Introduction Followed By Millis Training Institute Diary.(Cartersville, GA)

Day 7

Really not much to tell. Lots of backing and lots and lots of rain. Had a decent day still need work on alley dock. It was raining when I woke up at 0530 and is still going strong. Not too cold I think it got up to 45, but low 40's and rain sucks the heat right out of you. HomeHalf got me a good rain suit and it certainly passed its first test. Lightweight and oversized but not bulky.

Thanks again for reading along. Hope you all have a great evening.

Days 8. 9, and 10.

More backing, and more backing on day 8. Discussion at lunch was about Thursday being test day. Near the end of the day I jumped in one of the trucks, did a blind side parallel. Then drove around for a straight back and butchered the simplest back. Was confused and I couldn't figure out how I screwed it up so badly. After just pulling forward and resetting to start the straight back over and completing the simplest maneuver. I then set up for the blind side offset and the instructor said just to park it, shut it down and head to the classroom. For me this was devastating, test day is tomorrow and I brain-farted the easiest back. Made for a tough Wednesday evening at the hotel.

Day 9

Just one truck running all day, each student running through six backs. Straight back, both offsets, both parallels, and the 90 degree alley dock. I went and got it taken care of early. A little trouble with sight side offset and the alley dock, but I managed. Relief, and that is all. Tomorrow we drive. A pleasant evening and I crashed early.

Day 10

Today on the road with an empty trailer. Each of us drove 45 minutes to an hour. Back to the terminal and we find out we have a trip to make to Black River Falls leaving early Sunday. He told us also we may get down to Richfield Monday but nothing is certain yet.

Thanks for reading. More to come likely not before Monday.

Your doing great, and giving me hope after my rough off set day. Hopefully i get some range time if the weather cooperates next week. Dress warm for Wisconsin! If you get to Richfield look for me!

Hopefully you will be fully clothed. I hope we do get to make the trip but the only thing certain right now is heading out at 5 on Sunday.

With all the wind advisories between here and there the trip has been postponed until tomorrow.

Makes sense 60mph gusts all the way up here for me from Chicago.

Any updates?

Ok here we are in week 3. The plan was to head to Black River Falls Sunday, the wind advisories and the blizzard warning postponed that. Monday at four am we met at the terminal , did the pre trip on the truck and got on the road. First driver got us through Chattanooga and past monteagle we hit the suburbs of Nashville about six thirty local time. Instead of staying on I-24 in stop and go BS we took 155 around and it was clear. Stopped in Pleasant View TN exit 24 to switch drivers. New drivers in the seat all bathroom breaks are over and as the student in front of me goes to climb in he hits his head. He goes to sit in one of the side facing seats and immediately gets up to get back out of the truck. Now I did the same thing last week bumping my head but I didn't hit nearly as hard as him. He hit hard enough he cut roughly a two inch gash on top of his head. Run in and buy a roll of paper towels and we head back for home. He needed 14 staples and will have to complete his drive week with a later class. It looks like the Wisconsin trip is off for us, but there are still a couple days of this final week so I expect nothing less than short notice for an over night road trip somewhere. If it doesn't happen then great, but I am not going to declare it won't happen.

So today I drive first and since I got very little drive time yesterday, today I got some extra. Drove through downtown Cartersville, to Rockmart, and then up to Rome and through the city. Was nice to get a little experience on some of those narrow streets with cars around, it was one of my concerns before starting school. Switched drivers after Rome and the second driver took us to Leesburg Alabama and we had lunch there. Back to where we switched again and the the third driver took us from Rome to Calhoun and then back to Cartersville. We ended the day and start anew tomorrow.

Thanks for reading sorry for the lack of updates, has been a few weird days. Getting up Sunday at 320 and it being called off then getting up at 220 to turn around and come home just makes me wonder if we were meant to go in the first place.

Day whatever(13 I think)

Today we had some more state/US highway driving. I got to drive GA 136 from Lafayette, Georgia to Trenton, Georgia. Was tight going up the mountain and very tight coming back down, but the challenge was thrilling. We had lunch at the Pilot in Rising Fawn, then got on 59 north. Let me tell you after driving that mountain I felt like those interstate lanes were twenty feet wide. Got on 24 west then took US 72 west to Stevenson, Alabama where we switched drivers. We all got experience on narrow stage routes with some ascents and descents. Was a nice ride even when riding, but no matter what, the views across the valleys were always on THE OTHER SIDE of the truck. So no pictures. One more day of driving, I think he mentioned perhaps heading down to Macon tomorrow, we shall see.

Thanks for following along, I hope it's not to boring for anyone. I hope someone can gather a bit of insight into the MTI Cartersville experience.

Sounds like your doing awesome Pete. Hows your backing coming along?