On the Road

Jeff and I had our first road drive on Wednesday of this week. It was a blast! We both like driving on the road much more than working on the range backing up our trucks. We both did really well but still need some work on downshifting...I still think they switch those gears every time we get into a different truck. We have driven 4 different types of tractors in our training. From 8 to 10 gears, which is plenty. From Freightliner to Kenworth. This picture is of Rob, one of our over-the-road instructors. This guy has more crude jokes and has been a great ice-breaker when jumping in the cab and heading out on the road. He definitely makes you feel comfortable, but is a typical truck driver. This industry isn't for the squeamish. You must be able to take a joke, no matter how crude it may be. Good thing I have been working in a man's world for a while. It could have been quite a shocker. Having two boys to raise didn't hurt either.

Just in case you were worried about where scary student drivers start to drive on the road, we started out by DIA. We drove for 8 hours on 2 lane roads out by Tower and 104th and then out to Hudson to the Love's truck stop for a break and then back out again. Our first truck stop in a truck...it was pretty cool. Good thing I can back the truck into one of those spots. Of course my instructor made sure there weren't any trucks next to my space, but that was probably a pretty wise decision. I got to drive on I-76 on the way to Love's because I had to make a PC (thats a pee check for all of you non-truckers out there). So I drove on the highway on my first time on the road, how cool is that?