Finally Made It

Left the east coast around 7am on Sat. morning, late start truck would not start. Then truck has a breakdown and overheated bad in W. Virginia, then starter broke the block after getting fuel and checking all fluids somewhere not even sure what state I was in but think Ohio or Indiana, welded it and kept driving, and if that is not enough started missing and smoking somewhere in Ohio, but made it to Wisconsin about 11:30 Sunday night and got the camper set up and to bed around 2am. So that was about 1500 miles of driving and had one hour sleep in a two day period and only slept 3 hours Friday night. Was exhausted to say the least on Monday but showed up on time. Was sent for drug test and physical around 10am, then came back to the yard and was told to do a straight back and nailed it all the way across the parking lot up to a dock door about 400 yards away; was asked to do it again, so I did. Then the instructor said do you want a hard backing maneuver or easy? I said hard, he said ok cones or real world. I chose cones, he said this one is tough lets go real world first to see what happens and save the life of a cone, so I nailed it no pull ups. He said do it again to see if this is beginners luck, so I nailed it again, this time with one pull up.

Shifting is good going up and down in the yard but struggle when out on the road going back down with double clutching. I am too focused on not hitting anything but grinding gears at most intersections is very frustrating, but hey its my second day. Wednesday we went out into the city and interstate , and turned at a lot of intersections to get the feel of tracking. 70 mph was a little stressful to say the the least, and a lot to process with the traffic, curves, lights, shifting, ect. considering I am still learning to use the mirrors....All of them!! We drove about 5 hours in town and around then I went back and practiced backing and set up's which is another weakness, I usually end up on the far side of the hole I'm shooting for or and some weird angle but once I get it in both mirrors I can put it in. Need more practice for sure and glad that is not on the test...

Thursday we drove about 300 miles all over the place, even backed into my first spot at a real live truck stop, it was on an angle and took me about 3 pull ups to get it, but did. I am having trouble find a good reference point to go from out in the open, maybe it will get better in time. Love the truck and air ride seat!! He called my test in for Tuesday because Monday is a holiday and could not find anyone for Sat. Seems a little fast, the pre-trip and air brake test came easy because I studied the material that is provided on this site, went went through it a couple times and he said you are good to go on that...Thank you guys for that!!

The test seems a little fast, but he said I would pass, so I am going to go with it. Once licensed I will have about 5 weeks of real world training and if that goes well, will be assigned a truck and go solo. Thanks again for all of your help and that is too everyone, Big Scott, Old School, and all of the others, you know who you are!!

I will check back in Tuesday and let you guys know if I passed, I am praying that I will but can't help but be concerned, anything can happen. Friday we just drove around the different cities, and today I came in on my own to practice more backing, downshifting, and set up's in the yard, and plan too tomorrow and Monday as well. I have stayed late each evening to practice own my own in the yard, It seems the more time I have in the truck the more I learn. The spot and convex mirrors and getting easier to use with each passing day and can see how helpful they can be.

Almost forgot on the way here I went across the skyway in Chicago and through the city, had to run the heater wide open in the stop and go traffic to keep the old girl from overheating for about three hours and was so glad I fueled up a few miles out, man was it hot and the traffic was not fun considering I was pulling a camper. I hope I never go across that thing again, was rolling about 3 mph when I finally crested the top of it, the old girl was smoking and missing but got me over it, plus cost me about 40.00 dollars in tolls if I remember correctly. If I can help it i will never purchase the 1.50 ticket at the start of the skyway again. Whoever, thought up the first ticket you purchase must like the carnival and that's just exactly what it felt like to me a huge carnival ride, that was way to high in the air, why does the thing go so high? It looked like it was only missing a tiny little house or building... Anyway, I am nervous, excited, and just don't know all rolled up into one.....but am not turning back unless the man above tells me too...lol

Left the east coast around 7am on Sat. morning, late start truck would not start. Then truck has a breakdown and overheated bad in W. Virginia, then starter broke the block after getting fuel and checking all fluids somewhere not even sure what state I was in but think Ohio or Indiana, welded it and kept driving, and if that is not enough started missing and smoking somewhere in Ohio, but made it to Wisconsin about 11:30 Sunday night and got the camper set up and to bed around 2am. So that was about 1500 miles of driving and had one hour sleep in a two day period and only slept 3 hours Friday night. Was exhausted to say the least on Monday but showed up on time. Was sent for drug test and physical around 10am, then came back to the yard and was told to do a straight back and nailed it all the way across the parking lot up to a dock door about 400 yards away; was asked to do it again, so I did. Then the instructor said do you want a hard backing maneuver or easy? I said hard, he said ok cones or real world. I chose cones, he said this one is tough lets go real world first to see what happens and save the life of a cone, so I nailed it no pull ups. He said do it again to see if this is beginners luck, so I nailed it again, this time with one pull up.

Thursday we drove about 300 miles all over the place, even backed into my first spot at a real live truck stop, it was on an angle and took me about 3 pull ups to get it, but did. I am having trouble find a good reference point to go from out in the open, maybe it will get better in time. Love the truck and air ride seat!! He called my test in for Tuesday because Monday is a holiday and could not find anyone for Sat. Seems a little fast, the pre-trip and air brake test came easy because I studied the material that is provided on this site, went went through it a couple times and he said you are good to go on that...Thank you guys for that!!

The test seems a little fast, but he said I would pass, so I am going to go with it. Once licensed I will have about 5 weeks of real world training and if that goes well, will be assigned a truck and go solo. Thanks again for all of your help and that is too everyone, Big Scott, Old School, and all of the others, you know who you are!!

I will check back in Tuesday and let you guys know if I passed, I am praying that I will but can't help but be concerned, anything can happen. Friday we just drove around the different cities, and today I came in on my own to practice more backing, downshifting, and set up's in the yard, and plan too tomorrow and Monday as well. I have stayed late each evening to practice own my own in the yard, It seems the more time I have in the truck the more I learn. The spot and convex mirrors and getting easier to use with each passing day and can see how helpful they can be.

Almost forgot on the way here I went across the skyway in Chicago and through the city, had to run the heater wide open in the stop and go traffic to keep the old girl from overheating for about three hours and was so glad I fueled up a few miles out, man was it hot and the traffic was not fun considering I was pulling a camper. I hope I never go across that thing again, was rolling about 3 mph when I finally crested the top of it, the old girl was smoking and missing but got me over it, plus cost me about 40.00 dollars in tolls if I remember correctly. If I can help it i will never purchase the 1.50 ticket at the start of the skyway again. Whoever, thought up the first ticket you purchase must like the carnival and that's just exactly what it felt like to me a huge carnival ride, that was way to high in the air, why does the thing go so high? It looked like it was only missing a tiny little house or building... Anyway, I am nervous, excited, and just don't know all rolled up into one.....but am not turning back unless the man above tells me too...lol

Dude, I had to read this THREE TIMES before I could even garner a response, from 'ME!'

Wow, just wow, eh? "Welcome to trucking" as the vets will say, haha!

Did y'all weld 'ole gal' yourselves? Interesting, but still . . . way cool either way, IMHO.

NOW .. on the OHIO thingy, hahaha...don't get me started ! "Why y'all always tryin' to be blamin' my Buckeye?!?"

(I'm just kidding, man.)

Yep, that bridge.. oh, fun. Do you know (Read Dave W.'s second or third to last post) that they are wanting to charge usn's (truckers) EXTRA (on TOP of all that we /y'all pay!)?!? Mr. Dave Wickenhauser sure does aggregate some excellent info. Read his Amazon book, 'Crimson Highway' if you ever have time; it's awesome. Sequel in the works, too!

As I prattle ...Carry on~ love reading this!

~ Anne ~

CONGRATS!

Yes I welded it on the side of the road with a 110v welder and a power inverter that I keep in my toolbox, also had to drill and tap the hole...it sucked on the side of the road, but was glad I had that little harbor freight welder.

Yes I welded it on the side of the road with a 110v welder and a power inverter that I keep in my toolbox, also had to drill and tap the hole...it sucked on the side of the road, but was glad I had that little harbor freight welder.

I bought one for Xmas, for my kiddo!

Nice tool to have, tbh...lol!

Things good...now'ish?

~ Anne ~

ps: mad respect, man..

I am hanging in there, nervous about tomorrow's test. The old girl is still cranking, and missing. I pulled one valve cover hoping it was a retainer, or valve spring, but need to pull the other one today, after I get back from practicing. I think I will go over and practice for about five or six hours this morning. She still has to get me back to NC if I pass the test to get my license issued, and then back here again to start driver training and finally earning some money. One of the guys is going to let me leave the camper at his house to lighten the load until I get back so that is helpful. At this point much prayer would be appreciated. If I happen to fail, it would really put me in a bind financially, but I am trying to only focus on doing the right things to pass the test. I have made it this far and hoping to follow through. Thanks for the comments, and humor. It is needed in a situation like this...LOL

P.S. I stopped at walmart to grab a few things yesterday and posted a photo, not sure where it will end up on the thread or in my photos, but tell me do you think the old girl is leaking a little.....lol She got so hot in W. Virginia that she melted the return lines off of the injectors guess it worked on all the gaskets as well. So glad I saved the old ones........

Just to show you guys how bad the starter broke the block I uploaded a photo of the break and repair. I am also glad I had my 20v dewalt grinder. I have never been this far from home, and with funds being just enough, when I left I tried to be prepared for anything and so far looks like a good call. One of the temp gauge, she went further at about the three oclock position once I turned it off, it was smoking so bad I got the fire extinguisher out, took about an how to cool down enough to take the cap off. Oh. and one of the whole set up........love my old truck, but the 6.2 diesel is giving me a fit right now. Our house flooded during hurricane florence and we lost everything. So instead of getting myself a new truck, I got my wife her dream car and I started working on this old girl. I got her about 15 years ago and it has just been sitting. I do miss my king ranch right about now that the flood got, but its ok, she got me here and could not ask for more. I picked up this camper about the flood time and rebuilt it because we didnt know what the house was going to look like, glad I had it, much less cost on staying in a motel....385.00 a week vs 350.00 a month at the campground and is only a mile from work.

In the beginning of the welding phase I was having trouble getting the weld to stick to the cast iron block, but finally found a nickel rod, I had about a 1/2 a rod..........but it was enough to get me here......lol

The weld isn't nice to look at but holding not too bad being on the side of the road, doing the safety squint. Can you believe I forgot my welding helmet??? I can...lol

The weld isn't nice to look at but holding not too bad being on the side of the road, doing the safety squint. Can you believe I forgot my welding helmet??? I can...lol

ROFL.. I've got an extra one.. (its rarely/barely used!) .. but I sure DO use the gloves.. for firewood season, also!!!

~ Anne ~

ps: If you ever wanna 'sell' that unit . . . lmk!

pps: / btw: I sure hope the weld holds, and things go well @ school, for sure!!!

Guys just got back from my early morning testing....Passed 100% on pre/trip and had to do the whole truck A, B, & C. Did get five points on backing, and eleven on the road trip...So thankful I passed.

Thanks everyone for you help!!