Life as a Trucker

On Monday Jamie, Matt and I went to pick up the trailer from the place where it was having final repairs finished. After we got the trailer, we headed back towards downtown Nashville to pick up Skip, our supervisor. Skip will be joining us for our first event in Texas. We didn't end up leaving NashVegas until after 5:00. Our pit stop destination for the night was Little Rock, Arkansas. I drove the first leg of our trip, which ended up being about a four hour drive. It's funny because when you are pulling such a huge trailer you don't really look at the landscapes you are passing through...you just focus on keeping that hog on the road! We stopped right after we crossed the Arkansas border to eat and switch drivers. Jamie drove the rest of the way to Little Rock.

On Tuesday we left Little Rock at about 11:00. Matt started off driving and apparently our GPS (that we named Karla) led him on the wrong interstate. It wasn't until we were stopping to refuel and I looked up from my magazine that we realized we were heading for Oklahoma. We were about 50 miles too far and the only decent route for a trailer to get back to Interstate 30 (the one we needed) was to turn around and go back to Little Rock. Needless to say, we ended up eating lunch in Little Rock 2 hours after we had left Little Rock...ha ha!

Now off to Texas for real this time. Skip drove the majority of the day and then Jamie drove the rest. We got into Duncanville, TX (where we are staying for the duration of the week) around 8:30. We dropped our junk off in our rooms (which I have decided I am going to eliminate about half of my luggage because it is no fun to haul around) and headed to Pappadeaux to eat. It's a seafood chain in the south and was very good. We were all so tired that we headed to bed right after dinner.

Today was "load-in" day for the event. It doesn't start until tomorrow but we had to load-in a day early, which is typical. We are really close to the stage and the venue is called "Country Thunder" It seems A LOT like Country Concert back home. Then we went to the airport to pick up our rental car and the rest of the day was ours. It kind of hit me while we were loading in that "I can't believe this is my job!" I got paid today to park the trailer at the venue while I formerly would have been typing away at a keyboard all afternoon...I love this!

We've been super busy this past week preparing for our departure. The trailer is in the shop for last minute repairs right now and we are picking it up before we take off on Monday. For our first big event one of our supervisors is coming along! That means there will be four of us in the pick up truck. Speaking of the truck, we found out this week that we will be getting a brand new truck when we return to Nashville in a week. It's going to be a Ford F-350 with four doors, which means more space! We are all pretty excited about that.

The Hampton Inn that we are staying in now has really begun to feel like home and we know the staff by name so it will be odd when we leave and are moving hotels on a week to week basis. I am also not looking forward to packing all my stuff up again. I feel like we have inherited a lot of stuff since we've been here and I hope I still have room for it all.

This is probably our last weekend that we are going to have off for the next six months, as we will be working most of our events over long weekends. Jamie and I spent this Saturday shopping and carousing the boutiques in Nashville. We had lunch at Mafiaoza's. It is a great little Italian restaurant in Nashville. AND Eddie George was eating there as well! I was disappointed in myself because I almost wore an Ohio State hat and T-shirt today too, but for some reason changed right before I walked out the door. Dang...I bet he would have appreciated that...ha ha!

I attached a few more pictures. The ones of the concert are from the Grammy Block Party that my friend Brittany invited me to. Little Big Town was the closing band and they were amazing! What awesome voices and excellent harmonies! All four of them are truly very talented. The other pics are the trailer as it looks all set up...well for the most part anway. I still can't believe that this is my job for the next six months :-)

This week of training consisted mostly of preparing the trailer for departure and also driver's training! I am now officially a trucker...ha ha! It's pretty tricky trying to parallel park a 36 foot long trailer. We had a great instructor though and he was very patient with us. On Friday afternoon, after we had our practice backing and parking the trailer, we practiced driving on the roads for the first time. Each of us had an hour long turn and we covered all kinds of situations. We had to drive freeways, backroads, hills, both left and right turns and any other situation that we might encounter along the way. At the end of the day we also received a tentative schedule throuh the beginning of July. It is bound to change, whether we add or change venues, but at least it is an idea of where we will be for the next couple of months.

Event #1: May 23-May 27: Country Thunder in Waxahachie, Texas (this is very near Matt's hometown, so we'll get to meet his family and friends!)

Event #2: June 1-June3: Back in Nashville for DukesFest

Event #3: June 6-June 10: Still in NashVegas for the ever-so-busy CMA Music Festival!

Event #4: June 15-June 16: Depot Days in Crossville, Tennessee

Event #5: June 20-June 24: Country USA in Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Event #6: June 28-July 1: Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Event #7: July 5-July 7: Bridgeport Benedum Festival in Bridgeport, West Virginia

Event #8: July 11-July 15: USG Sheetrock 400 (NASCAR Race) in Joliet, Illinois

Event #9: July 17-July 22: Country Thunder in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin

Event #10: July 31: Tim McGraw and Faith Hill Concert in Denver, Colorado

Like I said, these are all tentative and are likely to change somewhat, but at least I have an idea of where I might be throughout the next couple of months...hopefully back in Ohio at somepoint...but no signs yet.

First Week of Work

On Sunday, April 29th I flew into Nashville where Matt and Jamie (my traveling buddies) picked me up at the airport. Matt has been living in Nashville for the last year or so and Jamie flew in from Chicago.

Monday began our first day of work and we learned more of what our job will entail. Essentially, the entire week has consisted of learning the ropes and getting to know one another as well as those in the remainder of the company. Tuesday most of the marketing department went to "Climb Nashville" together to have fun after work. We learned how to rock climb and had fun with that.

Today we got to see the trailer we will be pulling across the country and see a little bit more of what our summer will be like. Thus far, everything is still very new and exciting and I am looking forward to begin traveling! Our first event will be in Waxahachie, TX for Country Thunder. We leave Nashville on May 21st and return on the 28th. We will then be in Nashville for two very exciting events...Dukesfest and CMA Music Festival. After our two events are complete in Nashville, we will hit the road for the rest of the summer!

I am still not sure if we will be in Ohio for any events, but I will be sure to let you know if and when we are! This weekend is our first weekend in Nashville to have fun in the city and with Cinco de Mayo on Saturday I am sure we will have fun. That's all for now!