My Swift Journey, Cont.

Wow, kudos to you and your mentor! To you for sharing the good and the mistakes as sometimes the mistakes are the very best teachers to others as well as ourselves. And to your mentor for being quick thinking and as G-Town stated for being so attentive. I also give him credit for taking the wheel at that moment instead of trying to make you get out of the jam you were now in. You were already flustered and I'm sure the pucker meter went up even higher when he pulled the brake. That would not have been a good time to make you try and fix the problem.

It sounds like you have been blessed with a really good and professional mentor and I'm sure you are going to do very well. Keep up the good posts and don't hit anything but the road.

Nothing too exciting today, but I did drive through Cabbage Pass (again) on the way to our first of 3 stops.

One thing that was pretty funny was I was walking back to the truck through the Love's parking lot and a driver was attempting to back up. He was having a hard time of it (he was blind siding it for some reason) but he had it. Suddenly he threw it in gear and lurched forward and started cussing and yelling at me and another guy for not helping guide him in. I was thinking about it but like I said it looked like he had it. The other guy just told him, "if you can't drive, you can't drive". I don't agree with that but if the guy needed help he could've asked. All he had to do was straighten up and back straight in. I was just waiting for him to finish because I didn't want to walk in front of him. I guess he thought we were mocking him or something. Oh well...

I've been enjoying the read through of your diary. Pretty crazy that the guy backing up flipped out on you guys. Probably just having a sour day in general and needed to blow off some steam.

I've been enjoying the read through of your diary. Pretty crazy that the guy backing up flipped out on you guys. Probably just having a sour day in general and needed to blow off some steam.

You'll see. Truck stop backing follies in the beginning can make a grown man cry.

I'm happy you got such a good mentor mate. They are currently looking for my third mentor and I've been having a really bad time. The school wasn't that great but I passed on my first try anyways, trying my best to teach myself. They had some good instructors but the school format wasn't as helpful as I hoped. For one, I would have loved to go and back up all day after school and on our days off but we didn't get that option. I remember I asked the owner of a farm if I could stay and practice backing the farm tractor/dolly/trailer and he said yes. I backed that thing until it got dark a couple days in a row after work.

Anyways, I know one of my classmates traded mentors and her second one is great. I was informed I only get three before I have to sit down with my DC and her supervisor. I was going to stick it out with the first mentor but the next guy was too much to handle for me and they decided to move me for the first one.

I'm definitely getting my time in on mountain driving. Yesterday I drove through Hell's Kitchen in Idaho hauling 78,000 pounds of freight. Needless to say the pucker factor was pretty high, especially when people decided to park half on the shoulder half on the road, on a curve, with another truck coming from the opposite direction. Not a fun time but I got through it.

Lemmy goes downhill:

Yesterday I drove through Hell's Kitchen in Idaho hauling 78,000 pounds of freight.

Lemmy, your freight limit is about 42,000 pounds. That plus your truck can weigh up to 80,000.

We know what you meant, though! Just drop the "freight" part unless you have a permit to say that.

Lemmy goes downhill:

Yesterday I drove through Hell's Kitchen in Idaho hauling 78,000 pounds of freight.

Lemmy, your freight limit is about 42,000 pounds. That plus your truck can weigh up to 80,000.

We know what you meant, though! Just drop the "freight" part unless you have a permit to say that.

Oops! Yep, you caught me... I meant total weight.

I also meant to say Hell's Canyon, not Hell's Kitchen. Two totally different locations...stupid auto-correct.

Been a while, so here goes...

Made quite a tour of the western part of the US...Washington, California, Utah, Oregon, etc. I did my first set of team driving from California to New Mexico, where my mentor took over. I woke up today to the word that we were headed back to Oklahoma for a 34 hour reset, then team driving running dedicated for Hobby Lobby. My mentor said we'll be running our butts off, but we'll make good money, I'll gain some good experience and we'll most likely be getting weekends off back at home. Sounds good to me! My backing is slooooowwwwllly getting better. I'm getting the concept but I don't think my trainer is comfortable yet with me attempting backups without him spotting. I'll get there though. I did my first blind side backing the other day and it went okay. Haven't hit anything yet! Lol

So far still loving the whole experience. I drove all night the other day and actually enjoyed it, minus not being able to see poorly painted center lines in Arizona. Made it one piece though, which is ultimately the goal.

Maximum Effort!