Properly Mounted and Secured

· It’s a Love Story…Baby Just Say Yes……in my ear now and has been playing a lot over the last two, very full weeks. Its soft and a sweet love story by Miss Taylor Swift…seems to mellow me out. Lately I have needed some mellowing as I have been so busy.

Every day class is at 7 am…sometimes 6 am til 5 pm at least…and then you may need to practice til nine, more on practice later . Being pretty much under employed since 11/2011 these hours have been somewhat of a shock to my ageing system…but a funny thing has happened on the way to being a trucker.

The continual activity, the cast of characters and the tons of technical knowledge I have gained has been fun? Working so many hours has bee a real eye opener because you are in a classroom or on the huge driving range loaded with tractor trailers and you look down and wonder what time it is …its 9 am and you have been working and you have a sweat …since 6 am…a wonder just how much can get done when you rise early. We always finish the day with class time just to get in a session covering something like driving on the ice, going down hills, how to down-shift…there is so much to learn

As I sit here in the drivers' lobby some buds come through as they have just passed the final driving test which qualifies them for their CDL…I was was in the first group to head out on a driving test. A very tense affair with a crusty old million mile driver watching your every move…I passed too.

There is another song that I have enjoyed during this time “I Love This Bar”. Well, we have all kinds of characters here just like Mr. Keith has in his bar. We have some sad ones, we have some young ones and we have all colors of the rainbow. I am not the only old guy but I am near the top in age and some of the kids call me Mr. Allen…go figure. We have had a good group of instructors and at one point we switch from a very nice guy to a guy that was very ….mean. He has a very drill instructor way of addressing our class of sixty students …a very distinct voice. At one point he leaves the room and from some where in the back of the room we hear a perfect mimic of that voice ..repeating his words verbatim…. We all howled and had to zip it pretty quick as Mr.Hard guy came back in the room.

When we saw the first video that explained the pre-trip inspection ….my mind just sort of went on a commercial or something…I did not believe I would be able to remember all the different parts, pounds per square inch , and processes that I would be explaining to my crusty instructor . Well later while he monitored my every word as I took my pre-trip inspection test I was able to explain it all and it was good to have the old guy mumble"good job". As of this time, I know what almost every part does, what its name is and can explain its use. Is it properly mounted and secured, does it have a very important cotter pin in it and are there any leaks coming from anything?

 

We started out two weeks ago with 104 people that all wanted to be truckers. There are plemnty of jobs in this field. It is not perfect and its not for everyone. Some failed the urine test, some failed the backing test, and some just didn't turn in their homework.So, at the end , we ended up with 54 people graduating today . Everyone was happy and excited about the next step which will be phase 1 or better known as my 12,000 road trip.