My apologies for not posting any updates any sooner. I'd intended to update my progress every day, but I've learned that won't be possible just yet. I'm in the middle of my company training period, team driving with my trainer. What "team driving" means is we take long trips, and when one of us is driving, the other is sleeping--or trying to sleep--in the bunk of the noisy, bumpy tractor. So there's no down time to compose elegant road updates. However, I have this weekend off, so I'll do a little catching up. First of all, here's my background and how I got into truck driving.
I was a computer programmer for 15 years before I was downsized in early 2004. I tried self-employment/entrepreneurship/real estate investing for a couple years, but nothing worked out and it became clear I would need a job. Unable to find a "real" (stay-at-home type) job, I opted for Plan B, which was to go to truck driving school and go on the road. That led to a 3-week stint at the C1 school in Ft. Wayne, IN, at which I earned my Class A Commercial Driver License (CDL) at the beginning of November. My tuition for C1 was paid by USA Truck, with whom I now have a 1-year commitment as a driver.
For the past 3 weeks now I have been doing my USA training with my trainer, Bruce. I have one more training week before testing to determine if I'm ready for my own truck, or if I need any more training. Let's hope Bruce's training pays off so I can get on the road earning the big bucks (right!). Anyway, during the training we've gone to Opelika, Alabama; deepest, darkest Texas (McAllen and Brownsville) 4 times; and Lexington, Tennessee twice. I've been doing A LOT of driving, obviously, (more on D.O.T. regulations regarding driving restirctions in a future post) so I know I can get a big rig from here to there. And most of my driving has been during the overnight shift, hence my exhaustion and inability to post to this blog. What I know I need practice on is backing into loading docks and between parked trailers. That training has been sorely lacking, so I'll make it a point with Bruce to do as much of that as possible this coming week. Which will start shortly after midnight Monday morning for another trip to Brownsville.
OK, that's enough for this post. I need to shut down and get to sleep. Thanks for your readership, and comment at will.
1 comment:
So how do you keep from going bonkers driving long shifts in the middle of the night? I imagine that could get a little brain-numbing.
Nice post. Take it easy on the road this week, and good luck backing up and parking!
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