Learning about the paving and pavement maintenance business can be a daunting task for someone completely unfamiliar with it -- I know because I've been there. But over the years manufacturers and contractors have been generous with their time and have shown me the ropes and answered my questions. There's no question I know more than I did, and I keep learning every day.
But this isn't about me; this is about Kim Johnston, Pavement's recently promoted Associate Editor.
See, like me Kim didn't know much if anything about the paving and pavement maintenance industry when she joined Pavement a little more than a year ago. But boy is she learning. In addition to her constant phone contact with industry pros she's spent hours visiting jobsites, learning how crews work, how jobs get done, and learning how the equipment does what it does. And just recently she got put to work.
At a Cimline open house to introduce its Metro Series melter applicator Kim jumped at the chance to put the unit through it's paces (not that you'd want her cracksealing your parking lot just yet), and on a recent contractor visit she got an "operator's eye view" of what goes on at the screed end of the machine when Bel Rock Asphalt Paving's crew invited her to get a closer look. Now she's amazing family and friends as she identifies equipment and its purpose as they drive to the recent Racine County Fair ("that's a milling machine taking off the top 2 inches before they overlay it"); as she recognizes processes, explaining the difference between sealcoating and slurry seal; and as she points out parking lots that need sealcoating, striping, or even repair. She has become the life of her friends' parties!
Fun stuff, for sure, but it shows how much she's learned in a relatively brief time and all that knowledge gets put to use when she writes for Pavement. So if you happen to see her on a jobsite somewhere you can rest assured she's just getting background for an upcoming article or just learning about the business in general. She's not getting ready to start her own business...just yet anyway.
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