Week 3, Day 1: Double the Trouble, Double the Fun.

Welcome back, everyone! Glad to see you're still with me here. Shall we get into the start of week three?

Okay, this week started like last week: in the yard at the beginning of the day. If you've been following this blog, then you know the types of things that I've been doing. The only change was the chance to do two different activities today. Those activites were coupling/uncoupling and 45-degree blind side backing. Both of those were fairly simple for me... but 45-degree sight side through me for a loop today. I just could not line up on the hole the first couple times I did it.

After lunch, my team (Scott, Willy and I for those who don't remember) started with a different truck today. It was another Freightliner Century Class, albeit 2 years older than the one we were using last week. The other difference was the fact that we were pulling doubles today, not a single trailer. That was definitely fun, and we even had a different instructor. The route I took was different from Route 1 from last week as well. A lot more city driving, and much narrower streets. Factor in the Pacific Northwest Liquid Sunshine™, and you will get an idea of how much fun it was.

The biggest factor was trying to remember that I had extra length behind me. The first time I took a left hand turn with those things, I was very nervous. This was doubly true due to the fact that there was a car right on the white stop line. I had visions of the red pickup from Thursday (4/30), and it had me sweating bullets. Fortunately my instructor talked me through the turn, and slowly I'm starting to get the feel for the timing of left turns. I certainly don't want a repeat of that near miss.

On the plus side, some of my scores did shift up from 'Needs Improvement (+)' to 'Satisfactory (-)'. That does show that some of the basics I definitely have down, but I still have a large amount of room for improvement. I think I'll be close to being ready by the end of the week. I know I feel far more comfortable and confident now.

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