Rita got "Solo Status" Today

Wow, what a nerve-racking 4 days it has been for me, but today made it all worth it. On Thursday our Refresher Course here at Covenant Transport consisted of me and another guy and two teachers. Come Friday, I am the only student. The other guy got sent home for some reason or another. So for the last 3 days I have been consistently practicing my backing a 53' trailer into a 12' wide alley dock, another trailer on each side of me. I never backed into or bumped either of the other trailers :) In some instances this was a miracle. There were times I would be 3" to 4" away from the other trailer. Out of all those times backing only once (and it was the last back of the first day) did I get the trailer in the hole without any pullups!! Of coarse that is the way you want to do it everytime, but I still showed a lot of improvement and that I got the trailer in the dock everytime even though some may have had 10 pullups. So at the end of today I graduated with the highest status available:) I am so thankful!! Now tomorrow Allen and I will go find out when and where we will go pick up a truck. Could be here in Chattanooga, in Texas or California. We are anxious to get making some money!!

Never a dull moment around these guys!!

These are the alumni that were in Allen's refresher driving class he had to take to be ready to drive a semi again. I guess it was just like being on a comedy tour with your favorite comedian. All these guys were just a riot and they all had a lot of fun together. Never a dull moment around them that is for sure. One day Allen came back to the motel with a side-ache because they had been laughing most of the day.

Well I went to the Dr. today and my blood pressure was good so I decided to just go ahead and pay for my DOT physical while I was there :) Now I don't have to worry about it all the way through Monday when I will finally get into orientation.

Allen made "Solo Status" Today

Allen aka Dad :) made it through all of his classes. On Friday he passed and is now certified in the "SMITH System". What this means we have no idea, it's all about aiming high when driving, leaving yourself and out, get the big picture and a couple other ones I don't remember. It's about being aware of your surroundings and avoiding getting in a crash. I digress.... He passed his city and country drives, didn't run anyone or anything over, and did his backing with all good scores. He could either make "Solo" "Team" or "need to go with a trainer" status. luckily he made solo since I won't be able to join him for a week and a half or two. He had a lot of fun with the guys in his class Deangelo, Sammy, Ron, what a bunch of funny guys! Oh what I have to look forward too. I will try and get some pictures next week to post. Miss You All :.(

Just a minor setback

So Allen and I have been here in Chattanooga for almost two weeks. On Monday we began orientation and first thing of the day were D.O.T. physicals for those of us in the class who didn't have them. There were about 60 people in our class to start out with, by noon 5 of us were already out, yes...I was one of the five :( 4 of us were out due to high blood pressure. High Blood Pressure you say, none of us thought we had HBP. Third time they tested the four of us and it was still high, they sent us home. I couldn't beleive it, neither could the other three guys. I felt terrible because Allen had passed everything and they were going to send us both home. Covenants policy is you are out for 14 days before you can try again. So they found a way for Allen to stay in class and I can stay with him till he is on a truck then I can be a rider on the truck until I can get into class in 2 weeks. Whew, this was better than having to drive all the way back home and wondering where we would go from there. I went to the Dr and got on medicine and already my BP is within DOT guidelines :)

I just want to thank our kids and friends for all their love and support. I couldn't be here without all of you. You know you are my world and I can't tell you how much I miss you and my grandkiddios. Love to you all!!

Chattanooga, TN

Well we made it to Chattanooga without any mishaps, only to find out that we have to wait till March 9th to get into our orientation ...Don't know who messed up on that one ;). And so the journey begins. Cold here today but supposed to warm up into the 60's come Thursday and Friday. Love you all!!