Random Ramblings

I changed the title to my blog, because I am done with school but not training, and want to use this for other ramblings and musing along my journey. The title of this one is the name of the next tattoo I am going to get as a memory piece for my dad. Anybody that knew my dad knows he didn't always take the most direct route from point A to point B. Was it the fastest route 99% NO, were you going to see some pretty cool sites and learn some things 100%. The tattoo I am going to get is a simple Compass with that written somewhere and then his initials LRP 4/22/47-07/01/18.       Dad didn't always like using maps, sometimes it was more fun just to drive and see where the road took us. Other times he had real DETAILED directions from point A to Point B. I remember one trip we took locally we drove what seemed like forever, ended up on the Anderson Ferry boat crossing the river, (this was before we knew our way around Cincinnati/NKY area,) Looking back on it now, I know exa...

Aug 17-19      Got home EARLY Friday Morning around 0200, took short nap then got the kiddos up for school they where VERY VERY Excited to see me home early. I called them before I LEFT Thursday Night so they knew I was coming home. Mom and my sister were getting ready to leave to head back to my home town of Elkhart Indiana to visit family and my sister was getting a memorial tattoo for dad. So MRS and I went over to mom's house and took her and my sister to breakfast. To say mom was surprised is an understatement. Had a nice visit, then MRS and I went shopping and came home and took a nap. When kiddos got home from school, we hoped in the car and drove to Louisville to spend time with my inlaw's and early celebrate my daughter's 11th birthday and my niece 6th birthday, they grow up so fast(Daughter's Real bday is 09/11, if you know me you will understand the importance of that day, if not I will include it maybe in a later blog)Had good fellowship and did a little w...

AUG 16  TEST DAY   Well since the cat is out of the bag, at least on facebook. Started the day at 0530 for some reason, Reloaded my bible app on to my phone and started a bible reading plan that will get me through the bible in a year, which I have done 2 previous times, but I will get to that later. Got to class at 10:00 am practiced couple backing maneuvers and the instructor and I hit the road to drive 100 miles to Cookville Tennessee, home of Fortis Driving Institute and where Titan does their CDL Testing. When we pulled in the tester who is a local Sheriff Deputy wasn't there yet, we got in at 14:30 and test was scheduled for 15:00. So instructor said why don't you go out and hit the alley dock a couple times, slightly different set up then what we had a school. At Titan there is an ever so gently slope, back towards the alley dock, so we got accustomed to that. The test site is flat concrete, so tried it 4 times and for the life of me COULD NOT Get it in, either encroac...

Aug 15 th Woke up again at 5:30 am today, not even 100% sure why I bother setting my alarm clock, because the entire time I have been here so far I have awoken before it goes off.   Which is okay gives me time to wake up and enjoy breakfast without rushing, shower, and get into the good word a little more. Got to work this am and was met with a surprise I was not expecting but really appreciated. Two of my classmates said “Hey we read your blog, we didn’t know you were a Christian”!!!! ANYONE ELSE See a Problem with that, they have known me for 3 weeks and didn’t know I was a Christian, they knew I was religious just not to what extent. That’s called God convicting me through others. I know I haven’t been living as I should be for Christ. So I know they read this I won’t mention them by name they know who they are… THANK YOU for helping me open my eyes and realize I wasn’t living CHRIST LIKE. So I know for sure 4 of us are Christians, are we perfect in our walk with Christ? ...

Aug 14th       Woke up this am, took hot shower, ate breakfast, sat down pulled out the Good Book, (really need to get back to reading that more often, which is why when I go OVER THE ROAD, I am not going to have a TV in my truck, I am going to work on studying the bible and work on memorizing verses. Any way got to work today, met a new student, who actually started yesterday so technically was day 2. Not really fair to through him into the mix because we are 3 weeks into class, and after our class is over the trainer is going out of the country for a vacation, so guessing he will be on break from class that week as well. Anyway, I quickly went over pre-trip with him, to show verbitge how it was to be said, and after watching my driving partner and me do it, he stuck his sheets in his back pocket and said "Can I try?" Uh sure, so he went through it pretty well, for being day 2 for him, I was impressed with his knowledge. While we were doing that, 2 classmates went out ...

August 13       What an AMAZING DAY woke up at 0530 took a shower, and had breakfast, did a little bible reading which I need to do MORE of, got to school early, update my DOT LOGS, and went out driving first thing, today wasn't so much about getting the miles in but making turns within the "City" another thing I struggled with at Millis, feeling A TON Better about it now more confident, my instructor told me something the other day that really helped...NO ONE ELSE MATTERS, They are gonna get mad at you for moving slow and taking up a lot of room but they will get around it and get over it, once I realized that controlling the truck SAFELY was far more important then other people driving...We got back to the yard and after struggling Friday with the Alley Dock, I really was worried about it today, but after a great study session of the GOOD BOOK, I prayed about it, got into the truck, did straight back no issues, right sided off set backing NAILED IT, pulled around and ...

Aug 11-12th          Had a great visit with the family, they got down here LATE Friday night, and I'm not who was happier to see me the kids or my Rottie. We crashed Friday night, was kind of fun, the kiddos slept on air mattresses, and some how the MRS and Rottie all slept in the full size bed, it was snug. We got up Saturday morning, had breakfast, loaded into the car and headed to Lynchburg, so the kids and MRS could see the distillery, they didn't go on the tour but got to go into the Welcome center, which is pretty neat, tells the history and process of the tour. Mrs said she wants to come back down sometime when we can all go on the tour, but need someone to watch the puppy, because even though he helps the kids with their Autism and Anxiety I have not gotten him Certified yet as a therapy dog, even so not sure they want a 110# Rottie walking around the distillery. So I did my best "Tour" and basically they HEARD the tour but didn't actually go ON the to...

Aug 10          What an amazing week, with the exception of yesterday. Got a lot of driving done these last two weeks, and a lot of RECALLING. Today was no different, woke up around 0530 had breakfast, took a shower, caught up on some paperwork and studying, got to class at 0800, found out our driving truck was in the shop, so we didn't get to drive today, so spent 8 hours on the yard going in reverse. To make things more difficult the instructor set up two trailers 11' apart and we had to back into the area as an alley dock. "What makes that maneuver difficult?" Well your trailer is approximately 9' wide so you really have to be accurate on getting it dead center or your tearing up trailers, and we all know what happens when you wreck a $180,000 truck/trailer combo, we go straight passed go DO NOT Collect $200 straight to the unemployment office. oh did I mention we also had a "wall" to avoid, that is 70' from the front of the alley. Started out f...

Aug 09        Didn't do class today just hung around apartment with a bout of food poisoning so didn't do anything but run back and forth to the bathroom.

Aug 8 2018,      What an AWESOME AWESOME Day today, nailed down pre-trip with out using any of our study guides, still little shaky on the wording but that will come over next week or so. Got into backing, and for some reason I still can't get around the stupid trailer, in the alley dock, again but again PRACTICE PRACTICE haha seems to be a repeating thing here. First group went out driving, and on the way back to the yard, they happened upon a motorcycle accident, and Johnny on the spot blocked them in so they sat there for a little while, and of course EVERYONE Assumed the BIG RIG was involved some how, civilians. My partner and I went out driving, they started out great, then something happened and I saw it in their eyes the minute it clicked and struggle most of the drive, they got frustrated and I get it sometimes, we all get frustrated at times, just have to remember to be calm, we get an adrenaline dump, we just have to learn how to work through it. We got back to...

Aug 7 2018 Another wonderful day in the books. Really enjoying Titan Transfer. For the longest time after my incident in 2015 I never thought A) I would drive again B) I would have found such a great company to work for, training is going great, still missing the family and Pup but I get to Face Time them daily so that helps with the separation. Really Missing Dad, several times I have picked up the phone to call him and tell him about the awesome people I work with and great things I am learning about, so I go to his contact in my cell phone, and there is picture is staring back at me, and it hits me...NO ONE is there anymore, I can't call and talk to him, and be excited to hear his questions and voice about what I'm doing, no more. I know he is proud of me and I hope I am making him and the rest of my family proud of me. It isn't an easy career field, because if it where easy we wouldn't have 51,000 trucks needing drivers. But I MUST do this to better our family situ...

Aug 6 2018     Another GREAT DAY at work, Pre-Trip is coming along, just need to polish up on the in cab verbatim, and then should be good to go with that. I am really getting into the driving and down shifting although for some reason I couldn't grab 7th gear to save my life, so trainer said if your good enough just skip it and go 6 to 8, although on one time I missed a gear and was able to recover it, and instructor complimented me on it. Another day of driving tomorrow which I'm excited about, cause the more practice the better I get, told the trainer I struggle with city driving so we are really working on that to help me for comfortable, real issue with the truck is the transmission is really sloppy, so when you put it into gear and let go of the stick, the stick moves to what appears to be neutral even though it's still in gear, so takes some practice getting from gear to gear. After our class is over the truck goes into the shop to get all that squared away, so will...

Aug 4     Well Saturday I slept in, did some studying and then went to cross off a bucket list item, got in the car and drove 20 mins down the road to Lynchburg Tennessee to the Jack Daniels Distillery. They have several different tours, 3 of them you can "sample" different Whiskey's. I went on the Dry County tour, which is just a tour of the Distillery and no sampling, couple people I have talked to said you can get pretty "happy" and since I've NEVER Been drunk a day in my life, no sense doing that when I have to drive home. Was very interesting and unlike the other 28 people on the tour, I took 2 pictures, because I wanted to be IN the NOW, really take it all in, and REMEMBER the actual tour. Arrived and spent the $15 for the tour, met up with our tour guide Kim and off we went. I won't give you all the details, because it's a place I think people should go experience it them selves and with today's INTRAWEB you can take the tour from the co...

August 3 WAS A HOT ONE Figured about 110 on the pad today.     Well WEEK ONE Is DONE. This week has been an emotional rollercoaster to say the least, leaving the family on Sunday was  a little harder then I expected. Then Aug 1st dad's ONE MONTH since he gained his heavenly reward. I have been trying hard to concentrate on school and doing my best, and then dealing with the emotional stuff AFTERWARDS. Looking forward to next couple weeks.  Started the morning out with a good breakfast, went to work and pre-tripped, everyone is improving and now EVERYONE Has there CDL Permits last guy went today and took his permit today and passed it. After pre-trip teacher and I got in the 10 spd, he asked what I thought my weakness was from Millis, I said I struggled with down shifting and "city" driving. We went out and went round and round town did about 18 miles "city" driving, as we are heading back to the school, he said "Make a left up here", so I extend my p...

August 2     More Pre-Tripping today, the flow is getting easier, now have to hammer in the wording and make sure it's just right. Don't want to get in front of the examiner and miss anything. Do I expect to be perfect? No, but also don't want to fail because of forgetting something minor or stupid, and I just don't want to commit it to memory, I also want to learn what and why. Spent more time on the range going backwards and now everyone but one has their CDL Permit and he is testing tomorrow. So far I work with a great group of people, who are all doing really well considering we are being trained to take a 40T missile and scoot down the road at a reasonable speed, there is a lot more to this then sticking the nose in the wind and giving it some go go juice, I mean yes we will be in Automatics sure and that is all you do, but there is SO much more responsibility to that. You have to watch your gauges, your trailer to make sure it stays in it's lane, you are driv...

August 1st     Actually got 5 1/2 hours of sleep last night, sleep is coming easier now, getting into the routine. Woke up this morning at 6 am and looked at the clock and realized today was August 1st, exactly one month ago Dad died. I still struggle daily with him being gone, got chocked up a couple times today. Today really because in class we started working on 90 Degree Alley Dock, and the last time I did great I was able to call dad and thank him for teaching me when I was younger with the horse trailer, couldn't do that today. Spend I lot of time praying and talking to dad.     Loneliness is going to be my enemy while away from class because I get inside my own head which is a dangerous place to be. Kind of why I started this blog to get my thoughts and feelings out. I miss my wife and kids and pup, but I face time them everyday and get to hear about their day and share mine, even if it's only for an hour or so it actually helps. They start school in a few ...