Watkins Shepard, Here I Come

Yesterday I was awoken at 2:30 am by my niece watching Yogi Bear. She was sound asleep, but the sound was turned up. Eventually I gave up, got up and turned off the TV and tried to go back to sleep. Wasn't happening, so I got up, got dressed, and slipped out to drive to Riverside.

Once I got to Riverside, I treated myself to breakfast and sat back and read until everyone else got there. That's four hours of sitting around. I tried to nap again, but I slept enough this weekend to be rested. Go figure.

We spent the first looooong bit of class watching videos. Watching more videos. And still watching videos. We had a guy rejoin our class from the last class, so the class now consists of me, a 21-yo-male, a 23-yo-male, and this guy who is so challenged in his driving that the school gave him a partial scholarship for an extended class. He'll still be taking the classroom portion when I'm on the road.

After the videos, we did pretrip... I'm doing better at getting the process memorized. We'll go to the yard on Thursday, so I can start seeing the parts for real. Then we learned our COLA-P (air brakes test). The school has this mocked-up setup of a driver's seat, with three pedals, both emergency brakes, and a "gear stick". It's pretty primitive and hard to remember to actually do things right when nothing actually happens, but it's just one more step in remembering the process.

That was it, other than FOUR chapters of reading. I've given up on making notes of everything at the moment. I might go back and reread chapters when they're not assigned anymore, just to get a better grip on it. Right now, everything is going so fast that just getting it done is taking all the extra time.

Went to bed at 8:30, tired and determined to not let projected 30-degree temps freeze me out overnight. I was warm, but I still woke up at 2 am. Bleh. Tried to go back to sleep, but eventually gave up and came inside. This isn't terrible; Joe and I have been talking about how we were going to split up shifts and it looks like I may do 2 am or so. Might as well roll with it, hmm?

 

Missed my update last night, but there hasn't been much to update. We've done way too many videos, a little (very little) more pre-trip, and air brake tests (they call it Cola-P, I call it Cocilap, which works better for me... cut-in, cut-out, low air warning device, applied, and parking). There has been so little else that we tossed a football around in the parking lot for 15 minutes and played hangman for another 15 minutes.

One guy closed out his permit without passing the air brake test, so he's getting held back. That means we'll have, at most, three in our truck and one of the guys is pretty unreliable, so we may get as much as 4 hours a day practice in. I'm grateful, 'cause that means I can worry less, but wondering if I'll get bored of /that/, too. Don't get me wrong; I don't think I'm all that . I just get bored of repetition easily.

Anyway, I'm back at the T/A for my evening, no homework for once. This morning someone asked me if I had an extra shower on my card, so I must be looking a bit more like a trucker.

Nothing else to update now. Tomorrow we go to the yard... can't wait.

 

Still with Robert until Monday, but I'll tell 'em both on Monday.

 

Was thinking about that, but Joe and I are still trying to decide if we're going to try to just share one card or have separate ones. I'll give him 'til tomorrow to figure it out.

Thank you, btw, for all the good advice. You all are my support system, 'cause my family still don't quite get this "trucking bug".

 

LOL... sometimes you don't want another person in there to put you any closer to the mold.

 

Today we went to the yard. Huzzah! I really, really enjoyed today overall. Pre-trip... getting there. Brake tests and in-cab... almost perfect. I haven't started driving yet, though. That's gonna be the real test for me.

We got to the yard at 7:00. It was COLD and I hadn't slept well again. I picked up one of the other students (a 21-year-old kid) and we got there on time in spite of me getting a bit misplaced. Then we started on pre-trip. At first, it was slow but steady going. Then this guy who is already repeating the course for the second or third time decided he was going to take over. I eventually just stopped giving any input and concentrated on getting my part right. The afternoon was all in-cab and brake test. I do have to brag that I'm the only one (of three) who didn't try to roll the truck away-- but that means I'm also the only one who hasn't "driven" the truck yet.

I'm tired tonight, but it's a good tired. And I got another shower-- woo! Trying to get sleepy enough to fall asleep in the car, though. It gets hard around Thursday because my body is sore from sleeping bent in half. *shrugs* I'm just glad I don't have any major back or neck problems.

One more day and I'm half-done. Can't wait!

 

I DROVE A TRUCK!

Okay, "officially" I did pretrip, brake test, and in-cab all day. But because there were only two of us there today, our instructor unofficially let us drive the truck around the yard including *drumroll* BACKING. I have been so absolutely terrified of backing because I do it poorly in a car, but I think I actually back better in a truck.

We haven't shifted except into first and reverse. We were pretty much told exactly what to do step-by-step. But I still DROVE A TRUCK.

Tonight the weather is so bad that I didn't drive back to my parents' house. I don't mind driving in the rain, but I don't like it very much at night in the L.A. area. Bleh.

So I'm back inside the T/A, hanging out with Joel from C.R. England, who's been stuck here all week and is still stuck here until Sunday. Nice guy, ex-Marine whose wife is Army enlisted in Texas. I'm rediscovering my friendly side, although my introvert side still insists on my alone time after.

School is half-over. It isn't easy, but it's also not nearly as rough as I thought it would be.

I just may survive this.