Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="RoadSideDown, post: 11639824, member: 314577"]DAY 4A great day!  After some pretrip I got to drop and hook my first trailer and then started straight backing. After a few kinks I finally got the hang of it. Two hours of pull up and straight backup with a pup trailer. Apparently I was the best in our small class. After some video training I was the only one taken out and given coaching on up shifting. I had been anxious about whether I would get the clutch down or not but it turned out to be nothing. I was soon cruising around the terminal yard stopping, starting, and up shifting mostly from 2-5, but several times I hit the high switch and caught 6th. Two solid hours of shifting practice.  I now have a pretty good feel for the clutch on a Kenworth and a Volvo. Everyone had at least three hours in the cab today. This was a huge confidence boost for me and it was freaking exciting to be driving a real tractor and trailer combo. Obviously being my first driving day it was still a bit rough but overall pretty smooth and a few times were just super glide!  I love this. Tomorrow is more of the same. I should be able to finish my video training this weekend and have my pretrip solid by early next week. That leaves three weeks for backing and road practice. This is a great training course.[/QUOTE]