On the Road

So I went on the road in a tractor with a 53' trailer today for the first time. It was scary, especially when the instructor told me to go up a steep curvy hill, and then go back down it. This was after I had been driving for about 30 min. Oh, the road was also narrow, lacked guard rails, and the road on one side went pretty much straight down. It wasn't so bad until the first time he told me to shift up, then shift back down, and I missed the gear and I was grinding and accelerating due to stupid gravity, and the instructor shouted out "If you don't find a gear, we're all gonna die!" He was of course joking, but it was no less stressful. Given the fact that I am writing this, I obviously found the gear and survived. After missing and grinding many gears, and killing the truck 5 times at stop signs and signals (hint: when trying to start, it is important to make sure that the hi/low selector is on low, so that you are in 1st gear, not 5th).

The instructor I have (along with two other people) has about 2 million accident free miles (out of about 2 million miles), is an older gentleman, and enjoys mocking us as we drive down the road. One of his favorites is shouting out "We're gonna die" when we can't find a gear, or asking "Why is your trailer off the road". As I was going down the mountain he would say "Why are you in such a low gear son?" And then when I up shifted he would ask "Don't you think that's too high a gear for this turn?" So I would have to down shift again. And no, down shifting in one of these trucks while going down hill is not easy, it is actually quite difficult. Hence all the grinding of gears. It is even more difficult when you have an old man next to you mocking you and calling you names, which is the point. He wants to make sure you can do it while flustered.

In Other news I lost my room mate. He went home due to health reasons, his cold turned into an infection in his lungs, so he went home yesterday, and will be back soon. While I was sad to see him go, I was glad to have the room to my self, and having the room to myself the rest of my time here....or so I thought. I came home from school to find that I have a new room mate, so I only got it to myself for one day. Oh well.