04/20 - 04/24

The week started early Monday morning. My trainer wanted me in Alachua by 0700 which meant I had to leave my house by 0445. We met in Alachua and went to get our trailer but the distribution center had not finished loading it. We waited at the office until the trailer was ready which was at about 0930. We then left for Eastman and Dublin, Ga. We returned to Alachua late Monday evening, picked up our next load and headed to Pensacola. We went to two stores in Pensacola and then headed to Albany, Ga. to pick up a load. We then took the load from Albany to another distribution center in Jonesville, SC. We arrived in Jonesville at about 0100 Wednesday morning, we dropped the trailer we picked up in Albany and went to sleep. We woke up at 0500 to pick up an empty trailer to take to a paper shipper in Augusta, Ga. When we arrived at the shipper, we waited for them to load the trailer and then left for Alachua. This trip was longest of my training so far, almost 900 miles. The rest of the week was spent at stores in small Alabama towns. The week ended late Friday afternoon. I now have over 200 of the 300 hours needed to complete my training. I should be finished in a couple of weeks.

04/13 - 04/17

This was a pretty boring week. We went to the Pensacola, Fl/Mobile, Al. and back to Alachua Tuesday. There is nothing on I-10 between I-75 and Pensacola but pine trees, this has got to be the most boring road in the country. We then went to the Mcdonough, Ga. area and back to Alachua Wednesday. Thursday we went back to the Pensacola area and then returned back to Alachua. Friday's trip took us to the Miami area. We were in Ft. Lauderdale about the time the single engine plane crashed into the house. We only saw the news copters hovering over the crash site. I ended the week back in Alachua late Friday afternoon. I am now over half way through my training.

04/06 - 04/10

This week started out traveling to a couple of stores near Mobile, AL. and then up to central Alabama and returning to Alachua Tuesday night. Our trip Wednesday, took us up to the Thomaston, Ga area and back to Alachua that evening. Thursday was an interesting day. We started out in Clearwater and St. Petersburg, Fl. and returned to Alachua that afternoon. We then picked up a load which took us to places I'd never thought I'd drive an 18 wheeler through and to. We were to makes stops at stores in Hilliard, FL and Folkston, Ga. which meant I had to drive through Callahan. I pointed out all of the tourist attractions in Callahan and Hillard to my trainer, we both had a good laugh.

Week 3/30 thru 4/03

03/30 - I started out my week meeting my trainer in Alachua, Monday afternoon. We went to the yard to pick up our load and began driving. We spent Monday night in front of our first store in Dadeville, Al.

03/31 - Tuesday started at 0600 unloading the truck at the Dadeville store. We then did the same thing at Opalika and Smith's Station, Al. We then went to Thomaston, Ga to pick up a load to take back to Alachua. We arrived back in Alachua at about 2000. We then picked up our next load and started heading form Ft. Myers, FL.

04/01 - We arrived in Ft Myers and began unloading at 0500. We then made stops at stores in Cape Coral, Fl., North Ft Myers, Fl. and North Port, Fl. We then went to a bleach plant in Tampa to pick up a load to take back to Alachua. We arrive back in Alachua at about 2045. We dropped out load and picked up another load headed for West Green, Ga. Our route took us up Hwy 441, by the time we crossed into Georgia it was dark and raining so hard I could only see about 100 ft in front of the truck. We were in this type of weather for the next hour. We arrived at the West Green store at about 2345 and went to sleep.

04/02 - Our day started at 0400 by unloading the truck at the West Green store. We then went to stores in Douglas, Ga. and Willacoochee, Ga. We then picked up dog food in Dublin, Ga. and headed back to Alachua. South Georgia had had a lot of rain this week and there was flooding everywhere. I saw the Suwannee river at least a half a mile before the bridge over the river. We arrived back in Alachua at 1700. We then dropped our load and picked up our next load with our first stop being Hollywood, Fl. We made it to Ft. Pierce, Fl. before we had to stop.

04/03 - We arrived at the Hollywood store at 0700 and unloaded the truck. We left the Hollywood store and made stops at stores in Hialeah and Pembrook Pines before heading to Tampa to pick up a load of soft drinks. We arrived back in Alachua at 2100 and dropped our load and both of us headed for home. This was a very long week with little sleep and lots of road miles and delays. I hope next week is better.