Truck driver training usually involves a lot of pressure. The intensity of the experience is part of what made it so special for him. He quickly formed a very close bond with many of his fellow students, and they are a diverse bunch of characters whom he never would have come to know so well under other circumstances.

Randy sounded a bit odd when I talked to him today. For the past several days, he has mentioned feeling trapped and restless, and anxious to begin training. I suspected it was just a reaction to all that he had been through, combined with elation from his success, which can be just as overwhelming as the constant anxiety and tension.

Wow, what a day. I stayed up all night to email some last-minute requested unemployment records and Randy called me from school today with the results of his driving test….

I felt a little tense today, wondering if Randy passed his pre-trip test. He’s been doing so well up to this point that I hardly even feel nervous about his road test tomorrow, but students have been dropping out of school like crazy, so I’m still rather concerned.

A week and a half into training and the fast pace continues. They are out driving more, which is great, but the quizzes and the pressure of their CDL training remains a constant.

As hard as you think becoming a truck driver will be, it’s even harder. All the stress has made me lose 10 lbs since we started packing for school a few weeks ago.

We’re into the second week of trucking school and things are still moving along very quickly!

Day four (4/30) of my journey towards becoming an Over the Road driver was rather exciting.  As with the rest of the week, we started out in the yard today.  We had a different yard instructor, so things were slightly different….

Today there was a variety of activities, including speaking to a few recruiters, pre-trip inspections, two types of backing, and a short trip on the highway.

Day two of week two dawned (if you want to call it that) chilly and rainy.  Of course, that’s typical for the Pacific Northwest at this time of year. Our truck driver training is advancing into new stages.

Ah, week two. The magical week that separates the truck drivers from the…well… not truck drivers? This is the week that we actually get out of the desk and behind the wheel. The week where you probably will be doing all the basics. If you’re like me, you’re probably scared to death, and if you’re not, then your nerves are made of barb wire and I envy you. I was completely horrified of down shifting for some reason, so when it came time to take a tight curve, I kind of tensed up and almost hit a guard rail. So here’s a little advice, calm down. It really comes natural when you get the hang of it. You’re going to probably start off slow. Snail slow.

Thursday and Friday of last week were really good days for me. I’m really starting to feel much more confident in my driving skills and the rest of my class is improving greatly as well. It’s really fun to see how quickly we are improving! Although friday was a bit of a mixed bag as far as my driving was concerned.

Well, as I said yesterday, my confidence continues to build each and every time I hop into that driver’s seat. The day started off a bit shaky as I missed a couple of gears and was in a new truck I haven’t driven before. But things got better after that!

For those of you following along in my blog, there is only one way to describe the difference from yesterday to today. “Night and day.” Wow! It’s really fun to watch myself improve so quickly! Today I’ll get to drive with the trailer hooked up for the first time!

Now things are starting to get interesting. My entire class passed the CDL-A exams on our first try, so today we got to drive the trucks! I went in this morning expecting to get out to the trucks right away, but unfortunately we had to wait a while as the class before us was finishing up some testing.