Some questions about my mentor

I would have been too busy competing with a woman to learn from her.

A male mentor was the best choice in my case.

 

Uh ha see I told ya!!!

 

Especially THIS week. Remember the 3 women 1 house thing?

You stuck your foot in it by questioning the ability of women sharing a rig. The implication is that they can't.

I was teasing!

Every case is going to be different. If it were ME, if my husband couldn't do the training (and I do understand the pitfalls with that), I would probably request a woman. I have serious trust issues w/ men. It isn't your fault. It isn't their fault. Not really my fault either. We all have baggage. I'm reasonably sure that being cooped up w/ a woman is less likely to trigger flashbacks than being cooped up w/ a man. Then again, see, I'd rather sit right here in my little hole and let the entire world just drive on by.

Big box. UPS. If he doesn't drink the water, ship it or dump it. Make him pay shipping. Water is HEAVY.

 

Injun is a special kinda woman! (And I mean that in a good way.) Really, the trick is knowing yourself well enough to figure out the best options for yourself. I'm not saying harassment can't cross gender lines. Women harass men, and same gender harassment happens. Men don't tend to report it as often, not because it doesn't happen, but because ... well, I think you can figure that out.

I gave up competing with anyone long ago. I'm content to go through this life at the speed I set for myself. Some days, I'm riding a snail (and not the cool racing snail from Neverending Story) and others, I'm in an Indy Car.

I'm a strange duck. I might even be a goose. But I do believe that you are in fact doing the best job you can. It sounds like you really do try to help your students become good drivers. Me, let me have the passenger seat. And when we stop? I'll cook you up a mess of steaks w/ all the fixin's.

 

When and where do we stop!

 

Well now. Having read this entire thread this morning I have to say that I think I can see where Blue went wrong.

The way I read it, in context, she was pointing out a qwerk with her second mentor that was giving her a potential glimpse at what he was going to be like. Turned out she was right. She's with her third now ... I assume, and since we haven't heard from her in a few days I also assume that it must be going better.

I've read a lot of what BlueBonn has posted in numerous threads, and he seems to have his SH@T in order and isn't really the domineering drill sergeant that his post would lead us to believe. We all know that there are trainers out there, like Blue, that are generous and happy to have a student they can work with. Most trainers like Blue will bend over backward to help a student out ... provided the student is ready and willing to learn. There are others, like the two A-H-O-L-E-S that Sailing was unlucky enough to be exposed to, that will use and abuse a student like a modern form of indentured servitude.

That said, Sailing, how are things going now? Any updates?

 

Once CityGirl turns 18, and can be here on her own, I *might* go out w/ JCW for a week or so, I'll let you know.

 

Was this picture taken when he was loading his stuff on the truck or does he store it here when he's in the bunk? I agree, that is too much stuff. All those bottles get emptied and create a lot of trash. To be fair people coming into trucking are in for a huge culture shock and have no idea really what they are getting into or what to bring with them. The idea of going 2000 miles away from home on one trip is daunting, but for us the country is not big enough. We'd like NAFTA to be WHFTA (Western Hemisphere Free Trade Agreement) so we could take a loads from Quebec all the way to Chile.

Anyway got sidetracked there, if I might suggest to any newbie reading, I recommend 3 duffel bags for all your gear. 1 duffel bag would be the kind baseball players use, it's long, holds their gear as well as bats. In this one you'd put all your clothes, laptop/electronic chargers etc, extra shoes/boots, jacket, toiletries, maybe a towel, a couple of DVDs stuff like that. 1 more duffel bag but medium sized for carrying all your clean clothes into the shower. The 3rd duffel bag would be for your dirty clothes, also medium. All these bags can reside up on the top bunk, 2 by your feet and 1 by your head. When mentor is driving, you're downstairs anyway. When you both sleep you can place 1 or 2 on the seat.
When I want to do laundry I usually carry my dirty clothes bag as well as my shower bag into the truck stop. Throw a load in the wash, then go take my shower. By the time I come out, it's time to put that load in the dryer. Go back to truck and do a little spring cleaning for half an hour then go back and fold up my clean clothes. I do laundry a couple times a week. You settle into a routine after a while.

 

I use a seabag for my laundry. I can stuff 2 ½ weeks' laundry into one. If you can't put everything into a seabag when getting on your mentor's truck ...plus a sleeping bag and pillow... you need to downsize. Your shower bag with toiletries should fit inside the seabag.

If you can't figure out how to operate a seabag, get an Army "gorilla bag" instead. Surely you can figure out a zipper. It holds roughly the same amount of stuff as a Navy seabag.

Find them at the surplus store.

 

as a student i used a gorilla bag and a small netbook bag. sleeping bag, shower bag and everything went into the big bag, including a small printer for my logs. i used the bag as a pillow.