April 12, 2007: Day 13

Relief, mild euphoria, accomplishment, pride and even a little sadness that this part of the run is coming to an end.

 Woke up to this today:

What a lovely sight on our final full day, my final day in the truck.  Some good practical experience behind the wheel, ya think? 

Had my final ride with John today.  Almost all of it was highway miles; we drove from Green Bay to Osh Kosh where we stopped at a truck stop and grabbed a cup of coffee and had a pleasant chat about a whole variety of things.  The entire trip was relaxed, we just visited and swapped stories; like riding with an old friend.  I owe John a lot, but he is not one to take credit.  When I thanked him for all his help and guidance and patience, he just said “Hey, you did all the hard work, I just sat here in the passenger seat.”  He did try to convince me that a year from now I wouldn’t remember his name, but that would always remember my next trainer (as yet unknown to me) with whom I’ll spend the next 1 – 2 weeks on the road and haulin’ freight.

Once we got back to the STA, we sat in the truck and chatted a little more, about the industry, the good, the bad and the ugly.  I guess we were both reluctant to shut off the truck and head inside, for we knew one basic truth: it was lunchtime at La Maison de Schneider.  Oh joy.  Of all the things I will miss about this place, THAT ain’t one of them.  However I did get to thinking that maybe they feed us that way on purpose – it will make road food seem grand by comparison.   Can’t have them giving us the wrong impression that the trucking lifestyle comes complete with gourmet fare.

During lunch, received some kind of sad news – another one of our classmates is leaving.  He passed his QRT yesterday, but in this morning’s HazMat class, he failed the section CFL (“Check For Learning” i.e., quiz).  You are allowed three attempts to pass with a grade of 80% and he missed all three tries, so end of the line.   I really felt bad for him.  While I don’t think any of us know for certain, we are all kind of speculating that we’ve lost 50% of our class since the 31st.   Washouts are common, but this is ridiculous!   There is always the possibility that someone will mess up on the final tomorrow as well, we’ll see how it goes.

Tonight, the only two things on my agenda are to pack, for we check out of the hotel in the morning, and to do a quick brush up on the classroom material from the past two weeks for the final in the morning.   I might splurge a little and go to a REAL restaurant tonight instead of the usual Hardee’s / Wendy’s fast food stuff.  But I might not.  Not really hungry yet but I am sure I will be within the hour.

It seems as if I just arrived.  It’s hard to imagine I have spent 14 nights in this room, but at the same time it almost feels like I have been here forever.  I look back on how little I knew just two weeks ago and how much I have learned in this time.  Wow.  Me.  Driving a truck.  A year ago if you had told me this is what I’d be doing, I would have called the “nice young men in their clean white coats” and had you hauled off to the funny farm.  Yet I am doing it, and it feels great.

This is my last post from the Green Bay Training Academy and the lovely and glamourous Baymont Inn.  I want to thank anyone and everyone who has joined me for any part of this ride, and I hope I didn’t drone on too badly in the last several days.   Time and all other variables permitting, I will do what I can to try to keep this classic of American Literature going through my next phase of training – I am as interested to see how it goes as you are!

In the meantime, be safe, keep the wheels turning, keep the shiny side up and by all means, D.H.S.!