9-14-06 - Thursday - Driving in the Mountains
Today was great! We started at 7:00 am by taking the pre-trip CDL test. I got an 89%. Not the best, but I'll take it. The two other drivers in my truck had to retake their backing test this morning. They both passed.
At about 11:15 am we finally got on the road. I was the first to drive. That's good and bad. It's bad because as a driver you don't get the advantage of watching others working on the skills as they drive and our instructors coments on them. The good thing about going first is that you get your drive time out of the way and can relax the rest of the day.
We started out heading east towards the mountains. Up, Up, and UP some more! I did ok. I feel more comfortable with the "shifting thing". Now I just have to concentrate on all the other aspects of driving a big truck. The trafic checks, watching rpm's, maintining space, controling speed, and yes traffic checks. Did I say that twice? Yes, you can't do too many traffic checks.
I did my driving thing. I made it up and down again. The truck really isn't that hard to control when you know HOW to control it.
We stopped at a truck stop east of Salt Lake City near where the Winter Olympics were held a few years ago. Beautiful country.
Below I have posted some pictures of our day.
Look At this beautiful sunrise at CRE Salt Lake City!
This is our truck at sunrise and my two classmates waiting to get going.
This is just another view of our truck this morning.
OK, it's really small, but in the middle of this picture if you squint you can see the ski jump used in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
Our truck parked in the mountains. (driver switch time)
One of my classmates at the wheel.
How pretty are these mountains?
The road we will travel. (later in the day)
I hope you enjoyed the visual. I'm going to get some sleep now. Tomorrow we will be doing some city and highway driving.
At about 11:15 am we finally got on the road. I was the first to drive. That's good and bad. It's bad because as a driver you don't get the advantage of watching others working on the skills as they drive and our instructors coments on them. The good thing about going first is that you get your drive time out of the way and can relax the rest of the day.
We started out heading east towards the mountains. Up, Up, and UP some more! I did ok. I feel more comfortable with the "shifting thing". Now I just have to concentrate on all the other aspects of driving a big truck. The trafic checks, watching rpm's, maintining space, controling speed, and yes traffic checks. Did I say that twice? Yes, you can't do too many traffic checks.
I did my driving thing. I made it up and down again. The truck really isn't that hard to control when you know HOW to control it.
We stopped at a truck stop east of Salt Lake City near where the Winter Olympics were held a few years ago. Beautiful country.
Below I have posted some pictures of our day.
Look At this beautiful sunrise at CRE Salt Lake City!
This is our truck at sunrise and my two classmates waiting to get going.
This is just another view of our truck this morning.
OK, it's really small, but in the middle of this picture if you squint you can see the ski jump used in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
Our truck parked in the mountains. (driver switch time)
One of my classmates at the wheel.
How pretty are these mountains?
The road we will travel. (later in the day)
I hope you enjoyed the visual. I'm going to get some sleep now. Tomorrow we will be doing some city and highway driving.
posted by BigJohn at 7:24 PM
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