Our New York Visit.

Taylor didn't know who we were and cried when we held her.  After a hour she was handing out kisses on demand.

Grandpa and Grandma Bailey and Brooklyn Bailey

THIRD WEEK ON THE ROAD



We got to visit with Matt and Shari and Brooklyn and Taylor this week.  This is me and Taylor.




Brooklyn on the top bunk with her dog "pinkie winkie"



You can see how high the tractor ceiling  is in this shot.  Matt is 6' 4" and he has plenty of room.

Our big excitement this week was that our Trainer, Roy arranged for us to do a pick up close to Matt and Shari in New York as a surprise.  So we called Matt and they drove about 2 hours and came to where we were picking up a load of peanut butter. We got to show them inside of the truck.  "Big Red".  Matt said it was good that Brooklyn got to see the inside of the truck because she couldn't quite grasp how we lived in the truck.  She thought we lived in the trailer.  Now she understands.  We went to Denny's and visited for about 2 hours.  It was so nice seeing all the family.

On our way home we saw a convoy of military vehicles and a helicopter escorting a semi transporting something of high security.  There was about 20 armored cars with guns mounted on the top.  I wonder what was in that trailer???

We also saw a bad accident involving two semi trucks.  They shut down I 80 east to clean that one up.  I think what happened was one truck ran into the back of the other one very hard and fast.  It looked like a explosion.

We got a call from our driving trainer Bart this week.  He monitors all the events of the truck from the home base at England in Salt Lake.   I got a call that went something like this.... BART: Dena we have monitored your speed and in a three week period you have violated the speed limit 57 times.  DENA: Wow is that a new record?  BART: No DENA: oops I was told that the company policy is to drive 5 miles under the posted speed limit.  BART: Not for trainees it's 60 mph.  We just want you to be safe.  DENA: OK I will slow it down to 60.  Randy got the same call but Bart lost connection with Randy.  The bottom line is we can't drive over 60 mps while in training.  Bummer in a big truck like that it feels like you can get out and run faster than the truck is moving.

Next week is our last run with our trainer.  We have been so blessed to have the trainer we have.  We will test again after our final run then if/when we pass we will be given a company truck to drive for the next 2 months on our own.  They will probally put a governer on the truck which regulates the speed.  Untill next week..............

Our home is on it's way to closing.  We have to be out by May 2nd.  Our RV has a new transmission and is ready to be our homestead.  We will park it at the truck lot and live in it when we are home.  Which won't be much. 

Last week we went by the NFL hall of fame in Canton Ohio.  It was a quick drive by on the freeway.  I got to drive down Parley's Canyon with it's 6% grade.  That was a fear of mine.  But I did fine.   We are doing better shifting.  Randy is better than me.  But I'm getting it.  We have 2 more weeks with the trainer, then on our own for 8 weeks.  Then we officially graduate.  We are off again so toot a loo

We had family day at the truck yard.  Danny, Jaxson and Lacey came and checked out our rig.

This bus took everyone to the DMV to get our real license after we all passed the road test

Our graduating class.  After everyone got back from the DMV we got our certificate of compleation.  We have 2 more phases untill we offically graduate.

These are a few of our friends from class.  They all have stories and have come a long way.  I wish them all the best.

This guy has the same name as my father who has passed away.  When they said his name in class I knew it was a good omen.

This is my friend from Pheonix who just came here with a hoodie.  She about froze.  I brought her a warm coat.






 

Right after we graduated we found out we were leaving to Ohio with our new trainer. Our trainer is really nice.  He was trainer of the year.  He said when he first saw us he thought it was a joke.  He said we are out of our element.  He calles us Ward and June Cleaver from the 60's show "Leave it to Beaver".  We call him Wally.  We left Monday night in a snow storm.  He drove us through the storm because we were driving on ice. SCARRY We drove to Ohio and dropped of the load then picked up another one and drove back to SLC. We got home Friday about 4pm. People always ask how do we sleep.  Well I drive in the morning into the afternoon and Randy sits with me in the front while the trainer sleeps, then Randy and I would switch, then our trainer would drive through the night while Randy and I slept.  We stopped to shower and fuel but were rolling all the other times.  We will be doing the same route for 3 more weeks.

We finished our classroom portion and are now in Phase one.  We leave tonight for Idaho and pick up a trailer then deliver it to Cincinnati Ohio then back on Friday.  I have a lot of pictures but don't have time to post.  Here we gooooooooooo

Today I think is Friday.  I had two BIG tests left today.  Randy only had one left.   I had to do all the pre-trip inspection.  This is where we have to make sure everything is properly mounted and secured and a lot of other safety checks on the whole rig.  It takes about 1/2 hour in my case.  I'm sure my tester was trying not to laugh when I accidentally called the air bags by my nick name "the utters", and the slack adjuster the thingy that is supposed to be at 90 degrees at the end of the push rod.  We could miss 12 I think and I passed.  I didn't ask how many I missed but I felt like I did pretty good.  Randy really helped me by teaching me all the parts and how they worked so it all made sense when I look at things.  After I did that we had a 40 minute to 1 hour road test.  If your trailer wheels hit the curb it was a auto fail, if you stopped where you couldn't see the line, auto fail.... on and on.  When I made it back to the yard and I was ready to be finished the tester said if you don't hit anything before we stop you passed.  YEAH.  Randy passed also.  PARTY time.  After all the people in the class finished testing we met back in the room and out of about 100 a week ago I counted 35 in the class.  I say this again.  So you all can understand if you think this is easy your are dead wrong.  I am so thankful Randy and I did this together.  He has help me so much.  Specially the one day when I was to sick to get out of bed and he gently talked me into going. 

Tomorrow we are in orientation Then graduation on Monday. 

This is Randy. Dena has done a great job documenting our adventure. She has learned so much and stuck with it when it would have been much easier to just give up, especially when she was so sick.

To what she has written, I might add that they separate husbands and wives for the in town training but keep them together for the 30 and 60 day out of town training phases. Now that we have completed the in town training we should be together the rest of the time. That is important to us. The weird part will be when we start driving together. I have never been in the truck with Dena while she is driving and visa versa. I have no idea how she is doing nor her of me. Will we be able to sleep while the other is driving? We'll see.

The hardest part of driving, for me, was also shifting. I have been shifting cars for 40 years and have had to totally reprogram my muscle memory to shift this new way. It's not a double clutch. That would have been easier. It is like Dena has sad. It's really hard to get used to. But I think I have it pretty good now. Also, the transmissions have a low and a high range. You go through gears 1-4 in the standard "H" pattern and then pull up on a little lever under the shift handle to go into high range and then shift gears 5-8 just like you did 1-4 (except you don't use 1st). The problem comes when you start down shifting and have to remember to push the lever back down to the low range gears when you go from 5th to 4th. Down shifting can also be a little tough as the transmission is not synchronized so you have to rev the engine to get the gears to mesh properly. All of this while you are trying to brake. Think about it. How do you brake and rev the engine at the same time without passing up the stop sign?

I am as excited as ever about getting out on the open road with my honey. What an adventure we are having!

I'm alive!!! I got so sick. Most of the class and teachers are sick also. Standing out in the wind last Friday did some major damage to the class. Some were so sick they had to go home others were quarantined. If you miss one day they put you on what is call a "hold over", which means you will have to stay 1 more week to finish class. That in itself is enough to get you there even if you are on your death bed.
We have been out on the road around town all week. We learned shifting one day, turns the next, then city driving and mountains and freeway. Tomorrow we do our driving test. We have four students in our truck with the teacher. We take turns driving. I'm having the most difficult time with the shifting. It's different than what you are use to if you have driven a standard before. You clutch in to come out of gear into neutral, then from neutral the clutch is out and you rub the next gear and press gently on the gas peddle and it slips into gear. You can't shift on a turn or over a railroad track. That is a big NO NO on the driving test. If you run over the curb with the trailer wheels auto FAIL.
My brain is fried. I've lost 6 lbs since we started (which is a good thing). I just want to be done. On the first day I wanted to be up early so I would have plenty of time to be all cute and dressed nice. Second day pretty much the same. Third day same. Fourth day starting to take short cuts but still looking good. Fifth day just dress for warm who cares. Sixth day and on... get up as late as possible stuff the hair under a ski cap no make up and understand why all the girls get to that point.
"If", I mean "when", its all over tomorrow and I have passed all the testing I will be so glad we did this. It has not been easy. I couldn't have done this by myself nor would I want to. I'm so glad we are doing this together.
I will see if I can get Randy to write a post so you can get his perspective.

Unfortunately we had to go to school today on Sunday. Another long day. I did the backing test and passed. WHEW!!!!! We are now working on the pre inspection test. That is all the part of the truck you have to inspect before you leave and after every stop. We heard the worst story today about how important it is to do the pre test. A man had been driving for a few years so he was an experienced driver. He got into some rain and was very tired so he stopped at a rest stop and slept for a few hours then jumped into the drivers set and took off. After driving down the road about 100 miles two sheriffs pulled up behind him with their lights on. He first thought they were going to pass him and were on their way to an accident. He realized they wanted him to stop. When he pulled over they told him a homeless guy had climbed under his truck to stay out of the rain and to sleep. When he took off, the guy's backpack got stuck in the rotating tires and they sucked him in and killed him. The driver was in his 30's and had a wife and 2 kids and was convicted for vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to 22 years.

On the happy side Randy met someone coming back to school after being out on his 30 day phase 1 training and said he loved it. He traveled all over the US.

We are hoping we get to NY so we can see Matt, Shari, Brooklyn, and Taylor. That would be so cool. I miss my Brooklyn so much.

What a day!!! It was snowing today and we were outside most of the day. Randy and I came very prepared with all our snow gear so we stayed warm and toasty. Everyone keeps making fun of us how bundled up we are. I told Randy today the next person that makes fun of me I'm going to reply "This IS the Rockies" like in Dumb and Dumber.

Today we learned the third and final backing maneuver. Parallel parking. To me this was like birthing a baby, wondering how is this big head going to get out of this small hole. Sorry to be so graphic, but that was exactly what went through my mind. Here we have a 73 foot semi that has to fit in a 88 foot hole by parallel parking. You might be saying "Oh piece of cake". Haw!!! It brought me to tears. I was ready to quit. I had every know-it-all, red neck guy in the place telling me a different way to accomplish it that was "The right way". I finally chilled, and sat it out for a bit, and blubbered, then waited for Randy to pass off all his backing skills with flying colors, then he helped me. Well it worked. After most of the other people went to dinner Randy and I had a truck to ourselves and he talked me through it a time or two then I could do it good enough to feel like I can pass it off tomorrow. The written test and the backing skills are what has had me worried even before we started school. I passed the written test and feel really confident about the backing skills now. WHEW

On the first day at England we did a lot of paper work and medical stuff to be able to get our medical release card. We had to have that card to present to the DMV to take our test. So the first thing we had to do was a drug test. We waited in a line and had to pee in a cup. I referred to the line as the pee line. Then we had to get a blood pressure and eye test. We then had to go out to the trailer pictured below and be able to do a duck walk under it and back. That was hard for me with my bad knee and the test I was most worried about. They had the back of the trailer open and we did more testing, getting in and out of it, and inside lifting weights 40 lbs over our head. Then we had to meet with the Dr and she went over any questions on the forms we filled out and general physical stuff. It took all day and some of the 2nd day.

This is waiting for the FUN physical. It wasn't to bad for me, I didn't have to turn and cough like the guys.

This is Randy waiting where the pee line was.

Day two: Study, study, and more study. This is our teacher and classroom. The teacher's name is Jim. But after being in class one day I call him Job, as in the Bible Job. In my book God's greatest creation is the diversity of each human on this earth. Well in this class you see and hear it all. The variety of people and personalities, or the lack thereof, in some cases is amazing. It doesn't phase him. He just keeps on teaching in a patient, polite and respectful manner.

The big push on the first and second day is to get you ready to take the CDL exam on the 3rd day so you can get your permit and get out on the range and start learning to back up on the 4th day.

Friday 25th of February. Today we learned how to back from one space to a space to our right and behind. If you follow the instruction it was not to bad. As soon as I tried it just by "feel" I didn't do so well. We both got to try 4 times. If we feel like we can do it tomorrow we can test and see if we pass. We did straight backing yesterday night. Randy and I are in different groups. There is about 10 groups of 5 to 6. So we stand out in the freezing cold wind. It's really cold for us and we live here and have winter ski clothes I feel for the people who thought just a hoodie would be warm enough. In their defense they probably don't even own a coat. Today was a hard day. I need a warm bath and an attitude change and REST. This up at 5am is killing me off.

The Adventure Begins.

Randy and I have decided to make some BIG life changing decisions. NO we are not getting plastic surgery! (I wish! ) We decided we wanted to change Randy's profession and do something together. After much consideration we have decided to go into trucking. We will be team drivers. We start school tomorrow Morning at 6am. YIKES!!! We are use to; bed at 2 am and up at 10 am. I have all my essentials packed for our 5:30 am departure. Protein bars, water, almonds, protein drink, bananas, Excedrin, no dose, brush, hat, gloves, coat, lip stick, etc. I have been practicing the online CDL written test. Randy taught me how to back up the trailer, (which he is a pro at) in the Kmart parking lot. He said I did good. We shall see. He took me to "THE" school 2 weeks ago so I wouldn't be totally freaked out tomorrow. I was glad he prepared me. The first guy I met was a guy who had been driving for CR England for 18 months. I had a lot of questions for him to help ease my fears, but as soon as he look at me I knew I would be fine. He was cross eyed. I have nothing against cross eyed people I just knew if he could do it so could EYE.

So my friends and family, I will try to keep you all up to date on our outrageous and exciting adventure. Please forgive my lack of english and spelling skills and enjoy the ride with us.

Lacey's ROTC gang got to run the BYU vs UTAH game ball. The BYU ROTC ran from BYU to the point of the mountain. Then UTAH ROTC ran from point of the mountain to Rice Eccles Stadium. They ran in groups and took turns following in 2 vans. So they would run then ride.

Water Park 2010

When Brooklyn came this summer to visit we went to the water park in Alpine. The kids had a great time

Making our Spooky ginger bread houses 2010

Jaxson, Kash, Loni and I made these spooky gingerbread houses.

Halloween 2010

We went to the neighbors farm and picked pumpkins for Halloween. Jaxson, Kash, and Grandma