Lesson #1, listen to the instructor

I made it through the first week of truck driving school without any problems. Well, other than the DMV giving me a ration over my birth certificate. But, thanks to a wonderful grandma that lives within a convenient proximity to my birthplace, that has since been ironed out.

As we we're wrapping up last week, the instructor told us that come Monday, we would not be in the classroom but we wouldn't start driving the trucks until Tuesday. Knowing that driving commercial vehicles involves constant inspection of your equipment, I knew we were going to spend all day Monday outside, in the yard looking at what could go wrong on a truck. With this knowledge, I developed a simple mathematical equation; We're in Oregon + it's January + 10 hour training days / my tolerance for the cold  (my desire to be comfortable) = I'm coming prepared.  This equation resulted in my showing up on Monday with the following items; insulated coveralls / work gloves with cotton inserts / boots / a real cool "cousin eddie" style hat that covers my ears.

I assure you, the weather did not disappoint on Monday. We start class at 6am, long before sunrise and it was COLD. I bundled up prior to heading outside and was quite shocked to see my peers simply put on their coats and zip them up. Within the first of hour of inspecting vehicles, I was starting to see the teeth of all my fellow students start to chatter. Myself, I was warm and cozy and felt like I could spend all day outside. With the knowledge of how to treat hypothermia running through my head, I was starting to feel very uncomfortable. Sorry guys, but if comes down to watching you die a slow, painful death or me climbing into a sleeping bag with ya....well, it's been nice knowin' ya buddy!

So, the most valuable lesson to date, lesson to the instructor!!!

And, I must say; THANK GOD FOR COVERALLS!!!

-Red-