CDL

It has taken longer than we thought. The written part was basically on time. Get the book, read, study and take the test. There were five parts.  He ended up taking the last part twice. But still, he was still on his original time line.

He called to set up the skills test. He found out that he had to bring his own truck. Well, we don't have a semi truck. So we started networking. Trying to find people who had a truck that wasn't already on the road. Because honestly if you have a truck it, isn't making any money if you're not driving it.

He had one lined up as soon  as it got back. The plan was set, and it opened up a lot of time for golf. On the trip home the truck that Craig was going to practice on and take the test with was rolled.

A bit of a panic. 

I was talking with one of my friends, and her husband has a truck that he keeps for the occasional delivery. It was just sitting there.

Craig called and set up a time to practice. They went over the inspection - a huge part of the skills test. Craig started it up, found all the gears, put it into first and started out. The pnly problem was the truck was stuck in the high gear. (I don't know how many gears are on such a truck.) 

He came home and said that he broke the truck.

It was a hard day. 

A lot of things had not gone according to plan. It was hard to see the blessings that we knew abundant and timely.

He was already missing the first two-week cycle where he thought he would be in North Dakota making money.

He called to see about taking the class. That would have meant paying for the class and missing more time in ND. More time with no money coming in. We were seriously considering it.

He waited to talk to his buddy and see how it went with the truck.

The broken truck was fixed quickly, and cheaply. Sixty dollars later, Craig was back in the truck with his buddy Scott to talk him through it. He learned how to back the truck and trailer around a 90 degree corner. To me that is amazing. I don't even want to try to pull a trailer straight. He learned the other things. He practiced docking the trailer, again amazing. He drove it for a two more days, getting more confident.

He passed the test the first time.

Now we are getting set up for him to leave for two weeks starting next week. He will have to go to North Dakota and get set up there. He will join his buddy, Scott, and be a truck driver for the oil boom that is going on up there. 

This is our bandaid until we move to Wisconsin next summer to become farmers. 

Get ready.

Get set.

And, go.