the lane behind me, part of his car was actually part under the rear of my trailer.
Jeez... it says "student driver" in 8 foot letters. He is lucky I paid attention in class on how to start off on a big hill without any roll back....some peoples kids!....
Well was a hard and a bit streesful week, made solid progress and am looking forward to a relaxing weekend! |
|
| Back to top |
|
benny the deuce
Joined: 22 Jul 2006
Posts: 67
|
| Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 2:01 am Post subject: |
|
|
Well the weekend came and went ( a bit to fast!)
Had something funny happened to me saturday night, was driving to the ol' saturday night poker game and as I turned on to the street.... I reached for the gear shift in my little kia that has an automatic!.. I even turned my head to look for it when my hand could not find it... had to laugh out loud on that one! Then the first corner...yep... turned way wide.
Geez!
Still having a bit of trouble angle backing so I had an idea. Went to wally world and bought a small semi truck toy. Spent an hour or more backing it up on my table...really helped a lot! (if you do this, use it on the carpet..it works much better)
I spent most of the day in the yard today practicing back ups, the wife went out with the trainer for a one on one session to work on her downshifting.
Just taking two days off made for some real "rust" in everyones skill level, so we had to slow down and get back in sync with the truck.
Both of us our now at the point where we feel we are actually driving the truck and not just responding to one situation after another.
Still lovin the whole thing and still smilin! |
|
| Back to top |
|
benny the deuce
Joined: 22 Jul 2006
Posts: 67
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 1:21 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Tonight was one of the training days all of were worried about....pulling doubles. Lucky us, we got to go first.
Well I will tell you now that I would rather pull doubles than a 48' van!..
It sure looks intimidating, but it was way easier!
The wife made HUGE progress on her downshifting. The trainer on several occassions was saying "now you need to go down to x gear" and she replied "I am all ready there" with a big smile. She even accidently floated a gear so smooth she was like "what happened there?".
As we spend more time on the road, I just cannot believe how stupid 4 wheelers can be!...How can they not see basically the side of a building going down the road?
Had one guy come racing up to a stop from my right (he had a stop sign) and start to go when I was like 25 feet from him going straight across. I do remember my brain saying "man you are going to mess up that car real bad!" because there was not even enough time to get to the brake pedal let alone use it.
Every time one of us do our daily drive time there is at least one, but usually several similar things.....and that is just 2 hours!
I had said earlier I was thinking of putting a video cam on my dash to make a training video, but now I know I am going to do it for sure!
The company we hope to drive for when we graduate called us to see how school was going, that was nice of them! |
|
| Back to top |
|
EcoTruckin1977
Joined: 10 May 2006
Posts: 40
Location: Carmel Valley, CA
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 2:06 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| :D |
|
| Back to top |
|
benny the deuce
Joined: 22 Jul 2006
Posts: 67
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 1:50 pm Post subject: |
|
|
well things are going real well now, boy a few days of driving sure has made a difference in comfort/stress levels!
FINALLY the light went on for my backing!...now i can hit the spot about 90% of the time.
They are teaching us tougher moves now (how about a tight right turn added with a very steep down hill that starts in the middle of the turn with rail road track sitting just about where you need to shift).
Next week we will get tested on wednesday/thursday so they will take us out on the test course monday and tuesday.
Boy has the time flown by!...we are trying to ignore the up coming test but it sits in the back of your mind... the instructors have told us all the "problem kids" are now either gone or recycled and everyone left will graduate.. still.... |
|
| Back to top |
|
| |
