Driving!

Ok Ladies and Gentlemen, it's official:  

we are driving trucks!

A classmate of ours made a video of our first day in the yard, which is on the IITR Facebook page here:    https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=3878706519651  The first truck moving in the video is ME driving for the very first time!  I about peed my pants! :)  

      We started out in the school lot learning the straight back, and more recently we have been working on the 90 degree back and the off-set back.  We are not very good yet, but at the beginning we were just terrible, so we have made progress: from terrible, to not very good. :)  

Ariel learning the straight back from our awesome instructor Dan:

         

  

Last weekend they let us out onto the real roads.  That's right-we were actually out driving around with the poor unsuspecting public!  We started out in a mostly deserted industrial area, learning to double-clutch (which is basically like driving a regular stick shift, except with at least 9 gears, the need to match up the engine speed with the transmission speed before shifting, and twice as much clutching).  After we kinda sorta got used to the fact that we were piloting an 80,000 lb. vehicle with a 42' trailer, AND double clutching, they took us out onto a real four lane road with big intersections and a lot of other cars.  I think I can honestly say: most terrifying experience of my life.  Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, but it was quite nerve wracking though.  The good news, however, is that nobody died.  (Hooray!  First goal accomplished!)  We both came away feeling exhausted, but also empowered.  I wouldn't recommend that you all go to truck school (ha!) but I would encourage you all to go out and try something you never thought you could do-it feels good!

 I think the picture below needs a caption contest. :)  Be creative and give me your best stuff, a picture like this doesn't come along every day! 

  

We are continuing to practice, and we get better every time we are in the trucks, so now we just have to keep it up and push through the frustration of getting it wrong 20 times for every 1 right.  We will be out driving on the roads every Sunday, so if you're near Clackamas and you see a huge red and white IITR truck...just drive away from the area as quickly as safely possible. :) 

-Amanda 

"Things are gonna get real interesting...yeah, they're gonna get exciting out there...welcome to the world of trucking!"

Things we learned in our first weekend of truck driving school:

• Always sleep more than 5 hours the night before you will be in class for 8 hours.
• Truck drivers have to know LOTS of stuff
• Watching instructional videos from the 1990's for a full 8 hrs. is not as interesting as one would think
• Our instructor really likes the phrases, "it gets real interesting out there", "it can get real exciting", and "welcome to the world of trucking".  I don't have an exact count of how many times he said those three phrases, but I plan on keeping track next week.  I'm willing to bet it's in the hundreds.

First Day of School!

Things Every Trucker Should Remember:

• the 11 hour rule
• the 14 hour rule
• the 60 hour/7 day rule
• the 70 hour/8 day rule
• the 34 hour rule
• to check your slack adjusters
• to fill out your log book
• to avoid driving tankers and hazmat if at all possible
• that if you don't follow proper procedures, you could get sued "six ways to sunday"
• that it gets "real interesting out there"

Questions from this weekend:

• What in the world is a "carboy"?
• Why are we the only ones in class who need to eat on a regular basis?  Do boys not eat?  Are they all robots?  How can they subsist on pure soda for 8 hours?  How can it be done???
• Why did I think truck drivers had a simple job?
• Why are there so many kinds of hazardous materials?  
• And why does the guy on the video insist on pronouncing it "hazardous muhtrls" for the whole hour long segment?  

Here, for your enjoyment, is a small taste of the instructional videos we have spent hours upon hours watching:  

Oh sure, common sense...right...*deep breath*

My summary of the important info from the hazmat video:

• Don't touch any leakin' muhtrl!  
• If there is a hazardus muhtrl spill, don't choose that time to have your lunch break-for several reasons.
• If you are hauling poison and it spills:    

        -Don't lick it up
        -Don't dip your sandwich in it
        -Don't stand in it and smoke
        -Don't invite the by standing children to come play in it

A fun game to play:

Any time you are talking about, thinking about, or trying to sound like a trucker, it is fun to add an "r" to random words.  At least, it is fun for Ariel and I.  It is our new trucker lingo, and it results in phrases like, "pass the chirps" (chips), "shirt happens", "truckin cousins blurg" (blog),  "Amandur", and "get on your shurs (shoes) and lets go drive us a truck".  Warning: use of new trucker lingo while passing notes during class may result in a lot of silent giggling, and several very close brushes with loosing it completely (and loudly) right in the middle of class.  Use it carefully.

Favorite quotes from JD-the instructional video host:

• "Nothin'll ruin your day more than fallen' asleep at the wheel and wakin' up dead!"
• "Now I know you're thinkin' "Good night Irene!  I gotta learn everything' in this whole thick book?" Well, don't get your anatomy in an uproar just yet!"
• "Use yer head, and yer horse sense!" 

SWAG from the first weekend of truck school:

Our tough trucker faces

• IITR insulated lunch tote
• 2012 Motor Carrier's Road Atlas
• IITR Student Training Notebook
• Driver's Daily Log Book
• Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations Pocketbook
• light up IITR pen
• "Bumper to Bumper: The Complete Guide to Tractor-Trailer Operations"-a massive 500 page book covering the entire anatomy of a truck
• and best of all: our very own TRUCKER HATS!

Summary:
This endeavor is going to be a lot of work!  We are going to be working extra hard to keep up with the rest of our class, since they already know a lot more about trucks than we do.  We will mostly be working, studying, and driving-and probably not have much free time for awhile.  We will do our best to keep you updated when we have the time, but just know that we greatly appreciate your support and encouragement. 

Girl power forever!
-Amanda 

...And one more, because I have to :)

A brief side note about youtube videos, because we've had questions from our moms.  Any time we post a video from youtube, we are only posting the first one you see on our blog.  Any others that come up after that are just suggestions from youtube, and we have no control over what they suggest (though, if it's about truckers, I wouldn't recommend clicking on it). :)