Watkins & Shepard - The Adventure Begins October 8th

If you're ever in the Conover terminal, ask Tim about it

 

Day Three

This morning, we worked on logbook exercises. There are three you have to do (all are for multiple day runs) and they're cumulative/sequential. So if you turn them in and you've messed up something on the first one, you have to redo the others. I've only finished the first two. Going to work on the third tonight and ask Tim to look at them tomorrow.

After lunch, we each had to talk to a lady from headquarters about medical stuff and general ability to perform the job. Then RL took us out driving in town. We each took two turns. I learned how to drive in northern Indiana (flat as a pancake) pulling an empty trailer. Pulling a heavy trailer (concrete highway dividers, I think is what RL said was in the back) on hills is so different! It will definitely take some getting used to. It went well. I wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I'd be (the last time I was behind the wheel of a truck was almost three weeks ago for my CDL test).

After we got back to the hotel, one of the other students and I went back to the yard to practice shifting. I wanted to drive bobtail, since I'd never done it, and see how different it was. We practiced for about an hour and then we went back to the hotel, picked up another student and made a group trip to Walmart.

I needed fine point pens (do not bring a normal Bic pen.... they stink for logbooks!). RL recommended Zebra pens. I picked one up today at the Dollar Store next to where we had lunch (a place called The Sidewalk Cafe... where you should definitely go if you're ever in Conover), but I knew if I only had one pen, I'd lose it. Murphy's law. Now I have several fine point black Zebra pens for logbooking.

Going to try to finish Logbook Exercise #3 and maybe the HazMat tests tonight. I've finished most of the other tests and I can't do the Qualcomm one until we have the lesson on it (Tim told us to wait on that one).

It's going really well so far and I'm having fun. It's a good place.

There's a student arriving next week who's coming here because I recommended WS to him. He and I left TMC on the same day and we had a very long bus ride home. I talked about where I was going next. He texted me this afternoon to let me know he had been accepted into orientation. I'm happy for him.

 

Hazmat's going to have to wait until tomorrow. It took me about a dozen sheets to finally (I think) get the third exercise right.

 

As far as I know, you have to complete the test regardless of whether you have a HazMat endorsement. It's a written test for W&S's records, not the test you take to get the endorsement.

I don't have the endorsement, so I didn't think to ask.