My last day with Victor

Yesterday I got off Victor's truck and ended my phase-1 training period.

I now have the weekend off but must be in class at 6am Monday morning for my "upgrade" which, if I pass, will allow me to get on someone else's truck for the next two or so months, as their "2nd Seat" driver. Interestingly, most of these "phase-2" trainers have only been driving a couple of months on their own, with their own trucks. England discovered that pairing a newbie (like me) with only a month of driving experience with another newbie with about six months of experience makes both drivers better and safer. Go figure. The old-timers apparently have bad driving habits that we newbies don't.

We had a nice week, starting out going to Colorado Springs; then Henderson, Nevada - just south of Las Vegas; then Billings, Montana and Sheridan, Wyoming (see below);

and finally up to Logan, Utah.


Unfortunately for me, Victor is heading to Carson City, Nevada this Sunday evening. I had the best sushi of my life in Carson City last October from an Hispanic Sushi chef. Photo of him and one of his creations.

He said "sushi is rice", and to prove it he made us a desert sushi roll made of bananas and chocolate. Mmmmm




I woke up Thursday morning in Sheridan, Wyoming (after an exciting ten hours of driving through snow storms in Utah, Idaho and Montana the previous evening).

Sheridan - Wow. I think I've finally found America. A thriving small-town main street.

The J.C.Penney is just one of these little main street stores - a refreshing change from the monster shopping mall stores we've been going to. I fortunately found the one coffee shop in the town and it was damn good coffee. As we drove out of town I noticed a WalMart at the other end of town. Hmmmm. Makes me wonder how a small town like this has kept their downtown functioning while so many others haven't been able to.