He told her the Idaho CDL knowledge exam was fifty questions. The hazmat exam was thirty questions, and the tanks exam was twenty questions. A passing grade was eighty percent.
“You’re lucky. When I took the same tests in California it all added up to three hundred questions.”
“How did you do?”
“I missed one question.”
“Wow! That’s great!”
“It pissed me off, though. So I argued with the DMV clerk. I pointed out the question was ambiguously worded, and my answer could be correct.”
“What did she say?”
“She said, ‘Hon, you passed. Do you really want to hold up your permit by arguing over one answer?’“
“I’m guessing you took her advice.”
“Yup.”
In bed that night, Jenny told Hugh how nervous she was.
“My head is swimming with all of this stuff crammed into it,” she said. “I’m not sure I’m going to sleep.”
“Honey, you’re going to do just fine. You’re very smart, and you’ve been studying hard.”
The next morning, Hugh went about making coffee and breakfast. He fried eggs and sausages on his one-burner induction hot plate. Jenny needed protein to see her through the exam.
It was about an hour’s drive to the Sandpoint DMV office. He found a spot to tuck in his truck and trailer.
Just before ten, he walked her to the DMV entrance, and stood in line with her to go through the check-in process.
When it was Jenny’s turn at the counter, the clerk asked her for her current Idaho driver’s license, proof of Idaho residency, and her social security card.
“I have a California driver’s license,” she said, and handed it and her Social Security card to the clerk.
The clerk checked the license to make sure it was current.
“Proof of Idaho residency?” she asked.
“My permanent Idaho residence is the Mann Ranch, north of here,” Jenny said, and looked at Hugh for affirmation.
Hugh nodded.
“Do you have any proof of that?”
Hugh answered the clerk, “That is the address listed on the official court order naming Jenny as guardian for her little brother. Both of them are living at the ranch.”
“And who might you be?” the clerk asked Hugh.
“I am Hugh Mann, of Mann Ranch, H-M connected, Hugh and Martha Mann,” he replied.
“You’re Martha’s kid?”
“Yeah, she’s my mother, and soon-to-be this young lady’s mother-in-law.”
“Well, why didn’t you say so in the first place? I know Martha from church. She’s told us about the sweet girl who has been living with them and who’s going to marry her son. That’s you?”
Jenny replied by hugging Hugh’s arm and nodding to the clerk.
“OK, honey,” the clerk told Jenny, “your California license is current, so all you need to do to transfer it to an Idaho license is take the vision test and have your photo taken.”
Hugh paid the license fee with his card.
When Jenny returned from doing those things, the clerk printed out her provisional Idaho State Class D license, and said, “Keep this with you, and your card will be mailed to you. It was nice meeting you kids.”
The clerk looked like she was going to gesture for the next person in line.
“Wait a minute,” Jenny said. “Now I want to take the test for the CDL conditional learner’s permit.”
“Say what?” the clerk asked.
“I’m ready to take the written test to drive a truck,” Jenny repeated.
“Well, aren’t you something?” The clerk said with an amused expression on her face.
“Believe me. She’s ready,” Hugh said.
He used his card to pay her exam fee, and the clerk handed Jenny a long sheet of paper with questions on both sides.
Jenny looked at it, then said, “Tanker and hazmat endorsements too, please.”
“I’m not believing this,” the clerk said with an amused expression as she handed Jenny the exam sheets for the endorsements. “I wish you luck, honey.” She pointed Jenny toward the sectioned-off portion of the room for testing.
Hugh sat in a nearby chair. He could see Jenny was nervous when she first started. But he could see as she went through the first questions and easily answered them her confidence grew. She fairly flew through the rest of the test.
“That was quick,” the clerk said when Jenny brought the test papers back to her. She rapidly scored Jenny’s answers.
“How did I do?” Jenny asked nervously.
“Honey, you pass,” she said. “You missed two on the general knowledge exam, one on the tanker exam, and got a perfect score on hazmat. I’ve never seen anything like it. Congratulations.”
The clerk ran Jenny’s conditional use permit out of the printer and repeated what she had said earlier about keeping it with her at all times.
On the way back to Hugh’s truck Jenny couldn’t help but shout her joy. “I can’t believe I did this! I love, love, love it!”
Chapter Forty-Four
On their way out of town on Highway 95, heading north toward the ranch, Hugh explained to Jenny the theory of engine revolutions and road speed for properly shifting an Eaton-Fuller ten speed. He told her that, unlike manual transmission passenger cars, semi-trucks don’t have a synchromesh transmission. The driver must precisely and manually match engine revolutions to road speed to slide out of one gear and into the next one.
“I’m going to get you started right away on doing what’s called floating the gears, which is the opposite of how virtually all trucking schools teach.”
“What’s the other method?”
“It’s called double-clutching. You’ll have to learn it for your skills test, but you’ll learn to drive a lot quicker and a lot better if you start with floating.”
“What’s the difference between the two?”
“It will make more sense for me to show you when you’ve had a little driving experience, but for now just know we’ll be floating the gears.”
A little farther down the road, Hugh slowed, then made a right
