New Found Respect

You will be a pro by the end of the week! That's great man, I am stoked for you! School was such a blast!

Lady K. Hold your breath you are almost there! Soon it will be your turn and I will still be jealous!

Great job, drive safe!

 

well welcome to the club...ha ha just wait till you're out of school and with your trainer...hopefully you get a good one...then you have to learn the "REALITIES" of trucking...which are completely different than truck school realities.......sounds like you are off to a good start though...good luck be safe and have fun

 

JBrake, I agree with you totally! The same thoughts go through my head too when on road trips with the school trucks.

 

this reminds me of how nerve racking it was to drive for the first time. it'll all come to you naturally in time, and soon enough you'll be able to swing corners and put the passenger side of the front bumper inch's from a building and know you're good. you can practice gauging how close you are to things with cones, just stick a broom in it or whatever so you can see when you touch it. just remember no matter what you do, or when you do it, whether its 1 day from now or 1000 days from now. stop, slow down, double check, get out and look if you are not 100% sure you are not going to hit something or someone. always say inside your comfort zone, even if that means having people flying by you beeping and flipping you off. not too long ago we had a storm up here and i was going 25 mph down the highway. cars were passing me, trucks, etc. great good for them. about 20 miles up the street i saw a truck flipped over completely off the highway.

 

I know what you are saying about the whole can teach/cant teach issue. My Algebra II teacher in high school was brilliant in math. Just flew through the stuff about logarithms, cosine, sine, theta, and all that stuff. Could do it in is sleep. But his ability to get it into the minds of us teenagers was lacking.

Just like your 2nd paragraph. The driver knew in his head exactly what the engine speed was going to be, what your road speed was, what brake pressure should have been applied, and what gear at a certain RPM the truck needed to be in. He already knew why and how.

My math teacher did the same thing, told us what to do, but could not successfully explain why or how, the first time anyway. Hang in there, you'll get the hang of it!

 

I can so picture this... I want instructor #2 please

 

What you are going through is part of the normal learning process. I went through school in winter and had the window down because I was sweating bullets from nerves and concentration.

Before you know it, shifting will become second nature and you'll float the gears by engine sounds. You'll eventially get comfortable like in your personal vehicle and be able to concentrate on the important stuff like being aware of your surroundings and reading traffic.

I know what you are saying about an instructors personality. It does make a difference. One that is hot headed actually makes things worse. When you get hired on and go with a trainer, if you don't like his methods, feel free to ask the company for another one.

Keep on soaking in the info. Sounds like you are doing good

 

I can remember that. My first lesson out we started to have a snow storm. At one stop sign I started off, turned the wheel to go right, kept sliding straight. Hit the clutch and just let the truck coast until the steers could get some traction and start to turn. Missed the ditch by about 6". My instructor asked me if there was anything I could have done differently. I told him no, I couldn't hit the brakes without skidding. He was really happy with my answer. Said I did just what I should have done at such a slow speed and a slide starting. We just headed back to the yard since the roads were not getting any better. I still think it was the best time of year to train to drive a big truck. Bad weather experience in a more controlled environment.

Good luck with your last runs and the road test.

 

I learned on the road. As soon as we got permits, and learned the basics of shifting, etc. we were in a truck with a trainer headed down the road. My first time behind the wheel of the truck out on the highway was I-70 east of St Louis. He had me get off and back on at EVERY exit so I could practice downshifting, etc!
It is definitely true that some of the best can't teach. They know what to do, but lack the ability to explain it to someone else. Your day 2 guy was a natural teacher, and that is what you need. Glad you are out on the roads. It will all become natural the more you do it... and you will find yourself taking wide turns in your car, etc. Good luck and keep us all posted. As you can see, lots of us are reliving our training days reading your posts!