Greetings from OK

Hello all ... this is a test which will, in all likelihood, fail like the last 10 tests have!

 

Well I'll be! My Firefox won't post on either of my computers but my Internet Explorer posts just fine. How 'bout that?

Anyway, I wanted to update my post here so I won't be one of those guys who get a post saying "whatever happened to him?"

I finally finished my 300 hours behind-the-wheel training with Werner. It took 8 1/2 weeks and three different trainers.

The first trainer was a 32-year veteran to trucking and has been a trainer for a couple decades. He was very knowledgeable but a little cranky and less patient than would be ideal for a trainer but all-in-all, he was a good trainer. Oh yeah, he had a filthy truck. The first two days, I drove about 30 minutes total to the Peterbilt dealer in Dallas for some work. We spent the first couple weeks going back and forth between Dallas and Laredo with some Harlingen and other Texas cities thrown in to keep it interesting. On my first trip out of Texas headed toward Albuquergue, I saw my first tornado! It was a beautiful thing about 1 mile off of 287 somewhere around Childress, TX I believe. The truck rocked a bit as we went passed and I sure kept my eye on it! He took a few days off at home in Portland, OR so I went home for a week PTO. 49 hours on a Greyhound from Portland to OKC! 140 hours down, 160 to go!

After my PTO, I Greyhounded back to Dallas and got another trainer the next day. He picked me up in a 2010 Pro-Star. Immaculately clean inside and he seemed like a normal-enough guy. We got lots of hours. One run from Laredo to some dinky town in Minnesota. Over to Maryland and down to Florida. He then went home from 3 days and I got to stay in a disgusting hotel in Port Allen, LA. A few days later, his gradually manifesting insanity finally came to a head when his truck broke down and had to go to the dealer for a couple weeks. Then his loaner truck broke before we got of the terminal and he lost it. I don't often see a grown man become totally unglued but this was it. I only had 42 hours left but decided it was time to part ways with this whack-job.

Just a few hours later, I was picked up by my third trainer who turned out to be the best of the three. By this time, I was able to do most everything on the truck so we just kinda drove. Unfortunately, it was also time for his to go home for a few days. This time I got a pretty decent hotel in New Stanton, PA. After his hometime, I only needed 15 more hours. We got a trip down to Dallas and then one up to Colorado Springs and this took care of it!

I took my leave of this guy and processed through the terminal in Denver and got on a bus to go home! More later!