Roehl GYCDL Program Week 2

Day 1 to Day 5 -pre trip, driving, backing. Pretripped vehicle first thing in the morning. Now its time to couple. Well that was easy LAP and PAL. LAP = Landing gear, air electrical and release arm and locking jaw check. PAL is the reverse when you uncouple.

Driving on the road. Oh no my day off messed me up. I'm grinding and losing my gears and to make it worse I'm turning both left and right and going through a roundabout or two and driving through town. You would think I was stirring a pot of soup. I panicked and worked myself up this entire week. Only you can destroy you and it's true. I would beat myself up over every little gear miss it grind. Slow down to soon or late, forgetting to keep my tandems in my lane on that curve. At the same time trying to learn everything I could about the feel of the truck, the clutch, the mirrors. I had a talk with my instructor over my beating myself up. He understood and recommended I say everything I'm doing and looking for while driving. As soon as I started that my driving ability skyrocketed. Very few mistakes, lost gears, too short or too long braking and downshifting almost non existent. Simulator practice again helps but it's not the real thing. By the end of week two I recite and visualize all parts of my pre trip in my sleep.

Straight line backing - self expanatory and really simple with minor adjustments as needed through the back.

Offset and 90 degree BACKING. FIRST OF ALL BACKING FOR THE FIRST TIME WAS LIKE A MARRIAGE, AT FIRST IT'S LOVE AND EVERYTHING IS GOING RIGHT. Then you make the wrong move and now she's ****ed at you. Now you know something is not right and what did you get myself into and can you fix this? Should you pull out or keep going? When is it going to be over and should you just walk away. All joking aside the offset was tougher for me than the 90 until the very end. Plenty of time to practice backing and only half done with the program so plenty of time left to practice backing.

At the end of week two I was not scared of driving on the roads and not afraid to upshift nor downshift. Was not afraid of traffic and had an avantage of being able to check sidestreets, lean and look, use my mirrors and at the same time remember signs I passed. My driving skill greatly increased with few mistakes and an ability to correct my mistakes. Instructor was not calling out as much for me to drive my tandems or pull forward more on those tight turns. BACKING recieved the majority of my attention by the end of the third day.

Day 6 Hazmat classroom training. Learned a lot about hazmat and took a safety test.

Day 7 Day off.... Hot tub and annoy my roommate again. With more study time