10-18-06 - Wednesday - Upgrade!!!!!!!
OK, I'm in Ontario, CA now and tomorrow I start the solo upgrade process. My Trainer dropped me off today at the Mira Loma, CA CRE facility at about 11:00 local time and the shuttle to the Rodeway Inn near the twin TA truck stops picked me up at 1315. The upgrade coordinator told me to come back tomorrow at 0700. He said he usually has about 5 upgrade students, but right now he is working with 16, including me. CRE provides a room at the Rodeway Inn for all upgrade students. They provide a bed in a double occupancy room. I am kind of a privacy freak, and don't like the idea of being stuck in a room with someone I don't know, so I got a single room. They have decent free wireless internet and it's just nice to be by myself. I'm going to be a great solo driver.
The trip back west was interesting in the beginning. We picked up in Chatanogga, TN at a chicken processing plant. I can tell you that the smell was very "interesting" there. By that I mean it smelled like dead chicken mixed with cooking chicken. A very strange combination. I think I'll skip the chicken nuggets next time I'm at a fast food place.
We got out of TN and hit the heavy rain and wind from the gulf coast storms. That was fun to drive through,,,, NOT! I didn't have any problems though. I found out later that my trainer used my driving out of Chatanogga, TN as my final driving test. He didn't tell me that until today when he dropped me off. He said I did a "very good" job, and I was a safe driver. That's cool. What was even better is that he didn't tell me when he was evaluating me. That let me just drive and not get nervious about it being a test. Since I'm not with him anymore, I want to say that Andy Fechner was a great trainer. Anyone that gets him as a trainer is very lucky.
Now, let me try uploading some pictures. I'm at a good internet facility, so this should work. The first shots are from 9-30-06 when we had a blow out on CA 101. The last two pictures are from our Salinas, CA pickup point.
This is a shot of us along the side of CA 101 waiting for Road Service.
A shot of our blown out tire.
Another shot of our blown out tire.
This is a field of some green leafy stuff behind our truck in Salinas, CA. We hauled this stuff back east. I don't know what it is, but the pickers were loading it into the bins that we hauled.
This is a shot of our pick-up point in Salinas, CA. We waited here for HOURS for our load!
The trip back west was interesting in the beginning. We picked up in Chatanogga, TN at a chicken processing plant. I can tell you that the smell was very "interesting" there. By that I mean it smelled like dead chicken mixed with cooking chicken. A very strange combination. I think I'll skip the chicken nuggets next time I'm at a fast food place.
We got out of TN and hit the heavy rain and wind from the gulf coast storms. That was fun to drive through,,,, NOT! I didn't have any problems though. I found out later that my trainer used my driving out of Chatanogga, TN as my final driving test. He didn't tell me that until today when he dropped me off. He said I did a "very good" job, and I was a safe driver. That's cool. What was even better is that he didn't tell me when he was evaluating me. That let me just drive and not get nervious about it being a test. Since I'm not with him anymore, I want to say that Andy Fechner was a great trainer. Anyone that gets him as a trainer is very lucky.
Now, let me try uploading some pictures. I'm at a good internet facility, so this should work. The first shots are from 9-30-06 when we had a blow out on CA 101. The last two pictures are from our Salinas, CA pickup point.
This is a shot of us along the side of CA 101 waiting for Road Service.
A shot of our blown out tire.
Another shot of our blown out tire.
This is a field of some green leafy stuff behind our truck in Salinas, CA. We hauled this stuff back east. I don't know what it is, but the pickers were loading it into the bins that we hauled.
This is a shot of our pick-up point in Salinas, CA. We waited here for HOURS for our load!
posted by BigJohn at 11:11 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home