Challenges Adieu

Sorry about the lack of a post yesterday, I really wanted to make one, however I didn't really get myself back into my regular school schedule like I should have and found myself totally exhausted. On Monday I didn't really do much other than work on the offset backing exercise. Very simple and passed the test on my first try. My driving partner on Monday however was having trouble most of the morning on his blind side alley dock and I spent most of the morning helping him.

Today I was assigned a new truck (#9259) and a new driving partner, John. John is pretty cool old guy, I can get away with and say that as I know he won't ever see this post, John HATES computers with a passion. This new truck is a split 10 speed transmission that is VERY strict on how it wants to be shifted. Add to that a Cummings engine that builds and drops RPM's like a Detroit and it makes for some interesting sounds.......LOL This transmission demands that you shift in a 200 RPM bandwidth either up or down, between 900 RPM and 1100 RPM. You try and make ANY shift outside that range no matter what, you can forget it. This truck change was a bit of a challenge for me as I have become very comfortable in the Super 10 that I was driving. All the same I still passed my check-on evaluation for the new truck.

This truck is a Peterbuilt, which means that it doesn't have the tight turn radius of the Volvo I was driving. Needless to say my first run with John I had to make a tight right hand turn that landed me driving over the center island with my steer tire, completely. I am sure when truck manufactures design these trucks they try to find a balance between turn radius and tire life, but really now, what good does tire life do you if you can't make turns in the damn truck! Ohh well, just something I have to learn to compensate for I guess.

Tomorrow is my really long day, so I need to head off to bed, because of this don't be discouraged if I am not up to making a post tomorrow night, but I will do my best to try.