My impressions of drivers from being on this board 2 months

I didn't know I had a disease I just thought I was a sheet creature.

 

I Love this thread............I will respond more when I can sink all the above fabulous insight in!!!!!!!!!Very Refreshing!!!!!!!!

 

My wife and I are newbies, just got our CDL's and are about to go to orientation next week for our first jobs. We went to a community college (thru Sage Trucking School) for our CDL's. We have never actually backed to a dock, but we did the 'sight sided' docking on the school range, a very rough bumpy gravel/base material lot, using cones to mark the 'dock". I believe my wife and I could easily do the docking shown in your pictures. Perhaps either of us might need one pull up, but I am sure we could 'get her done'.
Now a 'blind-side alley' might cause a few beads of sweat on the forehead and a lot of getting out and looking. I am sure a few old truckers will find humor in watching us try it and I am equally sure that any of them will help should we swallow our pride and ask for help.
The backing that caused me concern was the serpentine backing. I had to keep telling myself, patience, patience, small steering inputs, patience, patience.
But yeah, I would say the backing done in your pictures would be well within a newbies skill level, though some might need that extra pull up I mentioned.

 

you may be one of the few who will tolerate it........but will your other half?........Best of luck to both of you............and remember........it's kinna like a motorhome, and to this day, i only found two camp grounds that will let semis in

 

Well, we are that type of old married couple that wants to be together as much as possible. We actually like each other!!!! Unlike so many other 'couples' we know.
Her father and one brother was a trucker. She is very much a 'girlie girl' (cosmetologist that owned her shop for years), but she is also a 'tough Texas gal' (don't upset her unless you want a trip to the ER!). She likes camping and fishing.
The kids are grown, her parents are gone, mine are headed for full-time care, nothing to hold us in place anywhere. We have 'joked' about driving for years. The time is right and we are ready to go. I know she is a hard worker, and she isn't a little woman.
Now, that said, no one knows until they try, so we intend to find out!
Thanks!

 

Interesting thread. When I first joined this board and began to "communicate" with the members, it never occurred to me that I was communicating the people that lacked the wherewithal, both mentally and culturally, to function outside the world of trucking. What I did find was a group of folks that are passionate about what they do although, at times, the passion is heated and perhaps misdirected. But it's not my place to evaluate or criticize.

This thread has been read and posted on by a good, representative number of truckers, trucker's SOs, trucking industry types, etc. It's a small sample but I can assure you that there are multitudes of truckers, like those who have posted here, who DO NOT fit any ill-conceived stereotype. In the short time I've been out here I've seen all types of drivers, from all walks of life. It's like what was said in several posts here, "if I don't chose to talk to someone, I don't talk to them". Also, I don't find it necessary to formulate an assessment of myself based on anything or anyone but myself.

P.S. I like it!!!!!

 

It seems to me that most people involved in the tech industry think they are smarter and better than other people. Of course I'm generalizing and stereotyping.

Anyway, you must have way too much time on your hands to be taking on a bunch of truck drivers on an internet message board. I know you're unemployed, but surely there must be some other intelligent endeavor to occupy your spacial-temporal world.