Back on the Road

July 6 - 10, 2009

I was browsing the Sunday Florida Times Union job ads and noticed an ad for a company hiring truck drivers that live in Florida. The companies name is LCT Transportation, they haul mostly refrigerated products. Monday morning I called LCT and spoke to one of their recruiters. They told me they were hiring drivers that lived in Florida. LCT is located in Okahumpka, FL. which is south of Ocala, Fl. The recruiter asked me how much experience I have. I told her about my time at Werner. She told me that was good enough and she wanted to schedule me for orientation on Monday July 13th in Okahumpa, FL. I told her that would work for me. So I started back to work on July 13th.

July 13 - 15th, 2009

Orientation lasts for three days with the normal paperwork, pee tests and learning how to use the refrigerated unit on the trailer. I also had to take a driving test. After being out of a truck for two months it took me few minutes to get used to shifting gears again. I passed the test, however they still placed me with a trainer to learn their paperwork and processes. I'll be with the trainer for two weeks and then will get my own tractor.

July 16, 2009

Met my trainer this morning and he told me we have a load that is to be delivered to Shelbyville, In, Saturday morning. I drove out of the terminal at 0900 and stopped for fuel in Wildwood, Fl. I then drove until we stopped for the night in Jackson, Ga.

July 17, 2009

We left Jackson, Ga and drove until we reach Shelbyville, In at about 1430. We spent the rest of the day in a truck stop and will deliver the load to a distribution center across the street Saturday morning.

July 18, 2009

This morning we delivered the load at about 0800 and went back to the truck stop to await our next load. We received the next load late Saturday morning. We were scheduled to pick up the load in Andersen, In at 1100 Sunday morning. My trainer called the company to see if we could pick it up early. They told us it was already loaded and we could pick it up anytime. We went to the shipper Saturday afternoon and picked up a pre-loaded trailer. We had two stops on this load, the first stop was Orlando, Fl and the second stop was Green Cove Springs, Fl. Once we hooked the trailer up, we headed back toward Florida and stopped in Elizabethtown, Ky for the night.

July 19th, 2009

Today I drove from Elizabethtown, Ky to Valdosta, Ga. where we stopped for the night.

July 20th, 2009

Left Valdosta this morning and drove to the LCT terminal in Okahumpka. The Orlando portion of our load was not scheduled to be delivered until 0300, July 21. We spent a few hours in Okahumpka and left for Orlando at about 2130. While sitting in Okahumpka, we received our next load assignment. We are supposed to pick up a load off of 5th St. in Jacksonville on July 22 and take it to Ft. Worth, TX by July 24th. We arrived at the receiver in Orlando at about 2330. We thought we were going to have to park somewhere until 0300, but the receiver told us to back up to a dock. They unload their portion of the trailer and we were on our way by 0030. We stopped for the night at 0230 at a truck stop on I-95 just south of St. Augustine, Fl.

July 21, 2009

Got up at 0600 to start driving to Green Cove Springs, Fl. We arrived at the receiver at about 0700. They had us unloaded by 0745 and we were on our way Jacksonville. This next load provided an opportunity for me to go home. After leaving Green Cove Springs, we drove to a truck stop at Hwy 210 and I-95 which is about 10 miles from my house. I called Lisa and she came to the truck stop to pick me up. My trainer told me to be back at the truck stop by 0600 July 22. So I am updating this blog from home.