This morning, I finally got to climb inside a rig. First time. Ever.
We spent the morning alternating between pre-trip inspections and praciticing backing in the trucks. I ran over four cones total... but over all, I think I've got it down. In the late morning, most of the students were concentrating on pre-trip inspection stuff. That meant that there was a truck not being used. I spent about 90 minutes just backing down a lane of cones and slowly driving forward. I've got it down solid now.
After lunch, we divided into teams of three. Our instructor drove us out to the local airport (about ten minutes from the school) and we practiced driving on some side roads. There's about a two mile loop of roads out near the airport. Three stop signs and one long curve. We all took turns driving, stopping and turning.
I did okay. I had a lot of trouble going in and out of fifth gear and downshifting will take a lot of practice, but I did well enough that when it came time to drive back to the school, the instructor let me drive. On the way back to the school, he told a story about a former student who made it through school and on the final day of CDL training, drove on the highway for the firsts time. That student decided immediately that it trucking wasn't for him. I did kinda wonder whether I was asked to drive back to the school because he thought I was ready or to give me the opportunity to decide now that trucking wasn't for me.
After I parked the truck back in the lot at school, the instructor gave me a fist-bump.
It was a good day. No casualties (other than those four cones, which I'm sure have seen worse).
Tomorrow's adventure: off-side parking
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