Training Adventures with Sage in Cheyenne, WY

Well, first drive was tonight. Needed to gas up first thing, so we, I, drove through downtown Cheyenne and to the truck-stop in front of Home Depot to fill it up. Holy cow, I could have bought a pretty decent gun for the amount we paid for fuel. The driving was pretty easy, it was the shifting I needed to work on. All of my tractor/trailer driving in the past was automatic, and I didn't realize the gearing was so low on these big manuals. And not being allowed to shift while in an intersection felt weird going that slow. But I think I did pretty good considering the condition of the transmissions in these old training trucks. Up-shifting went pretty smoothly (screw you 4th gear, stupid piece of $%#^ ), and eventually I got the hang of down-shifting. Drove back and forth across Cheyenne a few times for four hours; through downtown, side streets, county roads, and I-80/I-25. I guess I did OK since no curbs, signs, people, or cars got hit . Need to work on stopping sooner for stop-signs and lights. I didn't run any, it's just that we are required to stop at least a car length from the cross-walk or sign. It also makes starting and shifting before entering the intersection easier. Overall I think it was a good first drive.

Tomorrow is our final written test, then the rest is just driving. One down and 10 to go.

 

I am going to have to look into Sage.

 

" not being allowed to shift while in an intersection " When you get your own truck you can I will shift over RR tracks if I have to.

 

Shifting over tracks is illegal here. Not totally sure about intersections, but I know they will dock you points during your test if you do it.

 

Have two folks from Laramie in my class, and a few more in other classes.

 

It was 166