New Found Respect

Well, I must say I have a new found respect for all the truckers out there. Im currently in CDL school in Kingman AZ. and have completed all the classroom stuff. Ive had 3 sessions on the range and felt fairly comfortable shifting and some basic back up maneuvers.

Today was my first road session and although I only drove 55 miles, it felt like 355 miles. I was mentally exhausted by the time we got back to the school. There is so much more going on with driving the truck than driving a car. I was concentrating too much on what was in front of me and thinking about shifting and I was oblivious to what was going on AROUND me. I found myself trying to downshift a lot more than I had to instead of using my brakes. When I missed a gear downshifting I found myself pushing in the clutch and just coasting, which is a no no, at my school. Remembering what gear I was in and what gear I needed to be in next, and having to watch for traffic and pedestrians and all the other hazards you dont even think about when you drive a car. Remembering to swing wide on those right hand turns, making sure not to hit the curb. Remembering to signal and then turn it off after the turn. Stopping behind the stop sign. Not to speed up when that traffic light turns yellow and im 30 feet from the intersection. Remembering cars are right behind you at a stoplight and to not let truck roll backwards when I start. When I was on I-40, remembering to watch for merging traffic coming from on ramp. Moving over to the fast lane when there was a disabled car on the shoulder. Remembering to keep enough space between me and truck ahead of me. Remembering to check my mirrors often.

When we were finally heading back to the school, I was praying at every approaching intersection that the light would stay green... LOL... There is a whole lot more to driving a truck than anyone can imagine. The only time during whole trip I felt semi comfortable was when I was on the freeway doing 65mph. I even had to pass a few trucks because we had an empty trailer and there are some steep grades along the route.

When we got back, my instructor asked me how I thought I did on a scale of 1 to 10... I said 5... he said 6... I have two more 4 hour road sessions tomorrow. I hope it all comes together a little bit better.

So I just wanted to say to all the truck drivers out there.. "YOU GUYS ROCK"
and I hope I can be one of you soon!!!

 

No problem.. I have a road session tomorrow from 12-4 and one from 4:30-8:30... Things all look diffrent at night too. Plus my evening session we are driving from Kingman Az to Laughlin Nv.. There is a 12 mile 6% downgrade along the route. That should be fun. Ill post again tomorrow night. I also noticed about 50 new gray hairs in my head after today.. hehe