A Young Woman's Perspective on Driving a Semi

Wow, you are all amazing people! I just can't express how grateful I am to all of you for your kind words and support!

I am so thrilled to begin next week! I can feel already that the learning journey will never end and I'm glad that I am able to accept that now and that I am prepared to continue learning throughout my career.
Though the 10 hour days ARE exhausting, I must admit, being home this weekend, I sort of don't know what to do with myself!
Michael has been incredible keeping Kasey busy and telling him what I am doing and showing him pictures of trucks, so Kasey seems very excited to learn more about it.
I am also fortunate in that Michael has been keeping up the house as well, the kitchen is always clean when I come home and one day last week he had dinner ready when I arrived. It is incredible to have such a strong support system behind me.

I was thinking a lot about some of the companies I'm considering and I am researching the ones that you all have recommended as well. My main concern is safety...these trucks are huge and I've seen the incredible damage they can cause and I have a very healthy respect for them. I want to work for a company that encourages accurate log keeping and governs their trucks and accepts that safety should always be at the forefront of our minds. Rohel is the one company that truly stressed that. Above anything else, I think that is crucial...I want to be sure that I make it home in one piece.
I have heard that smaller companies are often best to work for so I am trying to find some in my area.

Again, I want to thank you all. You're confidence in me is overwhelming and only encourages me to continue to push ahead. I will try to update you again.

 

Wow! I can hardly contain my excitement as I sit down to write another entry. SO much information that I want to share is swimming in my head that I barely know where to start!!
As you may recall the end of week 1 brought us finally inside the truck practicing our straighline backing...and in that moment I felt that was the most exciting thing I'd ever done. Simply being inside the truck and feeling the rumble of the engine, the clutch beneath my foot and the shift lever in my hand...it was awesome.
Well, needless to say, straightline backing was NOT the most exciting to come my way. Week two brought about skills training. We trained on 3 major skills, Alley Docking (as most of you already know, the 90 degree backing manuver that will be used most often as we pick up and deliver loads), Parallel Parking and Offset Backing (where you are required to manuver the trailer into a box that is either to the left or right of where your tractor and trailer sit).
The rush of anticipation was almost overwhelming as we learned what turns needed to be made and watched as the trailer reacted to the turns we made. We practiced Skills on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and I must say, I did exceptionally well. The key, I found, was to listen to the instructors. It sounds simple but so many neglect to open their ears and I made a commitment to do so. I find parallel parking to be the easiest of all the manuvers as it is simple 4 turns. The offset was the next easiest, again because it is a matter of making the correct turn at the correct time. The Alley Dock is the most difficult by far as I am required to use my own judgement as to when to turn the wheel to get the trailer inside the box. Nevertheless, it was so wonderful to be in that truck all day and watch my own success as well as the success of my classmates as we manuvered these giant machines.
On Thursday and Friday, we got to do by far the most exciting thing yet. We WENT ON THE ROAD!! I'm telling you, the moment that I was in the drivers seat shifting, stearing and driving that monster down the road......I can't even begin to accurately describe the lighthearted jubillance I was feeling. I couldn't get the smile off of my face. The very first day I was driving, I did well enough that my instructor felt I was prepared to drive on the interstate, which was such an amazing compliment to my abilities and an even stronger rush than driving the secluded back road where we practiced. I really feel that I have made such a wonderful decision to drive, I'm not sure anything can stand in my way of accomplishing my goal. I want to thank everyone again, for all of your kind words and continuous support, it makes the entire experience even more pleasureable!
I will be testing next week on Friday so hopefully sometime soon I will see many of you out on the road!!