Well it has been a long time since
I have posted an entry here; I will try to get better about that in the
future. Since I was here last my life
has changed a great deal. I have
abandoned the profession of teaching, this is solely due to the insanity of the
system and the people who run the school I worked for last. I am not going to say much more about that
except that the system is not doing our next generation any favors and by
extension not doing us any favors. We
are no longer educating students; we are showing them how to pass a test that
really does not measure anything about their abilities. I will buy into the idea of standardized
testing when you give me standardized students.
Enough said.
I am embarking upon a new career, the
3rd or 4th depending on how you measure these
things. It is my plan to share this new
journey here. I am going to go out and
become a “paid tourist” and drive a big rig truck across this great country I
have defended in uniform and taught about.
I have started this adventure by attending a Trucking School here in the
Twin Cities of Minnesota, at some point I may identify this school by name, but
suffice to say that I feel that I am getting great training and will be well
prepared to safely drive an 80,000 pound truck on the highways and byways of
the United States.
Trucking is a job that affects
every part of American life, look around you everything you see made part of
its journey to you by truck. I think it
is an under-appreciated part of our society and hopefully this blog will help
people better understand the process of becoming a trucker and what the day to
day life of a driver entails.
What is the process of becoming a
trucker? Well in my case it started,
obviously, with the decision to become a driver. Since that decision I have had to take multiple
tests on a variety of subjects ranging from basic general knowledge about
operating a commercial vehicle, how the braking system of a large truck
operates, the dynamics of a combination vehicle, the different dynamics of a
double and triple trailer truck, what is different about operating a tank
truck, and the laws and requirements of handling hazardous materials. After that a driver has to take a physical
examination and a drug test. After all
of that a student driver can start to learn how to drive a truck. The school for a professional driver runs 160
hours between classroom, practice range and actual driving.
It is interesting to note that you
start learning to drive by going in reverse.
It seems that the most difficult skill to master is backing up the
truck. That is where I currently in the
program. It is much harder than it looks
to place a trailer within a foot of where you want it to be.
Well that is all I have to say
today, I will try very hard to update this at least weekly, hopefully more
often than that. When I actually get on
the road I will try to make daily entries.
Please feel free to let me know any questions or comments in the
comments section below.
Thanks for reading, have a great
day.
