Dancin' in the Streets. With steel.

A few things happened today- I ended up being the first one to the yard at 06:50 so I got the pleasure of freezing my way 200 yards from the parking area to the building to get the keys and start the day's pre-trip.  After that it turns out that the trainees with CDL's are already going to be in another truck working on advanced stuff, so we were down a driver today, which means I got some sweet 2:1 time behind the wheel.  But that makes each break you get between driving a lot shorter! It was decided we'd head out to a new challenge a day ahead of schedule.

With me starting out we made our way downtown, which was a little nerve racking.  For those of you from home imagine the most congested commercial parts of the Fellsway you know.  My worst fear at the moment is traffic lights.  Say a light is turning yellow and I have to make a nanosecond decision to either roll through because I can't stop safely in time, or if I think I can- I have to downshift damn quick without missing a gear.  The first run through didn't go so well for me, but luckily a signal was out due to construction and we had to take an impromptu route which was easier than going deeper into 2-lane-divided-yellow-light-ville.  After lunch I had a chance to do it again, and I did almost everything with barely a hiccup from the gears, including a 70 degree left turn at a 4-way intersection.  First try. 

The only curb I ran over today was the one leaving the yard. xD

We're making progress, and I'm pretty much 100% confident in the exterior pre-trip inspection.  I almost got it all from memory this morning, even before coffee! 

While taking a break at one of the gas stations in town we pulled up next to a much bigger show truck.  The cab was almost twice as long as ours, I'd sooner call it an "apartment" than a "sleeper".  We talked to the driver a bit and he told us about the features and it turns out its a '99, almost as old as my car xD  It had an APU with a 100 gal tank to run all the gear while the engine is off.  Auxiliary Power Units are either big batteries or a generator to run AC power to your toys so you don't have to idle the engine.  It was about then I started again fantasizing about all the fun I could have while on the road.  There is a nice place in the canopy for a LCD TV above the bed, a mini-fridge, a microwave, xbox, even a lava lamp if you wanted it.

Unfortunately, our company doesn't really do APU's anymore because they cost an arm and a leg for maintenance every year.  Someday I'll get a new computer for use on the road with a little more juice than this one.  Truckers can really benefit from having tablet PC's, they're small, light, and with wifi in tons of truck stops they'd be great for even occasional web use.

I'm not sure whats up for tomorrow, but I hope we get to do some more backing.  I did the 45 degree one today and it was pass-worthy on the first try!  I have to work on the road part some more but I always have a lot of fun learning the tight tricks in the range like that.  Its pretty sad that I can feel the front corners better on a Freightliner Century S than I can in Dad's F-150.