JJ's Place

happy birthday to the pan.

and merry christmas to everyone else.

 

happy birthday panhandle i'll drink a beer or 2 or 6 or 12 in your honor enjoy the day my friend

 

Hey jess, when y'all move to el paso, don't look south in the morning. I swear it is worse than driving into la or denver used to be. It almost made me sick seeing it. Thankfully I'll be driving through tonight so don't have to see it.

 

I gotta hand it to you drivers that have been at for a while. Started shifting bobtail yesterday, went out with a 53' trailer tandams foward carrying 14000 lbs today going through Lewiston and Clarkston and OMG WOW . uphsift, downshift, stay off yellow, stay off white, check mirrors, don't hit the curb, and on and on... Way more respect for Pro Drivers then before. I lost the gear so many times especially since I have this issue with "DON'T BURY THE CLUTCH". Corners and curves I am ok with but down shifting while going uphill coming to a stop sign on a small city street is NUTS, But I am doing better then yesterday and I hope tomorrow is another step foward.

 

use your convex mirrors to look at the lines, keep even space around, stay in the center of your lane, plan your way through the curves. go through curves on the outside, drive your trailer don't let your trailer drive you.

Assume there is an egg under the clutch, you just need to tap it, but don't break the egg.

 

It comes with time, practice and patience...then you get a different tractor and have to relearn the nuances and idiosyncrasies of the new woman...all right I am a sexist dinosaur.

 

Most importantly, don't hit the pedestrian, run over the miniature rice burner, or lose your load!

 

The rice burners stop and give me room, they know they would lose. The pedestrians walk out in front of me thinking I can stop like a moped going uphill and then look at me with confusion when I hit my horn.

 

Don't have a choice Jess, JJ is going to Fort Bliss for a year to finish his army stuff, was talking to my favorite cook at the wheeler Ridge TA fuel Island and he was telling me the bugs are as big as Birds ewwww.

JJ said to tell ya it gets easier, I stalled the truck the other day at the fuel Island

LOL only four wheelers walking so dun worry about em

 

Well, things are bigger in the south, and bigger still in texas. I heard horror stories of someone in the quarters at ft bliss having there barbie stuff be moved by the bugs (yuck, and yes that was a long time ago). Just know in georgia, florida and southern bama, the bugs fly.

To the shifting, when I started in 6 packs truck I had a hard time shifting. I am still not great, but it does get better. I have no patience for idiot 4 wheelers though and would love to have a blow horn "get out of my way you ##***" oh, that would be fun. I talk to them anyway even though you can't hear me. Lex has threatened to get a camcorder and film me in rush hour talking to the other drivers.

Anyway, you will get better, and you will have to learn the way your next truck likes to be handled because they are all different. 6 pack told me find a mark to check yourself with in the front, drive, check back every now and again, but if you follow the requisite every 5 seconds, you could end up spending more time in the mirrors than on the road. I pay more attention to all mirrors in the city, but know where I need to sit in the lane check the drivers side mirror more often because it is quick, and remember to quickly look out of the right mirror about once a minute. But that is me.