Middle-aged Husband & Wife Becoming Team Drivers At Prime

Don't sweat the Sim lab too much, part of me thinks it may be designed to throw you off your game a little bit in order to see how well you handle it. At any time during the day, as long as there are no Sim classes going on you are welcome to practice on the Sims as much as you want. Just walk in there and ask them.

Turtle's right. I took my backing sim test to upgrade yesterday and man I was so embarrassed! I can back really well in real life, but I hit a truck and then just couldn't seem to get it. After I hit that truck and the sim ended I thought for sure I'd have to come back the next day, but no he restarted it and I tried again, still struggling to get the stupid trailer in the hole. Finally the instructor gave me a few hints and I--crookedly--got it in there.

So don't sweat it, you'll pass and be fine. :-)

Encouragement from you guys really helps so much! I am a little concerned that we might have to skip out on the Friday morning fun if we have to make-up something from Sim Lab, but we made good progress tonight. Not having full medical clearance will be a bigger issue - still waiting for confirmation that our doctor submitted the paperwork Trinity requested.

Otherwise, we're feeling pretty good. We've met a lot of really nice people here. And I've "met" many more of online. My husband is blowing through the CBTs and I'm about to get to work on them myself.

Cheers!

Wednesday, Day Three of Orientation

Hard to believe this is just day three! I have gotten plenty of rest, technically, but my brain and eyes are exhausted from the endless classes and Computer Based Training. My eyes are so red and weary, I switched off from contacts to my eyeglasses today. And I am seriously contemplating a nap before lunch and Sim Lab!

My dear husband is shouldering the burden of getting things worked out regarding the sleep study our doctor ordered prior to us arriving here and coordinating that with Trinity, Cardinal and Prime so we can get medical clearance to drive with C-Pap machines. At this point we're pretty confident that will happen and we can get our medical cards and pick up our permits. We've finished our CBTs , and even got the laundry done and have our shopping list for things to get at Wal-Mart before we level up to a truck.

The only hurdles left before we get to Final Clearance and the coveted "purple card" is Instructor Sign-offs on "passing" all four segments of Sim Lab is still on the To Do List. We've got one more lab this afternoon and one tomorrow night. I'm still not a smooth operator, but I'm thinking I can at least get it to the point where I've got the green light to start training on the real thing with a PSD trainer.

So now I am thinking about the qualities of my Dream Trainer...

I'm thinking I want them to be as calm and patient as Dean in the Sim Lab, and encourage me to shift exactly the way he likes to see it done in real rests. I want them to be as committed to thorough Pre-Trip inspections as George, and willing to work with me on learning to do them, since I've only ever been under a hood to check oil and water.

If they could be as cheery as Gabby and warm and friendly as Jay, that would be awesome. Oh, and as helpful and informed as guys like Rich and Nick and Brian and Tammy on Facebook. I definitely want a Prime Cheerleader! I want a total koolaid drinker who will follow all the same rules I promised to follow when doing my CBTS, and who NOT rush me through learning or try to teach me stuff like floating gears or faking logs. In return, I promise to respect their truck, listen carefully, try real hard, and share my snacks.

And finally, while I am slowly but surely weaning off the Diet Coke, but my bladder is still getting used to this new world order; I would like someone who will be patient about the fact that at least initially, I might have to pee a lot (and I'd really, really, really rather not do it in a bucket while I am on a stranger's truck.)

Haha great post!

Glad to hear you're getting the Sim thing down a little better. Go as slow as you need to, they definitely aren't looking for speed.

Oh, and good luck with the trainer. But you won't be strangers for long, that's for sure. You may be peeing in that bucket yet...

Friday Morning

Last night's TT diary entry didn't transmit for some reason. If you are dying of curiosity, you can see it posted as a "Note" on our Facebook Page www.facebook.com/nickandkimsasso

As for status today....HOORAY! We passed our Sim tests last night AND today our C-Pap machines arrived via Fedex. (Mine has flowers on it, cause it's "for her." LOL) The people at Georgia Clinic and Gwinnett Sleep were so wonderfully responsive and appreciative of our circumstances. So now all that remains is to hear back from Trinity Healthcare about what is required (I guess they need to inspect the machines?) for us to get our medical cards. Once we have those, we can fork over our money to the state of Missouri and get our real live Commercial Drivers Permit License!

Later today we'll do a dry-run on the pre-trip, but I don't want to get too far into doing it "on my own" before I have an expert to guide me. It would sure be embarrassing to find out that I'm pointing to the wrong thing when I'm speechifying. I talked to the Inspection Guru, George-of-the-Beard, and he said he'd try to pair me up with a good Inspection instructor over the weekend. Not counting on it right away because (reportedly,) our class has an unusually high number of students lasting all the way through to the end of Orientation, so the training department is in high gear right now. They are bringing in more instructors off the road, but that big batch of people who went to Millennium this morning will have to be matched up before we get at shot, and we won't even be on the list until we have a Permit. Unless Trinity calls us back pretty soon, I'm thinking that won't happen until Monday.

We are kinda bummed about missing the Friday festivities at the fancy building, but it's hard to complain about having a little time to relax before the insanity of PSD begins. I still have to get over to Wal-mart to get replacement stuff for the bedroll that got lost on Greyhound; a nice walk will do me good.

Feeling a broad mix of excitement, anxiety, anticipation, bewilderment and pride...but mostly at this moment, I am feeling sleepy! (Maybe I should try out that C-Pap!) I fear that my metabolism is already sinking into Trucker Driver mode, but I am intent on following the Prime Wellness Dude's counsel and do my 4-minutes of supercise at least 3 times a day....starting tomorrow??

Not sure if I'll stay on TT diary once things are underway. It takes a lot of time to do it here, then copy it into FB, and I've GOT to do the FB version 'cause all my friends back home are living vicariously through me! Our public page is www.facebook.com/nickandkimsasso .

Sounds great!

We got our Purple Cards today! Green Trim, of course, but Purple Cards!

And I am meeting a possible training-match in the morning - had a brief, awkward phone call with her tonight. I had just woken up from a nap (new C-Pap machine is AMAZING) so I was not very articulate, and I am looking forward to a more clear-headed evaluation of our compatibility. This is such a strange situation to be in!

Choose wisely.

Wednesday Night November 22

It feels to me like it's been ages ago since we got our CDL permits, rather than less than two weeks.

If you've seen our FB page (www.facebook.com/nickandkimsasso) you know that I went out on the road with a trainer, did kinda okay for a day or so, parallel parked a semi (!!) - - - and then had a Crisis of Confidence/Hatefest(targeted at the clutch) while driving in rush-hour traffic last Friday afternoon in my hometown, Atlanta. After a consultation (code for "hysterical phone call") with my fleet manager , I was routed back to Springfield.

When I got here yesterday, I met with a training division VIP and got some personal experience with the Genuine Concern For Drivers for which Prime is so famous. It was a little nerve-wreaking going in, but I felt pretty good once it was over. My original trainer and I said our goodbyes, and I returned to Campus Inn. I was really grateful to have a room to myself - an evening of TV, Facebook, and video calling my husband gave me a chance to relax and "get my mind right" to try again.

My old trainer was great to be on the road with and very good at what she does - my problem was not with her. But today I met my new one and I am oh, so glad that I made that phone call! This guy's approach is just perfect for my temperament. Although we will be continuing my PSD in an automatic, he wisely insisted that I "get back on the horse," and today I spent four solid hours on the road driving a 10-speed!

After all the stress of the Sim lab, and the stress on the road last week, today was - dare I say it? FUN. ...Well, almost! I STILL do not want to drive a clutch in rush hour ever again, but now I can feel like that is a preference and it's not because I CAN'T do it.

We are hoping to pick up a an outgoing load in the morning, and I suppose it will be another week or more before I can come back and test for my CDL. After that, it's out with yet another trainer - this time kinda Team Driving but also still learning. I am disappointed that my new trainer doesn't do that phase of training. I've gotten lucky twice-over when it comes to trainers I can "live with," and it might be asking too much to get a third! But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it...and I will be a CDL-carrying driver at that point so maybe I won't be so skittish about the whole scenario.

Nick is documenting his training experiences on Facebook at GrizlyNick OTR Trucker (www.facebook.com/GrizlyTrucker) but his phone is on the skids so he posts infrequently. He's driven a lot more miles than I have, and now that he's not worrying about my predicament anymore, I suspect he'll be back here to test-out sooner rather than later.

I'm missing him terribly but after today I have renewed excitement about our decision to do this, and better equipped to stick it out the next several weeks apart. At this particular moment, I mostly feel badly that he's missed out on the free food at Prime's main complex this week. Today I enjoyed an early Thanksgiving Dinner at lunch AND dinner...and depending on when I head out tomorrow, I might have a bit more turkey tomorrow!