A cold rain falls on this small Mississippi town as the driver steps from his room and heads for the lobby where other drivers, some alert, others foggy from lack of a good night’s sleep, gather to begin a new chapter in their driving careers. The coffee flows freely despite previous cautions against loading up on caffeine prior to the physical and drug test that is scheduled for first thing this morning.  In preparation I ate nothing after midnight and drank nothing this morning except for a little water. 

Sitting in the lobby listening to the conversations in the background there is one fellow from Florida, beginning his driving career, who has never seen snow. Not that he is likely to see any any time soon, just thought it notable that there are still people who have never seen the fluffy white stuff.  

Time for the van. No van. There looks to be around 14 drivers waiting for a ride to the terminal to begin orientation.  Someone said there were over 30 in the last class. Hard to believe that many new drivers are added each week. There appears to be a lot of jumping from company to company.  

There were around 30 drivers taking physicals and/or drug screens today. That’s a lot of new drivers to add each week. And from what I can gather it is industry wide. They’re not all new as most of us come from different companies. I heard several talking about my first company, Werner. Seems they had less than perfect experiences. 

10:00 am and on my way to orientation.  Female van driver with an Austrailian accent. Curious to know her story but situation is not conducive to casual investigative conversation. 

Arrived at orientation and more waiting.  Got a new stack of papers and a fancy new pen.  Lunch first. 

Lunch was a step up from what I’ve previously had at the two former companies I worked for. A hot lunch of hamburger steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and a roll. And a big glass of sweet tea.  We are in the south after all.

Lunch was followed by the usual videos and test regarding mostly safety.  I think these were the same videos they showed in trucking school.  I dozed a bit but I’ve seen these before. This was followed by a mountain of paperwork.  

Don’t remember what time class let out but by the time the van returned for its third trip it was after seven local time.  And I was hungry.  Good thing I went to Wal Mart yesterday and stocked up.  Turkey and cheese sandwich with dill pickle wedges while watching Triple D making believe my sandwich was one of the gourmet meals I was watching being prepared.  

I want shrimp and grits.

Love ya all, but love my baby most.  Goodnight and God bless.