10 February 2013 | earninghertrust's Blog

Had my alarm set for 0500 to make sure I didn't miss the shuttle to the other building at 0600 for the 0630 meeting.  Woke up about 0345 with nerves.  Stayed in bed until 0450 then said to heck with it.

Supposed to be four testers; only to showed.  Did some paperwork then listened to some pointers about the tests.  Got fuel for the rig to make sure I could make it through the road test.  We picked up a trailer, then Mike parked the rig in the starting block.

The tester came over and explained the various tests and then we got down to it.  For the pre-test, I had the engine compartment, the truck/trailer connection area and the two required portions" the lights and the interior functions tests.

Made it through the engine bay fine.  Remembered after I was back in the building that I forgot one of the basics: the oil dip stick.  Oh, well.  Did OK on the truck/trailer connection and the lights.  Made it through the interior functions test, including the three air brake tests (which are an automatic fail if you forget even one part), then declared I was done.  He said well done and it was on to the backing maneuvers tests.

First was straight back, which was trivial.  Then one of my nemeses, the driver's side offset.  Got a couple whistles, which means I was going out of bounds, then saw him looking at his watch (we have 15 minutes to complete each maneuver), so, once I was lined up, I boogied back until I was in the box.  The last test was the driver's side parallel, which I had no problem with in practice, but manged to cross the boundary a couple times, but got the truck and trailer in the box.

Mike and I had practiced the alley dock a number of times over the weekend.  After I had done it twice in a row yesterday, I told him that, because we practiced it so much, I wouldn't have to do it for the test.  Sure enough...  Passed the backing maneuvers portion.  On to the driving test.

During the meeting, he said to "just drive the truck", so I did.  That meant I did some things (shifting during a turn, for example) that you're not supposed to do during the test, but, oh well.  He asked if I had seen the weight limit on a bridge, I told him no.  I found out later there wasn't one.  As we were coming back to the yard, he asked if I saw what the clearance was on a bridge.  I told him I saw the sign and recognized it was high enough, but couldn't recall the numbers and that I was more worried about the 25 MPH on the off-ramp.

Got back the the training pad and he said, "Congratulations!"  I passed!  Trifecta (meaning I passed all portions the first time), which grants me a $250 bonus and my instructor an $875 bonus.

So, tomorrow I do some paperwork and see some people, then it's off to get my license!