The three week CDL school is over, passed with flying colors, and I'm now in my six week on-the-road training period, in which I ride with a more experienced driver to learn what's what and such.
So far, I've put about 1600 miles on his truck, mostly all within several hundred miles of home. I did make it out to California, where we picked up a load of bananas at Port Heuneme and hauled them back to the Wal*Mart Distribution Center, but mostly I just carry loads of food from the DC to various Wal*Mart stores in AZ, Southern CA, (and, in theory, NM, NV, and possibly UT).
The truck I'm in is a Freightliner Columbia, and she's a pretty good girl. Once I'm done with training, I'll most likely be issued a Volvo, or perhaps a Freightliner much like the one I'm in now.
This should probably go in the "confessions" thread, but I find I really, really, really like these big trucks. I always have, but it's just getting more and more pronounced. It's lovely to sleep with the diesel engine purring at you... Or, walking in a yard with truck after truck after truck purring away. Like I told the teacher in the first class they sent us to, when he was asking us why we were looking to become truck drivers... I said I was interested in the travel, the freedom, the road... But that, mostly, class 8 trucks and 500hp diesel engines give me an... inappropriate biological response.
He laughed and said "We must be related." and referred to me as his daughter for the rest of the class.
