Home On The Keller Range.

Today was a great day! Not in the warm weather sense, but as far as my training it was a great day. After morning dispatch my driving partner and I were informed that we were going to be givin another driving test first thing. So we pre-tripped our truck and quickly got out on the driving course to get 1 practice lap in before the test, and as luck would have it I was the first to get tested. Remember the other day when I said I would ask my instructor to ride along with me to give the "real deal" on how well I was doing, well I figured there was no time like the present, so I asked my instructor to be VERY CANDID. Little did I know that the whole reason for the drive test for to see if we were ready to get assigned our 48 foot trailers! After that info was provided I thought I had just made a big mistake. Thankfully it turns out I didn't!! After making 2 laps around the course my instructor informed me that I was doing extremely well, even though I did need to work on matching ground speed to gear speed more, but on the other side, said that I recovered VERY well when faced with moving to fast to catch the gear I wanted and then shifting to the gear I intended. Needless to say I passed my second driving test with flying colors as did my driving partner. For our good work we were awarded a 48 foot trailer to drive with.

After making my first lap of the driving course with the 48 foot trailer, I wish to god I had had one from the beginning. Granted this is an empty trailer, but suddenly my truck has transformed into a gentle giant from the PMS'ing bitch that she was. The truck shifts like a dream and handles 100X better than it EVER did as a bobtail. This truck like having a trailer attached!!! There is allot to watch and pay attention to when hauling a 48 foot trailer and my driving technique has had to change dramatically to accommodate the 60+ feet of truck and trailer when making even simple turns. After driving with the trailer for about 3 hrs, it has already started becoming a simple extension of the truck, and I find that I simply allow for the added length almost with out thinking about it. I really need to work on pulling into a parking stall from a 90 degree angle though. I am having a hard time getting it in the slot perfectly straight. Tomorrow I think I will spend some time practicing that maneuver. It sounds like this would be something simple but it is not. Here is a bad drawing of what you have to do:


As you can see from my bad drawing you have to pull far enough ahead, and make your "S" turns at the right points and time to get the rear of the trailer to be straight and line up with the tractor in the parking spot. So I need to work on that, while I keep my truck and trailer between the lines, it is often at a slight angle in the spot.

On a good note though I didn't kill any cones! They all lived to die another day! LOL