Well, I Did It.....

Man, good luck to ya!!!

Wow, you're staying in a rescue mission? And the schooling is 10 weeks and you have little or no money to get by on?

Man, that's rough! Thank God you're former military so you have the character and resilience to endure that kind of challenge. We're definitely pullin for ya! It's going to take some grit and determination to get through it and we all respect you for that!

Oh, and to private message someone just click on their name anywhere you see it and it will take you to their profile. You'll see a link on their profile to send a private message.

Wow! Best of luck to ya! I like what I'm hearing from you - it sounds like you've got what it takes to make this work. If your wife is supportive then you've got a big step out of the way already. Keep us posted, we always enjoy hearing how it's going for those out there trying to break in to the business.

Please wish me luck, I really need to find a night job and it's going to be tough enough as it is, if anyone has any ideas feel free to post them I don't know how to private message on here yet

and stay off that end of Broadway at night...too early in your new career to find out there are Lot Lizards there as well.

Unless they're going to pay ME, I'm not going to worry about them. I'll have to walk 4 miles from school back to the Mission after I get out at 5 pm, I'm not going to be in any kind of a mood to go horizontal boppin', anyway, but thanks for the advice, I did notice that that part of town looked a little on the seedy side, to put it tactfully.

Man, good luck to ya!!!

Wow, you're staying in a rescue mission? And the schooling is 10 weeks and you have little or no money to get by on?

Man, that's rough! Thank God you're former military so you have the character and resilience to endure that kind of challenge. We're definitely pullin for ya! It's going to take some grit and determination to get through it and we all respect you for that!

Oh, and to private message someone just click on their name anywhere you see it and it will take you to their profile. You'll see a link on their profile to send a private message.

Thanks for the kind words Brett. Nice to know that you guys are all thinking about me. I got determination coming out of my ears, and the way this Kansas wind has been blowing, way more than enough grit in my teeth to grind corn into cornmeal.

Which is something else I'd like to mention here, all of you coming through the Flint Hills of Kansas on I-70 east of Kansas City, and probably all the way to Goodland, Kansas, watch out for those southerly gusts of wind, they've been really strong the last 4 or 5 days!!!!

Keep the rubber side down, and the shiny side up, Mike

Wow! Best of luck to ya! I like what I'm hearing from you - it sounds like you've got what it takes to make this work. If your wife is supportive then you've got a big step out of the way already. Keep us posted, we always enjoy hearing how it's going for those out there trying to break in to the business.

The wife is supportive, but lonely, I keep telling her that this is NOT what it's going to be like when I'm out on the road, because as of right now, I can't really go home on the weekends until I find a part time job, whereas once I get hired I should be able to see here every now and then, not like now.

But yeah, I'm going to keep a daily diary of everything that happens while in school, maybe someone else who is thinking of going to school will find some use in all of this mess of words. I'm sure that I'll have all kinds of interesting things to write about once my classes start on Monday. HEY!!!! That's tomorrow morning! :)

Please wish me luck, I really need to find a night job and it's going to be tough enough as it is, if anyone has any ideas feel free to post them I don't know how to private message on here yet

and stay off that end of Broadway at night...too early in your new career to find out there are Lot Lizards there as well.

I did notice that there are a TON of trucking companies up around 37th to 45th street, many more than I could count. And, in just Saturdays' paper there were like 7 or 8 driving jobs listed, I imagine that there will be alot more in the Sunday paper.

Definitely keep that diary going so that other newbies can see what you went through to get where you're going. It's always good to have some documentation of what it takes to get in this field. Hopefully the things you post will help others in their own personal quest.

Hey everyone, see the new post that I just made for an update...I get a week off then I start driving with an instructor this coming Friday.

And the Ford Ranger that I got from my friend is a 5-speed on the floor, now dont ya know....so I'm even getting a little practice in, double-clutching, so that my instructor won't yell at me.

Oh, and several drivers that I've talked to out at United Warehouse (where the driving school is at) have said "don't worry about double-clutching, most of us just float the gears in the real world." Anyone tell me just what that means, because they say it like I'm supposed to know, but then can't explain it to me, which is absolutely no help at all!!!!

Later, Mike

Floating gears simply means you shift without using the clutch. In the real world, 99.999% of the drivers only touch the clutch when they come to a stop or get the gears in a bind. Don't even worry about what it means to get them in a bind - it won't help right now to go too far into detail. But floating gears just means shifting without the clutch and you'll be doing it as soon as you get away from your trainers.