Starting CTDTS 2/13!!

I'm a-hangin. LoL I'm not too worried about my PTI or my road driving, I am a lil worried about my backing.


Had the recruiter from TMC this morning again. I don't think he likes Mario now as at 9am Mario stuck his head in the door and asked those of us slotted to be in his truck if we wanted to listen to him. (None of us did as we'd already heard what he had to say.) He kinda gave Mario a dirty look when we were walking out.

Started out rough, good thing I was on the range for a quick refresh first. I'd forgotten how touchy the accelerator pedal in truck 31 is compared to 32 & 34. Mario also noticed I was pushing the clutch in too much as well. He gave me the tip to "set-up" before I up-shift and that helped smooth things out. We went down Brookshire to Independence. I'm not a big fan of Independence in my car let alone an 8 foot wide 6 story long vehicle with a 10,000lb load.

Overall didn't do too bad for my first real day out on the road. Only ran over two curbs and came within about a foot of hitting a transformer box and light pole. Mario had me stop in time and wait for the left turn lane to empty before I finished. (That was curb #2) Still a lil nervous about driving on the road but I'm feeling a bit better about it. I think it helps the guys in the truck are supportive and don't make too much fun of me when I mess up.

 

He he he. Thanks John! Yea, he wasn't too happy about that, but I didn't mind. LoL! Cya bright and early!

 

Sounds like good choices to me John, though it's gonna be hard climbing back up into that truck after eating all that food tomorrow.

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Foggy morning today, made for an interesting drive into school. I'll have to admit I paid a bit more attention to the field and surrounding area this morning than I did the PTI, mind you we only had 2 trainers out there so it was a fairly large crowd that each was dealing with too.

Went out for 30 min before lunch, kinda sucked. Had some issues with grinding gears bad and kinda panic-ing and had trouble with gear recovery. After lunch I was back in the saddle for an hour and did much better. Got lucky and we went through a part of Huntersville I'm familiar with so I was able to pay a lil less attention to the road and more to what I was doing in the truck. (I say this as I know what to expect out of traffic in that area unlike in Charlotte where I don't know where I'm going at all). I did loads better as I've traveled the roads we were on many times so it helped with my confidence.

Looking forward to jumping back in tomorrow and the cook-out the school is having.

 

Cook-out went well. Lots of students and other folks there. Almost ran out of food I think.

Yes you should have John. I was watching people snatch those wings up right quick. LoL!

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Day started out fairly normal. PTI then getting pulled out of class before the recruiter begins his thing. They want us road folk to have the maximum amount of time.

Did my two hours before lunch (thankfully. No having to try and drive on a full belly. LoL) Started out a bit rough as I got used to the way truck 30 clutches and shifts vs truck 31 which I've been in the last 3 days. Rode around with Richard, I like the way he does things. If you haven't driven with him before he puts you on the range to see what you can do first. Doesn't matter if it's your third day or your last day. (Also it gives you time to adjust to the truck)

Got better on my shifting, still a bit rough but I found if I actually thing "one, two" I'll shift better than if I don't.

Next week I'll max out my driving hours and be ready to night drive and then test out.