Heading to Richmond 6/17...

Swift Academy Journal

Day 0: Sunday, June 16

I got to the hotel at about 3 a.m.. The room that I was assigned to already had two people in it. Those two people were men. So, I spent the evening on the couch down in the lobby.

I took a walk up to the Cracker Barrel restaurant about a mile away. Big, delicious breakfast for under $10. The walk back was not quite as pleasant, since the sun was out and the humidity was up.

I got back to the hotel around 10:30, and found they had a room for me. I moved my stuff into my new room, which is a single. That means if there is another female coming in during the next two weeks, I will be moving to a double room with her. It's nice to have a room to myself, but I really wouldn't mind having some company. Maybe I could get my best friend Michelle to come up one of these weekends.

I took a shower, caught a nap, then went downstairs to catch the shuttle to the grocery store. Spent 80 bucks at Kroger. Not cheap, but I should have food to last me till the weekend.

Day 1: Monday, June 17

Up at 4:30, in the lobby at 5:15. The shuttle arrived at 5:45. Twelve people scheduled for class; ten show up. Two leave during first break, leaving 8 of us. A couple hours of paperwork first thing, then we loaded into the van to go get drug tested. 5 hours later, we get back to Swift and have pizza for lunch. More paperwork, then a trip out to the range where we are introduced to the pretrip. Its stinking humid out there, and I didn't bring my sun clothing today. You can bet that I will have it tomorrow!

I got back to the hotel, showered, then took the shuttle to get my 12 inch ponytail cut off. My summer cut; the first one in nearly 10 years. It's going to take me some time to get used to having shorter hair again.

Days 2 through 5:

I've group these days together because they are pretty much all the same. 2 hours of class in the morning between six and eight, break, then out on the range. Most of the time is spent working on our pretrips. Most of the time is spent outside doing the outside portion of the pretrip, but we get a chance starting about Wednesday afternoon and Thursday afternoon to do the in-cab portion. On Friday, we get our first chance to do do the backing skills portion of the test. I kind of muddle through it with some help, and really blow it on the second try.

Day 6: Saturday

Saturdays are nice. The whole nine and a half hours of school is spent in the classroom. The weather this past week was pretty hot and humid. Some rain occasionally in the afternoon. It was nice to be able to sit in the air conditioning one day. We set and mostly watched videos, with a few slides with lecture.

Sunday:

We are off. I spent much of the day studying my pretrip.

I get word shortly after noon that they were going to move me to a different room. I am supposed to be getting two roommates. Fortunately, I'm able to move before anyone arrives, so I have my choice of beds.

Around 5:30 p.m., my first roommate arrived. We sit and talk for a bit, and have dinner. Around 8:00, she went outside to have a smoke. She came back up, and told me that something happened at home, and she needed to leave right away.

My other roommate never showed up, so now I'm in this big double room by myself. I kind of wish I had my old single room. It was a bit cozier.

 

Week 2:

Things are getting repetative. Monday through Friday, it's mornings on the range, and class from 3-5 in the afternoon. With the hot weather, I was glad to get in the air conditioning for the hot part of the day.

Monday, we really worked on the skills (backing) test. I caught on pretty quickly, and was getting it into position consistently, with only one pull up, by Monday afternoon. We also did some shifting training; driving in a big loop around the range and trailer parking lot.

On Tuesday, we were dropped off at the range and were told to do our pretrips, as usual. The instructors have a meeting for a half hour or so most mornings, and during that time we do our pretrips. When they came back after their meeting, I was called over to get tested for my pretrip. I'm happy to say that I got 116/116; didn't miss a single item on the list.

After lunch, Joe (the PA instructor) said we're doing the skills test that afternoon. I didn't feel confident, but I had been hitting it all day with no more than 3 points; usually one or two encroachments (over the boundary line), and one pull up about half the time. I passed the test with 3 points (we're allowed 5); clipped the cone on the pull out for the 45 degree alley dock, one pull forward, and swung the tail of the trailer over the line backing into the box.

On Wednesday morning, we went out driving on the city streets. We had 4 students in the truck, and we went out to a local industrial park. We learned the proper way to make turns in the truck to keep the trailer from going into places we didn't want it to go, like over cars or fire hydrants.

Wednesday thru Friday were much the same; pretrips, go out for a drive (usually 7 to 11 or so), and practice backing until lunch or class.

Saturday was class day. We finished up the last of our graded exercises (map reading and trip planning), and saw some more videos.

Week 3:

We continued in the pattern we had set up the previous week. Pretrip during the instructors' meeting, drive for a few hours, skills, lunch, more skills. No classroom in Week 3, so we had a LOT of time to do backing in the afternoon while the Week 2 students were in class.

Wednesday, we took our driving tests. We all passed. The Virginia students had taken their school driving tests earlier in the week, and they went to the DMV to take theirs. They all passed.

Thursday was a holiday (4th of July); a half day. We had a real short drive (about 20 minutes per driver), then we were dismissed. Two of the PA students (3rd week) went home for the holiday. For personal reasons, I chose to stay in Richmond.

Swift bought us a bunch of burgers and dogs (with buns) to have a cookout at the hotel for the 4th. We pigged out, and still only used half of the food.

Friday was treated as Saturday; the weeks 1 and 2 students spent the day in class. I spent it being lazy in my room. We cooked the remaining food after the others came back from class.

At this point, I am officially done with the Academy. However, due to the holiday, my DMV testing was pushed back a day, to Tuesday. So, I had the opportunity to spend a bit more time doing skills on Monday.

A special note for PA residents going to the Richmond Academy:

You will be taking your test at a third party testing facility (a tech school) in Mount Joy, PA. Swift will be putting you in an Econo Lodge in Lancaster, PA. This hotel has a "Newly Remodeled" banner on the building, but don't believe it. I was reading an online review from 2009 that mentioned the sign should have been removed years earlier. My estimate is that it was probably remodeled about 15 years or so ago. Compared to the Candlewood we had been staying at in Richmond, the place was a dive.

Scratch that... it was a dive all on its own.

The good news is that all three of us passed our tests on the first try.

The bad news is that by the time I got out of the DMV on Tuesday afternoon, the last bus back to Pittsburgh was long gone. So, I got to spend another night in the Econo Lodge. This time, I had a room where the air conditioner worked. The bed, however, felt like George Washington's horse had slept in it...

I got home Wednesday night around midnight. A few days there, then back on the bus Sunday to Harrisburg for orientation.