What A Difference A Day Makes.

Today we spent the morning covering 3 new transmissions, the 5-2 transmission, the 13 speed transmission, and the 20 speed transmission. The three are less common (with the exception of the 13 speed) than the 9 and 10 speed transmissions but it is good to at least know what the shift pattern is in case we ever run into one, but boy does it get complicated with that many gears. Of the 3 the 13 speed is the most complicated (to me anyway) how ever it is the most versatile of all the different transmissions. I am sure once you get past the learning curve, like anything else it would be just as easy as any other transmission.

The afternoon was spent on the Keller driving course. Now I can't explain what has happened between yesterday and today, but everything just seemed to click. I was able to up-shift no problem, downshift no problem. That doesn't mean that I didn't grind a few gears or miss a shift, but I recovered from those problems automatically without having to take time to think about it. How that is I have no idea, all I know is it just happened that way. It is like I downloaded the info into my brain overnight or something and everything just made sense today while driving. I still need practice, no doubt and I am no pro shifter yet, but I am doing 100X better now than before. Everyday of practice I get better and better and I am very happy with my performance today. I am still having a little trouble with controlling my speed going down hill while trying to downshift for a stop, but I think it is just a matte of getting a feel for the momentum and adjusting my shift and brake timing to compensate. Tomorrow is our long day with night driving, and I am looking forward to that.

So far it appears that my driving partner (Mike) and myself are progressing much better than the rest of our class. Most of the class just today passed their driving test to drive the Keller Range, and there are still a few I think that still have not made the grade. I think on Thursday I will ask an instructor to ride along with me and give me their evaluation on how well I am really doing, and not how "I Think" I am doing.

When I got home tonight, in preparation for taking my written tests this Friday for my permit, I took a very lengthy practice test that the school gave us. Out of the 111 questions I got 12 wrong. I got 3 wrong because I didn't read the question properly. Maybe tomorrow night I will try taking the test without the distraction of my favorite TV shows. Even though I got 12 wrong it is still a passing grade, but I should be able to ace the test with proper study.