Diane and I practiced for our CDL road test in a rented U-Haul truck, the biggest one we could find. On a Saturday, we spent an afternoon in an empty school parking lot practicing backing and other maneuvers. Her prefered learning style was to be alone in the truck and to be left alone as she put the truck through the paces. I sat on the curb a couple hundred yards away with a walkie talkie, used only to alert her to any cars that might enter the lot. She kept at it, trying and re-trying different maneuvers until she felt confident for the test.
On the road, she can back a straight truck up to a dock as well as any driver I've seen. When we're running hard, I have been often-grateful that she has that skill. While I sleep, or at least stay in the bunk trying to sleep, she'll arrive at the delivery, dock the truck, deploy the landing gear (if needed) unload the freight (or load it at a pick up), get the bill of lading signed, send in the proof of delivery, and then go fuel the truck and find a place to park.
While I can understand and respect some womens' desire to not back a truck or drive in big cities, I've sometimes wondered about men who insist that only they do the backing and city driving. In our case, Diane's self-taught ability and willingness to drive anywhere, anytime gives me the chance to rest up for when it's my turn to do the same.
