Profile For Hemingway

Take a look at this one from Cobra @ Wal-Mart. Can't hardly beat this price but, you get what you pay for as my Daddy like to say....

----->Cobra CB at Wal-Mart

Hope this helps.

Haha keep the bettus away? and proper weight is debatable haha.. HEY BRETT these uhmm resistance bands your talking about, I have never used them before.. Can you really get a good work out in with them? Are they more for like toning or can you build mass with them as well?

Resistance bands are incredible! I bought a set that you can change the amount of weight by combining different bands together. They can in a convenient carrying bag and will fit just about anywhere!

Not to mention, with a bit of creativity, you can duplicate a number of free-weight lifting exercise. This is site I came across while trying to develop a program I can do in or around the truck. Click here to got to greatest.com. While this article was written by a woman for women. The program can give you some creative uses for the bands.

I can't speak to Ohio's rules but I can tell you that here in North Carolina you must double clutch. Not sure its an automatic fail but I got the impression that its enough points to make it hard to pass.

Tarren,

Congratulations! I'm scheduled to head to Tulsa for Melton's training on 12/15. Hope to see you on the road.

Timothy,

The one that always get me is the downshift from 7 to 6. It seems to take longer for the truck to decelerate from 25-15 than from 35-25. I find myself trying to down shift at 20mph and then I'm screwed.

Friday 11/14/14:

Well it's definitely winter boys and girls. Today is our last 5 hours of classroom training after lunch for Map Reading and Log Books. In the meantime, we're all bundled up like Eskimos walking around the trucks (pretending to pre-trip them) trying to keep warm. Spent my 30 minutes on the course backing up. Did well. Still need practice. Especially on the alley dock. Not sure why I'm having such a hard time with it.

5 hours in the classroom feels like 2 days. Material is informative but very dry. Took last written test. Not difficult. Covered Map Reading, HOS, and General Knowledge. Weekend here we come. I must say I am starting to really look forward to my road time. Can't wait for Monday.

Thursday 11/13/14:

Once again we are on the morning field rotation. It is cold. I mean real cold. The wind is brutal. Seems to take everyone a bit longer on the course today. I'm sure that it has nothing to do with the fact that the truck has heat and the field does not. Today was a milestone for me. Got into the alley dock on the first try. The straight back was solid and even the offset back is looking better. All the guys in my class seem to be getting it at about the same speed. This is nice and doesn't leave anyone feeling like a dunce.

On the road with Ms. T again after lunch. I had a chance to review her notes regarding my last drive. Primarily she is concerned with how stiff and nervous I am. She saw me a few times yesterday relax and drive. This is the main thing I have to work on. Kevin didn't get to drive yesterday so he's the first one up to bat. He struggled but held it together. Second driver was a substitute to our class named Jackson. Jackson took Matthew's place in the truck to catch him up on hours he's missed while out for personal reasons. Aside from making a left turn in front of an oncoming car, his ride was fine. I was up third and Ms. T had us do some exploring of the North Carolina country side. She would just randomly say, "Make a right up there at the big tree". It was exciting and started to feel like a pleasant drive. All of a sudden it happened. I was calm. I was upshifting and downshifting without trouble. I had a rhythm for checking my mirrors. I was swinging out in each curve no matter how mild. All the things the instructors had been saying to us all just clicked at once. We returned to school safe and sound.

I don't need to tell those of you who remember that feeling early in your training where you are starting to question if you'll ever "get it". Todays drive told me I will. Big W!

It took me all week to get a chance to sit down and type this weeks diary up. I'm at school during the day and working at night so the little free time I had has been devoted to sleep. Today was my last day of work so should be able to keep up with this better.

Monday 11/10/14:

In the classroom at 7am for assignments. Myself and three classmates were sent out to the field to learn how to back up and maneuver a tractor and trailer. As expected, my performance was average. I seemed to struggle with training my brain to turn the wheel backwards. Also, over turning. Everything was far too much. I need to work on small movements and give the trailer time to react. All day in the field. Told we will be out on the road tomorrow. Everybody is equal parts nervous and excited.

Tuesday 11/11/14:

Assigned to the field for more backing practice until lunch. It's coming along. The highest praise I can give myself is that I was better than the day before. This is a victory as far as I am concerned. I was called in to see the schools GM before lunch. He had seven pre-hires for me. This is comforting since my last day of work will be this Sunday.

After lunch, Mr. Maine gathered the four of us up for instructions and what he referred to as a pep-talk. Basically it consisted of the following: "If I tell you to do something, do it. We can discuss the why's and wherefores' later. Following my instructions immediately is for your safety and the safety of the other passengers." And the pep-talk: "You're going to suck. Don't worry about it. Who wants to drive first?" (I suggested having T-Shirts printed).

He was right. I do indeed suck! I can up-shift (kinda). I can maneuver the truck around turns not running over median dividers (sorta). I can watch my trailer off track in my mirrors (when I actually check them). Trying to do all three of the tasks at the same time was beyond me, however. I found myself vacillating between the urge to cry or vomit. Thankfully I did neither. Mr. Maine was a fantastic teacher and seemed genuinely unconcerned about how badly I did. He remained calm (which helped with the not vomiting thing) and cool the entire hour I bounced us around the back roads of North Carolina. All four of us got our turns behind the wheel and we made it back to school alive! That goes in the W column.

Perhaps tomorrow will be a better day.

Wednesday 11/12/14:

We are on the afternoon drive schedule (12:30p to 5:30pm) again so it's out in the wind and cold to work in the field. Repetition seems to be helping. Straight back was near perfect. Off-set back was good (with a pull up). The 90 Degree Alley Dock is a continuing struggle. I get the principal. I even understand the physics. Can't seem to get my hands and brain working together. One of my classmates, Marvin, had some constructive criticism for me. Perhaps that will help tomorrow. Spent the rest of my field time working on pre-tripping the yard truck. It'll get there. It's just a lot of steps to remember. Repetition. Repetition. Rep...well you get the picture.

Road Trip with Ms. Terbeek. We haven't had very much contact with Ms. T since she usually runs students in the road trucks. Her rules are similar to Mr. Maine's but she's a bit more vocal than he is. Picture something between Mr. Maine's mute fortitude and a banshee. Matthew, the only member of our little group with OTR experience, was chosen to drive first. He took us from the school in North Carolina down to a truck stop in South Carolina off of I-26. From there Marvin, my backing mentor, drove us through a twisting winding route (176 I think) up the side of a mountain. He was a bit white knuckled a few times but all in all did a great job. The winding route took longer than planned so there was only time for one of us to drive back to school. Kevin, the fourth in our group, wasn't feeling well and let me go. I got strapped in and started us on the hour ride back to school through back roads. We drove through some very small towns that left little room for error. Lots of up and down shifting. The last 20 minutes was through approx. 25 stop lights in Hendersonville. I swear on everything I hold holy, we hit every light. The upside, I got lots of practice in shifting (which I needed). The downside? You did hear me say I had to crawl through a town at 5pm hitting every stop light along the way, right?

Made it back to school without damaging or killing anyone. Another W!

Jason,

I've never read the Nevada Manual but here in North Carolina I had questions about those four (4) items (Shipping Name, Hazard Class, Identification Number, and Packaging Group) but not one of those questions were in regards to order. I would hazard the guess that your school uses the acronym as memorization aid to ensure you can easily recall all four (4).

All the best,

This has been a fantastic thread AJ. Look forward to hearing about your time on the road. Are you going to try and give Wine Taster's super thread a run for it's money?

All the best!