Watkins Shepard, Here I Come

Guess the excitement was too much for me...been up almost all night with an unhappy stomach (not unusual when I'm stressed). Now I have to try to pull it together enough to do the W/S drug test and take care of some last paperwork for school.

I can not recommend United Truck Driving School for anyone looking to get their CDL. The trucks are ancient, poorly maintained, and barely road-legal (that's from one of the DMV testers). Most of the instructors teach to the test, rather than actually caring if you /learn/ something. The worst is the home office in San Diego. You pay premium prices for a guarantee of "we'll stick with you until you get your CDL". Yesterday was one day (ONE) over the scheduled four weeks and I had to pay $126 extra out-of-pocket... but if I hadn't passed, one of the instructors warned that I wasn't going to get any more stick time.

Anyway, thank you again to everyone who's supported me through this. I don't have much in-person support, so you all have been my lifeline. Special thanks to Joe for sticking with me. (PDA Alert: love you, baby).

 

Okay, massively not cool to do the HPE after being sick all night. The urine test took forever mcause I'd pretty much dehydrated myself. Then I had to lift, turn, squat, etc. Bleh. Passed, but I feel like someone wrung out a dry washcloth-- me!

Off to the last of the school paperwork.

 

I'm still sore from the HPE, which means I'm far more out of shape than I thought. The HPE was:
* walk on a treadmill at a whopping 2.4 mph for 5 minutes (yawn)
* do some mobility tests to show all my joints move well
* lift 75 pounds to waist-height then lower to the floor three times
* lift 60 pounds to waist-height and walk 53' one time
* lift 50 pounds to a shelf above my head and lower to the floor three times
* crawl on the floor (huh??)
* squat for three minutes (I was given cups to play with while doing it)
* bend at the waist and stay there for three minutes (")
* reach above my head and stay there for three minutes (")
* do a grip test with each hand three times each

Only the 75-pound lift was hard, but I still feel it today. Joe and I invested in arm bands for our Droids (okay, mine's still a Droid; his is a Thunderbolt now) and resistance bands for exercise. I'm going to make up some menus with shopping lists for four weeks at a time, then make up an exercise plan for me. I have a background in fitness, so this should be easy if I take the time to make it important.

Tomorrow I get on a bus at 8:50 pm, drive all night Friday, all night Saturday, and get to Missoula Sunday morning. Apparently the dorms are full, so I'm staying at an Econolodge. Still more packing to do to try to fit everything into the least space possible, but otherwise... I'm so very ready to go. Lots of laundry, cut my bangs, and tomorrow should be good.

Starting to get really excited.

 

Ah, I forgot about the push/pull the cart thing. That was actually pretty easy. Might have contributed to the overall soreness, though.

I'm all packed except that last load of laundry. One checkable duffle. One carryon duffle. One laptop bag (can't do without that!). Just gotta make room for my Buffalo Bills throw blanket in case I get cold on the bus and I'm outta here... 8:55 pm and I'm on my way to Missoula!