Start school in the morning - Ridge Career Center

Welcome to the thread Lady K, Points South, and all other viewers. I should be able to keep updating after each day of class. I've found that being a little long in the tooth is not a problem. State of mind is critical. Go in with confidence in your ability to learn and stay calm. And by all means, take full advantage of the resources here on TR. You can find a thread on just about everything. If you don't find a thread on a particular subject or concern, just start a thread requesting info/help with your concern. The experienced drivers are always willing to help us newbies.

 

Day 10. One of our class A students, the "project", informed the instructors this morning that he is choosing to switch to class B. Which everyone concerred is the right move. So now we have 3 class B students and 4 class A students. Today was strictly practicing all of our backing exercises and practicing shifting and downshifting on the track. We all are getting much more comfortable. Pretty good chance we may be getting some highway miles by the end of the week. The "kid" and the "old dog" are gonna test out on the backing skills tomorrow. Of the 6 backing skills: straight back, offset to left back, offset to right back, 90* back, Driver's side parallel, and blindside parallel. The computer will randomly spit out 3 of the exercises to test on per student. I like our chances. But just in case, wish us luck.

 

Day 11. Test out day on backing skills. Yesterday the "kid" and the "old dog" made a request to test out today mid-morning giving us a chance to practice for an hour or two to begin the day. Well I thought things were going along pretty well until the "kid" went into a funk on the parallel parking. He got so frustrated he had to go sit under a tree for a spell. A little while later, the "kid" strolls up to the office and gets his "random" 3 skills to test on. The "kid" comes back out just a beaming. The lucky rascal got: straight back, offset to the right, and 90* back. Knowing he had the easiest draw possible he made it thru his skills clean. Now it's the "old dog's" random draw and of course as fate would have it I drew: straight back, offset to the left, and driver's side PARALLEL park. Straight back and offset to the left were a breeze as expected. I set up to the parallel park and begin my approach and I get just a little bit too deep in the box so I used a pullup to reposition. Start easing her back and everything is looking so fine and dang if I didn't let the drive tire barely nick the side line. I've got probably a good 12' open to the front I just got a bit greedy. Pulled up about 7' and had her dead straight in the center of the box. Piece of cake. The other two class A students who weren't gonna test out today saw how easily we handled the skills that they decided to test out today as well. The "magician" is up next and dang if he don't get the same exact "too easy" draw that the "kid" had. The "magician" did touch a line on the straight back but made it thru clean the rest of the way. The "big fella" got to go last and he drew: straight back, offset to the left, and blindside PARALLEL park. He made it thru the straight back and offset clean. He took one extra pullup and touched one line on the parallel park. So we all passed our backing skills with relative ease.

The instructor was pleased that we all advanced and broke out a 2000 kw600 road truck for us to practice with the rest of the day because tomorrow our Motley Crew is HITTING THE HIGHWAY!!! Lookout Central Florida!!!

 

Day 12. Typical Florida winter morning FOGGY! So on the first venture from the nest, guess who gets to pull the train from the station. ..........Yep, the "old dog"!! A kw600 and a 53' sled! I was blessed with the opening 8:15am to 9:00am (rush hour) drive with reduced visibility. Down a couple of 4 lane highways that passed thru multiple small cities, dozens of red lights, overpasses, a couple school buses, heavy traffic, and may as well throw in a narrow barracade lined construction zone for jollies. For those that know the Polk County, Florida area. From just south of Haines City down US hwy 27 to Lake Wales and across hwy 60 to Mulberry. US hwy 27 is and always has been a pain in the ***! But believe it or not, I'd rate my performance a solid 9! I maintained complete control of the vehicle. Ran about 5 mph below the speed limit. Defensively approached each red light. At no point was anyone in any danger. And to the best of my knowledge did not do anything worthy of a citation. I am pleased. The instructor did grumble about a few minor things but nothing worth noting.
When we switched drivers at Mulberry, I was asked to ride the rest of the way in the class B truck. So I did not get to observe the other 3 driver's performances. The "kid" and the "magician" got to drive back road two lane highways in the phosphate mine region (middle of nowhere). And apparantly did pretty well. The "big fella" got to drive US hwy 27 from Avon Park all the way back up to the school. And from what they said, he struggled mightily. First day jitters I'm sure. But if I hadn't mentioned it already, US hwy 27 is a royal pain in the ***!
And this may amaze you. It did me. We stopped for lunch at a restaraunt in Zolfo Springs called the Pioneer Restaraunt for brunch. The special was: two eggs, bacon, (choice of hashbrowns, homefries, or grits), (choice of toast or biscuit), AND (choice of coffee or tea). THREE DOLLARS AND NINETY CENTS +TAX!!!

 

Day 13. Only 3 class A drivers drove today. It started raining last night and was forecast to rain most of the day today which it did. The "kid" came up lame this morning. He hurt his clutch leg helping his dad move something last night and told the instructor he wasn't up to driving today. So the "magician" took us out of the gate today. He got a couple miles on Hwy 27 and then a two lane county back rd for about 7 miles. Then he got to run I-4 about 15 miles over to Hwy 98 in Lakeland. Up 98 about 15 miles and the up the Tarrytown Beeline(471) about 18 miles. Then the "big fella" took over. He got to run almost all two lane roads. First up to the Lk. Panasofkee area where we ate lunch. Then east over til he hit Hwy 27 near Leesburg and took that south about 10 miles. So I, the "old dog", get the privilidge of a 45 mile run from north of Minneola all the way down Hwy 27 back to the school a few miles south of Haines City. Good ole "Bloody 27". I know, I know, what's 45 miles right? Piece of cake right? Not for a newbie. Rolling terrain, red lights, mostly 60 mph speed limits, red lights, 4-6 lanes, red lights, hundreds of side roads, red lights, heavy traffic, red lights, road construction, red lights, a drizzle, and did I mention RED LIGHTS!!! I think there MIGHT have been one 5 minute stretch of uninhibited 60 mph travel. Maybe. I did pretty well. Not great but completely safe. Shifting could have been smoother at times. Only one real issue I had a couple times was on a situation we hadn't been taught yet. Which I did address with the instructors when we got back to the school. On this hwy, 9th gear is what I'm topping out at. But the instructor has me downshifting to 7th when approaching all these red lights. If I get to stop at the red light, I ease almost to a stop in 7th and only clutch and break just as the engine starts to vibrate. After stopping, I shift into 2nd gear. If I'm relatively slowly approaching the red light and it turns green and the traffic in front moves on then I'm able to ease onto the accelerator from 7th gear and move on. The problem arose a couple times where I was almost to a stop and the light turned green and the traffic moved out. Well I'm going too fast to shift into 2nd and I'm going too slow to accelerate off 7th. Not knowing what gear to shift into or how for that matter wasn't a nice situation. So far all we had been taught was mostly how to downshift one gear at a time and he had just today started giving me the procedure to downshift two gears at a time. From my discussion with the instructor back at the school it sounds like probably 4th gear may be the solution. He said I could use one of the trucks on the track Monday to simulate the situation and adjust from there. And speaking of the track, guess who felt like taking the Pete up the track a few times when we got back? Wasn't me.