The First Outing
We finally got a chance to take our Beast out for a night this weekend.
We spent saturday morning having a lesson in truck systems and maintenance. We learnt how to change the oil and all the filters: oil, fuel and air. We also went through pretty much all the parts of the truck and learnt what they are and what can go wrong with them. It was a lot of focus on what can go wrong but we are seriously hoping that nothing does.
We discovered that there a few things wrong with the truck at the moment – not least that the alternator is shot and needs replacing. Its a good thing that our shipping date is a couple of weeks away. It meant that learning how to jump start the truck was pretty crucial and we’ve now got that taped.
We’d booked a campsite about 10 miles away from where the truck is being stored. That’s 10 miles of tiny country lanes. Talk about a baptism of fire – driving it for the first time in roads little wider than the Beast itself. On the way to Campsite we got lost so turned 10 miles into an hours drive.
Anyway we eventually got to the campsite despite having to negotiate a u-turn on a fairly small road using a driveway for help. So we parked up in the campsite and were approached a couple of minutes later by the owner with the words “Why have you parked that monstrosity in my garden”. We managed to persuade him that it was a camper and that we’d booked and he sent us off to a corner where no one else could see us !
We set about spending the remainder of the afternoon and evening trying everything in the camper and on the truck to check it all works and identify any snags. There were a few. The high point of the afternoon was realising what a great place for sunbathing the roof is and how nice it is having a cold beer from the fridge up there. The other real plus is that the shower is fantastic – high pressure and oodles of hot water – Result.
All afternoon people walking by had been staring at us and finally in the evening one of them caught me outside and I ended up in a half hour chat about the Beast. A couple of other people joined in too. I think we are going to cause a bit of a stir everywhere we go.
The night in our new bed was absolutely fine until we were woken at 6.30am by a serious rainstorm beating down on the sunroof above our heads. I’m sure we’ll get used to it.
Fortunately we didn’t get lost on the way back and took a slightly quicker route. We did end up going down one really small road where we were practically driving in the ditch it was so narrow. When we got to the end we looked back and saw the sign “Not suitable for HGV’s” – Oops. No harm done and we didn’t meet anyone.
So overall a really successful first outing and next time we see the Beast we will be taking it down to the docks to ship.
Grim News
I can’t believe it. Last year we booked a trip to go to Iceland for a long weekend. Shortly before this the Eyjafjallajokull volcano decided to erupte and decimated air transport across Europe. Fortunately by our trip it had subsided and we managed to get there. Driving through the area around the volcano was pretty horrible though and visibility was down to under 2m and going over the one lane bridges was a real case of go and hope.
So now we are booked to fly to Halifax in Canada on the cheapest flights we could find. London to Reykjavik then change plane and then to Halifax. Its not until June 18th but this week the Grimsvotn volcano has started erupting and we’re seeing flight disruption again.
Fingers crossed that our flights aren’t a problem.
Beast On The Loose
This weekend we headed up to Suffolk to visit The Beast. It is very close to being finished. The registration process is almost complete and we should get our number plate by the middle of the week.
There are a few small bits and pieces still to be finished off but the only substantial thing to be done is to fit the cab air conditioning which is being done by a company down in Kent. Our camper is the first that Overland Vehicles have fitted cab aircon to so it has to go away to the sub-contractors factory so they make sure they get it right. In future these will be done on site as part of the rest of the build.
The most exciting part of the visit was that I got a chance to test drive The Beast. This is the first time either of us have been in The Beast when it is moving so it was with some trepidation that we got in. Our first impression was that the cab was quite noisy, I am sure we will get used to it. The ride is really smooth, much better than I expected, and the new independently sprung seats are really comfortably. Actually driving it was definitely interesting. The gear shift is a bit tricky, I will get used to it but it will take a little while and it is really lowly geared. The steering is fine though. I am sure that with a few miles under our belts it will be absolutely fine.
Anyway in two weeks everything will be finis
hed and we are going to take The Beast away for the weekend and also get some training in maintenance.
Say No To Cujo
Part of our preparation is to get a whole bunch of vaccinations. The majority of these can be obtained from your local doctor’s surgery either free or at a minimal cost. So we’ve visited the doctor’s a number of times over the last couple of month to get the following jabs:
Hepatitis A and B Typhoid Tetanus Polio Diptheria
However these left us with two major vaccinations to get done. The first is Yellow Fever which is a requirement to enter many countries and is a pretty expensive one.
The Second is Rabies. The Rabies jab doesn’t stop you getting rabies and in fact only gives you until symptoms appear to get treated after an infected animal bites you. Fail to do this and once symptoms of the disease appear you’re a gonner. In fact only six people have ever survived after presenting symptoms and of these only 1 didn’t receive any treatment before or after. So basically without treatment you die. The symptoms appear between two to twelve weeks after exposure and then death occurs within 2 to 10 days. The advantage of the vaccination is that it means that post-exposure you have to have less treatment and the cost of this treatment is much lower.
There are two different forms of the vaccination both of which require 3 doses over a month. One is much cheaper than the other and only gives cover for a year but then can take a booster or the more expensive one gives longer cover. Most people opt for the cheap version.
We have chosen to go to a travel clinic for these two immunisations called 1st Contact purely on the basis of price. They charge £20 per Rabies dose and £50 for the Yellow Fever jab. They are also based close to our work in London. The process was quick and easy and only took about 15 minutes for both of us, although the customer care wasn’t brilliant and the surroundings were a bit dodgy. But for the cheapest prices in town we can live with it.
The Beast Gets His Colours
The Beast has come back from the paint shop and looks so much smarter now. Its close to being complete. The colour is Ice Blue by the way.
The MOT has been completed (second time lucky). The first time it failed because one of the headlights was slightly misaligned – annoying or what.
Next step is registration which should take about 2 weeks and then its on the road. Meantime the last finishing touches are being put on the inside and we’re only a couple of weeks away from the finished product.
Permission to Proceed
Yesterday was our long awaited visit to the US Embassy in London.
We’re only actually going to be in the US for around 3 months but the rules of the Visa Waiver are such that you are only allowed a max of three months in the USA but the clock keeps running even if you enter Canada or Mexico and then re-enter. So for us, with plans to drive from Alaska, through Canada and then down into the lower 48, the clock will keep running the whole time so we need a Visa.
The first step in the visa application process is to fill out an online form called the D 160. This is huge and takes a fair amount of time to fill in. It requires details of your last 5 visits to the USA with dates and durations, your parents names and birth dates and even (if you are unlucky and I was) details of every educational institution that you’ve been too since the age of 11.
Before you can submit your form you also have to provide passport photos in a very particular format. We managed to take these and get them accepted but you do have to read the requirements carefully. They must also be submitted electronically.
You have to phone the embassy hotline to book an interview. This is pretty straight forward and you can book a single interview to cover off a couple. Our interview was about 10 days after we phoned up, so pretty quick.
The interview itself was at the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London. We had a 9am meeting so we arrived at just before 8.30 to find a queue outside the embassy. This was moving pretty quickly though. A lot of people were being sent away as they had not read the instructions and had arrived with electronic items (like phones or even car keys). This first queue got you access to a second queue which was to go through security (full x-ray for your things and metal detector for you). After this you could proceed inside the embassy – to another queue.
At this queue you were allocated a number (your position in the next queue) and moved forward to a waiting area. we didn’t have long to wait before our number came up and we moved to a numbered window. At this window we handed over our passports and had our fingerprints scanned before being told to take a seat and wait to be called for our interview. After about 15 minutes our number came up again and we moved to another window, where we were greeted by the first american accent of the visit to the embassy. This was the interview proper which only lasted about five minutes.
We were asked a number of questions, all of which were fairly expected. They were as follows:
- Why do you want to visit the US ?
- How long do you want to visit for ?
- How much money do you have ?
- How long have you been married ?
- How long have you been together ?
- What do you do ?
- How long have you worked for your current employer ?
- Do you own your own property ?
- When did you buy it ?
It was quite funny when he worked out that we had bought our flat after only 18 months of knowing each other and commented that we had done this quickly. We responded that it worked out ok.
After this he let us know that we were approved and that we would get our passports back in between 3 and 5 working days.
The last step to the embassy visit is the courier desk where you have to pay for the return of your passport and hand over a form telling them where to send it to.
All in all it was a pretty painless process and took just over an hour.
And hopefully this is the end result –
Slow Progress
There’s a long list of things to do when going on a trip like this.
The good news is two-fold today: I finally got my driving licence back – I’m now a fully fledged truck driver (well until I turn 45 anyway when I’ll have to have another medical). The other big news today is that Sarah passed her LGV theory test with 100%. She’s a bit behind me but on her way now too.
However there is some bad news too. The Beast is delayed in the paint shop and looks like it won’t be ready until early May. We were hoping to get away in it at the end of April (and skip the hooplah about the royal wedding). Hopefully there won’t be anymore delays or things will get a bit tight and we do really want a couple of nights testing before we go.
We haven’t got very far with arranging shipping because the schedules for June aren’t released yet. They should be published soon though.
We just need to push on with all the tasks we’ve got to do and count them off one at a time.
Reflections on LGV
I found the week of LGV training hard. I think some of this was down to the teaching. It took me a while to realise that my driving instructor just did not fit me at all. His style was to try and get everything right at once and then to shout and get intensely annoyed when mistakes were made. He only had one way of explaining things and if this didn’t work had no backup method. He also never gave positive feedback or clear guidance on top things to work on. All in all we just didn’t get on. So I would really advice anybody doing the same thing to vet their instructor really carefully. There are a lot of driving instructors out there, some with qualifications some without, but their personal style and personality are key.
In terms of the actual driving everyone will tell you that the most important thing is mirrors. All I can say is Mirrors, Mirrors, Mirrors. You need to check them all the time. This is probably the thing I found most difficult as when you are in the middle of a manuever and you need to change gear and look ahead, the task loading increases and you forget your mirror checks.
The second thing is that I think it is very important to go at your own pace. My instructor was always pushing me to go faster but then getting upset if I didn’t slow down enough to deal with various hazards. So my advice is go slow and if in doubt go slower. This way you may get marked down slightly for holding up traffic behind you but you won’t get in trouble at choke points or when coming across something unexpected.
My next tip is to do with roundabouts. A fail point on tests is causing anyone at a roundabout to have to slow down in any way. So as you approach a roundabout slow down and look to the right. If you are not 100% sure that you can go, then don’t. Just don’t risk it. The slower the approach to a roundabout the more time you have to get in the right gear and make a decision.
The last thing that I want to say is remember that however your training has gone you start the test with a clean sheet and the examiner doesn’t know anything about any mistakes you have made in the past. The test involves 1 hour of driving a route. It really helps if you know the tricky areas so make sure that you’ve either done your training along the test routes or alternatively spend some time driving round the area. The test is all about concentration and mental strength. So mentally cut it up into really manageable chunks (say 1 minute at a time or 1 manuever at a time) and after each one you are that much closer to the end. If you make any small mistakes just move on and don’t let it rattle you.
If all this comes together then you should end the test with a positive result.
Training and Testing – A week of Hard Work
Over the last week I have being on a training course in an attempt to get my LGV Cat “C” Licence. This is required in the UK to drive any vehicle over 7.5 tonnes. In fact if you passed your driving test after 1997 further testing is required to drive anything over 3.5 tonnes.
On Monday I was booked to start my training at 7am (I know, that was a shock) in a yard in Addlestone in Surrey. I turned up and saw a couple of trucks with “EP Training” branding so walked over and quickly met my instructor for the week, John. The first surprise was just how big the trucks were. 10m long and 2.5m wide weighing 8 tonnes with a Max Gross Vehicle Weight of 18 tonnes.
The Cab was real climb up but the view from up there was amazing, totally different from a car. The gearbox was a bit more complicated that I had hoped for with 12 different gears. This is 6 primary gears and each has a high and a low. A switch on the gear stick allows you to select whether you want high or low and then a press of the clutch moves you into that gear. So for example if you are in 5 low (switch down and stick in position for fifth) to go to 5 high you would flick the switch up and then depress the clutch (not moving the stick) and the gearbox would change gear. Key thing is to remember to flick the switch down again after the gear change or you run the risk of ending up in the wrong gear at the next gear change.
Day 1: The training went pretty well with the unexpected bonus of the 2nd trainee failing to turn up. My week of 1 to 2 training had just turned into 1 to 1. This means at least an extra hours driving each day. So day 1 was trying to get used to the sheer size and momentum of the truck. The real problem on day 1 was hitting lots of curbs as you take turns because the turning circle is so much wider.
Day 2: was a progression from day 1 with the routes getting progressively harder. This is when I begin to realise that this is not as easy as I expected and that there are a lot of roundabouts in the Guildford area. But I continued to make steps forward. Problems today are getting the approach speed to maneuvers right and the road positioning for them too.
Day 3: Well they say that everyone has a disaster day and this was it for me. Everything that could go wrong did and I didn’t make any progress forward at all. This was also when I began to realise that my instructors style was not really well suited to me. Shouting at me after making mistakes just makes me snowball into making more mistakes. At the end of the day I am shattered and thinking that there is no way I’m going to pass the test. The one thing that went well today was some time spent doing the reversing exercise. In this you have to reverse back from one area into another over to the left and stop at a mocked up loading bay. I think this diagram explains it best. I did it four or five times and got it right every time.
Day 4: This was the final day of training and things were progressing. Not nicely really but moving forward. I’ve still got problems with mirrors. John gave me a mock test and I failed but did the best bit of driving I’ve done so far. I did really get myself in a hole with a big junction where I got in the wrong lane and then ended up going through a red light (just) to get out of it because no one would let me move over. I think the main reason for doing better in the mock test was not having John shouting at me all the way through it. Anyway at the end of the day I am convinced that I am going to fail the test the next day.
Day 5: Chance for a lie in as I have arranged to meet John at the test centre at 9.30 in order to get in an hours practice before the 12.05 test. I get there a bit late because of the parking but not a problem as there is plenty of time. We go out for a drive and to be honest it is horrible. I hit a kerb on a corner I’d done before and should know better and miss a turn that he’s told me to go down. I also go at a mini-roundabout where I should have given way to a car. All in all a disaster right before the test. Its made worse by John having a massive pop at me at the end of the hour. Anyway I have an hour before the test to collect my thoughts and prepare.
I am absolutely determined to give this a real big go. So I say two things to myself: 1) I will NOT fail on mirrors so will check mirrors again and again; 2) I will go at my own pace into every situation and if I get a few minors for “Not Making Progress” well so be it – much better than going too fast into a situation and then making mistakes because of it.
So the Test starts with meeting the Examiner, Geoff, and walking over to the vehicle. He begins by asking a few “Show Me, Tell Me” questions: I think these were – How do you check the headlights are working, Where do you fill the windscreen wash, How do you check the condition of the windscreen, How do you check the condition of the tyres and How do you check the power steering is working. I nailed all of these. So far so good and I start to get a bit of confidence.
Then its on to the reversing exercise. No problems, I don’t even have to get out to check that I’m in the right place. Again a small rise in confidence. I’m still thinking that I’m going to fail – John’s words of criticism ringing in my ears. The examiner gets in and we’re off. I adopt an attitude of one step at a time, do each manuever and then move on. After ten minutes he hasn’t written anything down so again my confidence rises it. We go over the nightmare junction I had had problems with all week – no errors. We do the independent driving (where he tells you to just follow the signs to somewhere) – again no errors. He has ticked a couple of things but I look over – only minor errors so far. I keep going and with each passing minute I begin to feel more positive but quickly banish all thoughts of success – just focus on the next job/next maneuver. After what seems like forever we are on the home straight back to the test centre – all I can think is “Stay focussed, don’t screw this up now”.
Then we arrive back at the test centre after an hour’s driving and park up. He turns to me and tells me……….
I’ve Passed. I can’t believe it so I ask him to say it again. And there it is. I’ve got 7 minors (You can have up to 15 as still pass). 3 of them are for not going fast enough – but I knew I’d pick these up but better a minor than something worse.
I get out and go round to meet John and quite frankly he’s pretty off. I think he wanted me to fail. Well tough. This was way harder than I thought it would be but mission accomplished and now we can move on to the next step.
A Quick Blast of Theory
I had my second visit to London Bridge today to complete the multiple choice Theory Test for my LGV licence today. The process was very similar to last week except the centre was a bit busier as it was lunchtime.
The test is pretty straightforward – 100 questions with over an hour to do them. The time really isn’t a problem and I knocked them over in around 15 minutes. The pass mark is 85 out of 100 but I managed to get them all right so easily passed.
The computers that you sit out to take the test look just look those in this picture, although there are also headphones attached which you can use to help block out external noise.
That’s the next step down and my practical lessons start next week.
My advice for this test is to get the “Official Theory Test for Drivers of Large Vehicles 2008/9 Edition” which is the latest. This has all the possible questions in it and if you run through this a couple of times then you will be ready for the test.
FromAtoB 