Here it is. The end of the second week, and I'm still there. Turns out we spend one week in class instead of two. That's fine with me, I'd rather be in the trucks anyway. We spent a couple days practicing straight line backing and straight stopping. Then Thursday, we did the alley dock backing. What you do, is backup, and put the trailer down an alley without hitting any cones. It's actually fun when you get the hang of it. It's not quite like backing one of those "little" 20', 12K flatbeds. These trailers turn real slow, and there's a lot more anticipating involved. Once I got my mind off of watching the trailer tires, and watching the rear corner of the trailer instead, it was somewhat easy, but I'm still not perfect. I know we've all seen those guys that back in with one move, but it's really not the right thing to do. Those guys are called "hotdogs", and really looked down on. Although at school, that's what the state of Michigan wants for your Class A. One trucking company has an acronym, G.O.A.L. It means, Get Out And Look. They require their drivers to get out and look at least three times. Also, in the real world, if you have problems, you can always pull up to straighten out, and try it again. But the state wants you to do it without leaving the tractor, and no pull ups. We'll do that just to make them happy, then do it the safe way in the real world.
Anyway, still having a grand old time. Starting Monday, some of us will be going out on the road, hope I'm one of them.
Oh yeah, I've been prehired by Stevens Transport. I have to call them Monday and tell them my report date. I'm planning on the first week of Sept, the day after I'm out of the power industry for good. Stevens pulls reefers exclusively, and the tractors are all late model, none over 18 months, T-2000 Kenworths.
Today, I ordered a laptop, so when time permits, I can keep up with you guys/gals.
