Monday, May 16, 2011

Going nowhere… yet.

We were due to leave Rippling Waters CG today but.. we just decided that we would rather not… so we didn’t.

 

Weather has been quite comfortable and a hint of moisture in the air… and on everything else but no actual rain which is fine by me.

We will likely leave tomorrow and head for PipeStem State Resort park.. but not if we are not going to be able to get the Dancing With The Stars Results show, there, tomorrow night.

I managed to do a little fishing (catch and release, of course).  First time I have actually gotten a line wet in a few years even though I always have my rig with me… I guess I am even more relaxed, here, than I have been in a very long time, so that’s a good thing.

We will see where tomorrow takes us.

ttfn

Saturday, May 14, 2011

A day for relaxing…. aren’t they all?

Today was just an easy day from the get-go. I was up, as usual, about 6:15am, did some PC work then went back to bed and zonked out (technical term) really well for about 3 hours.  Now, that’s the kind of rest I need to get every night.

We had planned to have an afternoon cookout with Donna B and her Mom and some of her relatives, so brunch was light.

About a 20 minute drive to Pinch, WV at 1:30pm and we met up with most of the whole family, about 15 of us in total.

The meal did not disappoint and neither did the company. As usual, her Mom overfed us and dessert had to be spaced out by an hour or so but it was worth the wait, too.

While we were there, one of her father’s old friends that lives only a couple of miles from the Pipestem State Resort Park near Beckley, WV, gave me some pointers on how to get there without getting on the Toll road.  It may take a little bit longer but he said the roads are very good that way…. we will see on Monday…

ttfn

Friday, May 13, 2011

Can I get there from here?

Google has Google accounts and then there are Google Apps accounts and they are neither the same thing nor interchangeable.

Why this is important is that in the bigger scheme of things as I try to cut costs, improve the time it takes to keep up with things and share whatever with whomever, I need to streamline some of the existing mechanisms and connectivity.

The email address I have used since signing up with Google GMail became the anchor point for everything I did and necessary to my use of Google facilities….. until Google Apps came along.

On the other hand, my Webdoms existence has been there several decades and I have a considerable investment in it and did not want to just drop it. I did need to cut the costs in money and time to sustain it and decided that I could transpose it all, fairly intact, into Google Apps…. or so I thought.

The short of it is that I created a free Google Apps account, assigned it to Webdoms, set my email and other Webdoms connected stuff to port or be forwarded to the GApps platform I created and began dismantling it on the old 1and1.com servers.

The hitch in this get-along is that Google cannot just merge two accounts and particularly not a Google account and a Google Apps account.

Complicating this is this blog, created under my original Google account and my Cell phone (Android) id which was initially also setup under my original Google Account.

To switch the phone, I had to basically clear it and reinitiate it from scratch on my webdoms id setup on GApps. This meant reinstalling all my phone apps, too, which was no small task in itself.

A bigger problem was, and still is, that those things that were tied to my old id on my phone, cannot be connected to by my new id on the same phone.

An example is Google latitude which shows where I am via the built in GPSA  hardware.  Once my Phone became a part of my Webdoms identity, it could not update the places that had previously been tied to it.

Simply put, the “Where Am I?” gadget could only show my old phone id location in this blog and I could not get my Webdoms phone location into the blog gadget in this blog.

I discovered, today, that I could move a blog between accounts with a little Penn and Teller slight of hand and now, it is administrated by my GApps Webdoms id instead of my old Gmail id.

It has taken weeks to do the following:

  • Shift all my email to my GApps Webdoms identity ( over 800 mbytes)
  • Shift all my RVing content to GApps docs, calendar, contacts, etc.
  • Graduate my profile information, blogging following, stats, etc. to the webdoms. GApps id
  • Make my phone a part of my Webdoms GApps identity instead of my old Gmail id.
  • Configure Outlook 2010 to interface IMAP to my new GApps mail, calendar and contacts and completely rebuild my Webdoms folders and rules in it to match. It was all previously running on a MS Exchange server on 1and1.com.
  • Engage the Sprint/Google Voice integration option so that all my voicemail, calling, ringing, etc. is handled through Google Voice instead of Sprint.

This has taken weeks of preparation and planning to be sure I could do everything I wanted before I stated actually changing things.  I really could not afford to find myself with one foot on the boat and one on the dock and then see the boat was gonna sink.

At this point, there are just a few loose ends but everything is now on the Google Apps platform under my Webdoms identity and I am very happy with the results.

It cut about $50/month of ongoing expense and was worth the struggle it took to make it happen. I have 6 gigabytes more of free email space plus all the GApps docs space I will probably ever need, for free.

More about some of these details at a later time. I am also working towards dramatically changing the way this blog works, too, and hopefully, it will make it much easier for followers with only limited interests in some of the topics I post, like PC stuff, RVing trip planning, health tips, etc. … I don’t have all the separate topics locked in just yet and suggestions are certainly welcome.

The idea will be to have the blog’s starting page be the root for about 6 individual blogs on the various topical areas of interest.

Meanwhile, it’s getting late so….

ttfn

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Ahhhhhhh………!!!!!!!!

DSC03193

Rippling Waters CG – Romance, WV

We left Raleigh, NC at 10:00 am on Monday, May 9th, 2011 and headed for this lovely place 368 miles away…. over some really crappy WV highways (mostly the toll roads, what a $30 rip off) …..and really unenjoyable mountain roads in WV.

It was worth it when we finally arrived here about 7:30pm the same day.

DSC03179DSC03185

Lots of choices, lots of things to do, and a few glitches but all told, it was a good trip. Weather was great, and the temperatures were comfortable enough to travel with the windows open the whole way.

The things to do included:

  1. Fill with Fuel
  2. Weigh the whole rig with Smart on board and with Full Water and propane, empty grey/black and full fuel tanks.
  3. Weigh just the truck with full tanks and us in it.

Fuel was $3.93/gallon at FlyingJ Haw River, NC Exit 150 I-85/I-40 with my FlyingJ Frequent Fueler card ($.03/gallon discount – cash or credit) I was sure glad that I saw that post in the Escapees forums about their new discount policies.

The whole rig weighs 44,440 lbs. The truck is 24,500 with the Smart car loaded on it.

Some interesting facts about the setup:

CAT Scales 5/10/2011
Combined Truckonly Difference
Steer 10,880 11,980 (1,100)
Drive 18,080 12,520 5,560
Trailer 15,480 0 15,480
Gross 44,440 24,500 19,940
Pin Weight 4,460
Trailer 19,940
Tires Rating Combined Margin
6 3,042 18,252 2,772
Notes:
Smart Loaded only 2 gals
Truck Fuel tanks full
Trailer Water tank full
Trailer black/ Grey tanks empty
Refrigerator Full
Propane tanks Full
All other items are typical for our Full Time life.

All of that cost us an hour of travel time.

I have had a few hints that my marginal throttle Position Sensor (TPS) is getting worse, again and at the beginning of this trip, it was definitely causing some problems. I almost stopped at Central Carolina Trucks in Kernersville, NC to pick up a replacement but we just did not have the time and I was pretty sure that it would be ok the more it got used…. and it did get better.

Also, the fuel temperature sensor that was giving me intermittent error codes for the past several years seems to have been a poor electrical connection to it. When I had Clifford in to Speedco, in Kenly, NC last week for a standard PM, I had the mechanic unplug/plug it in a few times to clean the contacts before I replaced the sensor. That seems to have fixed it.

Since this was going to be the longest single day’s drive we have ever done with the full rig, I had made optional plans to stop either in Mayberry Campground in Mt Airy, NC or Camp Creek State CG in WV, if it was looking like we were getting too tired or it would be dark before we made it to Rippling Waters. From what I had read, the road going in was only about 4 miles long but it was very narrow, crooked and hilly.

It turns out that this is true. It is almost a sidewalk with a double yellow line down the middle. It is clear that no dirt was shaved or filled in the process of making this road and it is necessary to spend most of the drive somewhere in the middle or on the wrong side of the road in order to keep all tires on the pavement around the sharp turns.

Staying on the pavement is also necessary as there is no shoulder and the edge of the blacktop rolls off into the ditches on both sides. Like I said, a sidewalk with a double yellow line. This is a place where having a pilot car to lead is definitely a desirable thing.

They have a number of long pull throughs but only 2 with FHU and I wanted a very long, hot shower. It turns out that two were available for 2 nights but we would have to move for one night (tonight) and then could move back the next day for the rest of our stay.

As you can see from some of the pictures, this site is excellent! Full view of the lake, fountains, chapel, Swans, ducks, manicured grounds, etc. through our living room windows.

Maybe it does not completely have the RV-Dreams “IT” factor but it certainly hits our “G-Spot” at $23/night.

We will spend the week and figure out where to go from here. We will have to go back to Raleigh for a bit before heading out west but it does not have to be right away so we are thinking maybe Tennessee COEs on an around-about trip back to RDU.

I am going to have to think about all this for awhile…. after a nap or two….

ttfn

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Inspirations

We had the great pleasure of having dinner with Dee and Jim (Tumbleweed blog) and it replenished our

2011-05-02 19.53.01

enthusiasm about Full-time RVing.

They make it seem so easy, even with the little glitches and gotchas. We discussed a lot of things about traveling, places they have liked staying and, of course, HDT tow vehicles and Smart cars.

Jim has been concerned about tire loads and is upgrading his wheels to 17.5 inch with an H load rating from the E rating on his current set of RV tires.  I am following this with great interest. I have long wanted a bigger margin between my tires and my max RV load.  Although I have a 21,000 GVWR on DaKotR spread across 3 – 7,000 lb. axles, the tires are the same as Jim’s with an E load rating of 3042 lbs. max/tire.

In my case, my pin weight accommodates about 4300lbs of the 21,000 lbs., leaving the axles, wheels and tires to handle 16,700 lbs., if I was fully loaded. The axles are clearly capable (21,000 lbs. total GAWR) and the 8k brake sets can handle 24,000 lbs. total, but the wheels/tires max out at 18,252 lbs. technically leaving me only a 1550 lb. margin at best.

The concerns I have  are more about “typical” in use loads rather than the “technical” specs.  Pulling a large 5th wheel means some curbs, road-edge runoffs, potholes and other things that will affect only 1 or two tires at a time. That makes it very easy to overload a tire or bruise a sidewall, weakening the tire’s actual safety.

I have lost 4 treads on older tires on this 5th wheel over the years and fortunately, no significant damage was done to the RV due to the King of the Road engineering of the tire wells and body of the RV. Flapping alligators don’t really have any compartments or body parts to contact.

However, even with a pressure pro or other TPMS to monitor tire pressures, I would only have immediately detected one out of the three failures because the others never lost pressure. When the treads stripped off nearly all of the weight they were carrying shifted onto the remaining two tires on that side.  Even brand new tires can be compromised for life by such overloading.

Good luck with this upgrade, Jim.

ttfn, Budd

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Blessed Day of Rest

Sunday is supposed to be for resting and I finally got to do it, today. First one in a long time (or maybe that's just how it seems).

The generator is now generating, once again. The Generac NP 5500 watt that came in DaKotR has always been a little cantankerous but it finally reached a point where it would not start. I had fiddled with it a little some weeks back (actually, months, I think) and got it to start and run but Carbon Monoxide built up inside DaKotR so fast I ran out to see where it could be coming from and found the generator sitting in a puddle of raw gasoline!

I overrode my first impulse (to RUN) and stopped the generator with no sparks. The steel tray that the genny sits in has a 3/4" lip on it and the gasoline was almost to the top. I quickly threw rags and whatever else I could grab to soak as much of the gas out of there as I could.

After much thought and research I decided to ck for gas line leaks, first. I pulled the air filter housing off so I could run the whole fuel line and did find a few less than tight-enough clamps. After checking it all over, thoroughly, I pressed the starter to see if I could see a leak. From the amount of gasoline, I knew that it had to be a doosie.

I pressed it just long enough to have it start to catch up... and then a pulsing stream of gasoline began shooting straight out of a vent on the carburetor air cleaner mating face. Good Fuel pump, for sure. That sucker was squirting a pencil lead thick stream of gasoline a good 2 feet straight out of the carburetor. I instantly shut it off (but it seemed like about 20 minutes for it to quit running) and decided that I had to pull the carburetor off and rebuild it.

So, that was how I spent my Saturday.. a partially disassembled carburetor in one hand and a can of Carb cleaner in the other. After cleaning ( and it was definitely crudded up really bad) I put it back on the generator and hit the starter. NO GAS running anywhere! Super, but no running, either, unless I held the choke fully on.

Pull the carburetor again, opened it up and found 2 little intake holes that had such solid plugs of gunk in them that it was hard to push them out with a probe.

All done, put it back together, put it back on the Generator and hit the starter. Wahoo!!!! runs like new!!! Sure could have used that for a few days after the Tornado hit us a couple of Saturday's ago. But it will work fine, now.

So, on my day off, I have been working (playing, actually) on a rework of our exit strategy next week. It is just looking like we are not stopping the slippage of our timing so we are planning to go to WV as planned, but then spend a few weeks or a month, hanging around the mountains of WV, Kentucky and Tennessee and checking out some COE and state campgrounds. Some of them are really exceptional with FHU/50 sites and with my America the Beautiful Senior Pass in hand, they are half price for us. It won't be Colorado but maybe it will take the edge off of our hitch-itch hunger for the Rockies for a couple of months.

ttfn

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Slip-Sliding away….

Back in Raleigh at the moment. Our after school plans have been to take care of a few items in Raleigh and then leave for the rest of the year.

But….

I have some serious maintenance to do on DaKotR, some medical appointments for routine stuff and med supplies for the next year. The “basement” of the house is still pretty full and needs to be emptied before we can put it on the market.  Painting is also necessary and though my son is going to take care of that and the paint is in hand, he has gotten so busy that what was to be done by now will be done… sometime.

M. has a wedding to attend today. We planned to head to the Charleston, WV area mid-week to visit with her good friend on a US visit who now lives in the UK.

It is looking more like the WV trip will be sans RV, though.  There are just too many things washing up on our home beach that need to be dealt with before we set sail for the summer.

The intent was to launch to Colorado from WV but now, the tides of necessity are shifting our Jell-O plans a bit so the WV trip will likely be just a few days and then back here for the rest of our preparations for being gone until next year sometime.

Oops! That was number 3 son on the phone. He is part of the wedding party and got lost on the way to the reception location for photos…. the wedding is not until this afternoon so let’s hope he can find the church from there. 

Actually, I spend a lot of computer time as a dispatcher for family and friends.. .even when I am out of town. “Help Dad. I am lost!”, “Dad, where the hell is Fritzi’s BBQ in Fuquay?”, “How do I get to Iam Lostlane from here?”.  This is an observation, not a complaint. Though I have always raised my kids to be independent and self-sufficient, that can have a backlash after a certain age… You just may never hear from them, again.

Sure, they all have SmartPhones and all know how to use them but a Smart phone does not have a familiar, calming voice that works with you and your situation. It never says “I’m sorry for your ‘lost” condition”.  Dads do that and maybe that need, alone, will keep us connected wherever we are.

But, I digress… These many little items and issues are tightly wedging themselves into our scheduled departure and the visit to WV cannot be rescheduled, thus, that may turn into a side trip from Raleigh instead of a “VIA” on the way to Colorado.

This is life and liberty and it’s all about working around the doctor’s appointments, repairs, tornadoes, weddings and “unfinished” business that we all have trailing behind (or sometimes, ahead) of us like the tail of a comet. We will deal with it as best we can but never let it distract us from our real objectives on the road.

ttfn

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Wrapping up and moving on..

This is our last night in the Smithfield KOA. I know that a lot of full timers don’t get enthusiastic about KOA campgrounds but I will say that this has been a completely nice experience… right up to the tornado.

With a monthly rate of $450 + elec (.14/kwh) it has been within acceptable limits for the circumstances. Smithfield, NC is not my idea of a destination unless one wants to spend many days cruising the Outlet mall. Merrily’s Truck driver training class was the justification and the cost was very reasonable to make that happen.

Now, it’s back to Raleigh for a few days to get some med stuff done, a few RV repairs (like finding where the gasoline is leaking from when the generator runs) and finish my RV tools sorting/stocking project which I left unfinished to come down here. Although I did not do much tool work down here, I did find a few things that I had previously thought I would not bother putting in the RV which would have been very helpful.. no, I didn’t mean a chainsaw…. I could have rented one if I had really been motivated to use it.

I got a full PM done on Clifford this morning. First time he has had his oil changed since 2004 (but that was only 12,000 miles ago). I get a regular oil analysis done at Blackstone Labs and they have said it was still ok so no harm, no foul).

I also had the Speedco mechanic plug replug the connector on the fuel temperature sensor that I have been getting some occasional error codes from for the past couple of years.

Interestingly, the codes have stopped (likely dirty contacts on the plug) and my mpg has jumped up 2.4 mpg.  We will see if it holds. The sensor is located on the cap of the rear fuel filter and I cannot reach it from above nor get under the truck to get to it from below. The mechanic said he was happy to replug it a few times to clean the contacts. If the codes start up again, I will just replace the sensor but at $69 I am not ready to Easter-egg it just yet.

Katie had a big seizure yesterday morning while I was heading out to get the PM done. Merrily called and I had to abort that project and return. Katie has not had one that lasted this long (2 hrs.) in over a year. She was on day 35 of no seizures.  We suspect it might have been the heartworm meds I gave her the previous day as we have previously seen seizures happen within a couple of days of her getting meds.

After the R&R (repair and replenish) in Raleigh, we are off to West Virginia and then Denver! We are really looking forward to that.

ttfn

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Graduation Day! WaaaHooo!!

My most amazing life partner. I love you.
My most amazing life partner. I love you.

This is definitely a benchmark day!

Merrily now has her Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) and is a trained professional Over-The-Road (OTR) truck driver.

8 Hard weeks of 10 hour days learning Federal Safety regulations, practicing driving, parking, backing, maneuvering obstacle courses and many hours behind the wheel out on the roads and highways, has earned Merrily a diploma as a professional truck driver.

I am incredibly proud for her in accomplishing this achievement. I went through this 7 years ago and it remains the single hardest thing I have done in my 67 years.

Merrily receiving her diploma
Merrily receiving her diploma
Uh-oh, her nose is turning red.  Tears are not far behind.
Uh-oh, her nose is turning red. Tears are not far behind.

Acceptance speeches can get emotional.

yep, there they are, right on schedule. That is the Lead Class instructor, Chris Chappell. He was also Smith and mine in 2004. Chris is a real personable guy and a great supporter.
yep, there they are, right on schedule. That is the Lead Class instructor, Chris Chappell. He was also Smith and mine in 2004. Chris is a real personable guy and a great supporter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There she is, Ms America!  The guy in front of her is
There she is, Ms America! The guy in front of her is "Catfish" and beat cancer to go through this class.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations!

ttfn

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

She works hard for this Honey..

Today Merrily finished the truck driving class and SHE NAILED IT!!!!!!! It took 8 weeks of 10 hour days but she never missed a day of class.

She set several benchmarks.

  • Oldest woman ever to finish the class
  • Only woman of the 6 originals, to actually finish and pass the class. The rest were in their 20s and 30s.
  • Only woman to take all of her final tests right after having survived a direct hit by a tornado! (ok, so maybe this is more of a Guinness book kind of thing… but it is definitely unique.
  • She did excellent on all of the written tests
  • She says, “backing a trailer is a guy thing because none of us girls could back worth a darn!”
  • She passed yesterday’s forward obstacle course, the Coupling/uncoupling and written regulations tests with no errors!
  • She managed to hang in there while 20 of the 43 original students failed the class prior to today.  That, alone, puts her in the top half of the class. 
  • Today was the 100 question final written exam and she only missed 3.
  • Today was also her last road test, which she passed with no problem.
  • She came in exhausted but elated at 1:00 PM and we ate lunch. Afterwards, she read for a bit and then said, “I am going to take a nap…. just because I can.”  … She was always gone to school by 6:40am and was not out of class most days before 6pm.. do the math.. she was never home during “napping” time.
  • I love her immensely and forever. God has blessed me almost more than I can bear.
  • Now the fun begins for real.

For the past 60 years, Merrily has been and always will be the key to my life.

Merrily, I love you, forever.

Tornado, Tornado, Tornado

Now that I have some connectivity, I wanted to get these pictures and some perspectives about what it was like being inside an RV while a tornado raged around outside.

The short answer:  Not Fun! But…

We are still not quite sure what exactly hit us. The winds had to be in excess of 160 mph to do the damage it did but the “swirling” damage typical of a tornado is completely missing. Although it is being called a tornado, it must have been ground level wind shear. Perhaps a horizontal funnel due to the very high ground speed (60+ mph) it had. Might have just drug the tail of the twister out behind it all the way.

We see plenty of damage like this:

This is the other side of DakotR.
This is the other side of DakotR.
DSC02854.JPG
DSC02854.JPG

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the better to see it with, my Dear.
All the better to see it with, my Dear.

There were other RVs that suffered worse damage but no one was hurt.

 

Just before it hit us, Phillip, one of the workampers at this KOA, knocked on the door to tell us that it was headed this way and we could go take shelter in the meeting room. Hail between marble and jaw breaker sizes was crashing down on him and he wore only a baseball cap.

He was very lucky to not be hurt but I am sure it was still painful.  I quickly thanked him, closed the door, walked back into the bedroom where Merrily was lying on the floor between the foot of the bed and the  bedroom storage drawers. I glanced out of the side window to see hurricane strength winds blowing all sorts of stuff past us. I knew it was too late to try to leave the RV, even if it was only to jump into the ditch 20 feet behind us. 

When we parked here 2 months ago, I had made a mental note that this ditch would be a good place to shelter in a pinch.  Had this tornado been much stronger, it would have definitely been better than the meeting house up at the entrance which got a direct hit and some damage.

For a moment, a 12 inch piece of pink insulation wafted up to the window and paused momentarily before instantly disappearing from view. Must have been a little eddy current there due to the Kitchen slideout protrusion.

The good fortune for us is that we were sheltered from most of the flying debris by the heavy bush and cedar trees lining the deep drainage ditch right behind us. The trees heavily covered in vines that blew over onto the rear of DaKotR acted like a blast shield and deflected the wind up and over us.

Looking at what the wind took out from directly behind us,

Notice the cedar tree stub just to the left of the transformer. That tree exploded and pieces landed on us and clear across the street.
Notice the cedar tree stub just to the left of the transformer. That tree exploded and pieces landed on us and clear across the street.

It seems that we got some of the strongest winds in the park blew right over us. This is the only spot that they were completely gone in that whole row.

I sure appreciate the workmanship and materials of the King of The Road we have. Despite the huge weight of the trees on the back of it and on the big slideout, it did not crumple, crush or warp at all. It’s really too bad they are no longer building RVs.

I have posted a lot more photos to view in a set of time ordered albums on my Picasa site. http://www.picasaweb.google.com/emeryn I hope you find this informative.

I am keeping this relatively short to encourage more readers to read the whole thing.  I will be filling in more information about this experience in the coming days.

Meanwhile, I hope this answers a lot of your questions.

ttfn

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Hey… Anybody seen Toto?

This time it wasn’t Dorothy.. it was us!

DSC02849

Military training makes one just duck when the sergeant says DUCK!  It drills out of one the momentary hesitation to say why… even in one’s own mind.  DUCK means DUCK NOW and preferably SOONER than NOW!

If you ever hear a tornado WARNING…. go seek appropriate shelter. Don’t waste time trying to find out where it is at that moment because if it is close by, you have probably already lost access to current radar images on TV.  Cell phones, even smart ones will take time to use to try to get information.

DSC02855Trust me when I say, the time it takes for the best cell phone on the best WIFI or wireless service to find and pull in an image that is 2 minutes old can be the difference between life, death or disability.

TORNADO WARNING is the civilian equivalent of the military order DUCK! Do not try to second guess it or validate the source of 2 minute old data.

Tornadoes don’t appear at one edge of a tornado warning area and travel in a straight line to another edge. They can spontaneously spawn and die all over the Tornado Warning area. They are usually accompanied by hail in sizes from BBs to softballs and traveling as fast or faster than either. They can be slushy or rock hard and you may never know the difference if you are hit in the head by one.

DSC02920

If you think that they are interesting to see in storm chaser movies, ask yourself how big the stone was which was thrown by David to kill Goliath? It certainly could not have been traveling as fast as a single piece of hail.  Consider, too, that getting knocked out by a piece of hail immediately renders you unable to protect yourself or control the safety of yourself and your family.

Whether “stoned” to death by ongoing hail or picked up unconscious by the tornado and shaken ( not stirred) in a cocktail of rocks (yes, rocks), wood, roofing, masonry and everything else that is not part of a space shuttle launching platform, you will not survive and it will be because when you were warned, you did not DUCK!

ttfn

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Got the CDL, now for the Diploma

Merrily now has her Commercial Driver’s License in hand and is fully legal and trained to drive big rigs.

Of course, her goal was to become a safe competent driver of our own home and that, she has accomplished through this 8 week truck driver training class.copy_of_img_0532

I am sure that she could have gotten a license on her own without the class through study and some practice with our own rig. But, what she wanted was to be safe, confident and comfortable doing it and that takes a lot of hands on time behind the wheel.

img_0534

Most of her 10 hour days were spent on the practice field where they have the various field exercises setup with trucks and trailers, obstacles and simulated typical situations to learn to navigate.

Typically, 3 hours of each day was in the classroom learning terminology, technology, regulations, map reading and how to fill out log books. With the possible exception of the log books, all of other content goes to training a driver to be more aware even when a situation is not in play.

The rest of the day was spent getting hands on experience in their trucks with their instructors. That has trained her mind, eyes and muscles to reliably respond correctly in real time situations. This not something that one can get from books. Neurological patterning and muscle memory training has to be done through conscious repetitive actions and that means some long exhausting hours behind the wheel.

Prior to this class she had never driven a truck while towing a trailer of any sort. By itself, that makes for a huge confidence gap. Add to it virtually no experience backing any sort of a trailer and you have borderline panic just thinking about parking our rig.

Now, her confidence is solid and her fears are gone. Add some time on the road and she will be as comfortable handling our rig as she is running to the grocery store in our Smart car.

Congratulations, my Love!

ttfn