Hello from Indianapolis

Here I am attending a practice and training session for the upcoming National Truck Driving Championship, to be held at Tampa, FL in mid August.
I've never been to Indianapolis so my entire system is in kind of a shock. It's hot and humid here.
I arrived late Friday afternoon via Minneapolis/St. Paul. Friday night we were taken to a AAA baseball game, Indians vs Clippers (of Columbus, OH). We enjoyed dinner there and it was a nice time. My body, not being used to being awake during the day, was over tired.
Saturday morning, early naturally, we were fed then transported to a FedEx facility for some classroom work then out to a toasty parking lot for behind the wheel time. Damn that was stressful. I was driving a brand new Volvo with an automatic transmission. I'm not familiar with it and was frustrated with it's characteristics. I've learned that the trucking industry is moving away from standard transmissions to automatics. After all the years I've been driving a stick shift, this is a major change. Oh well.
Sunday was yet another day of learning. It seemed like each day began a bit earlier than the previous. Today we learned skills for a thorough pre-tip inspection and interviews. So much that I'm overwhelmed. Still no relief from the local weather conditions. A nice snowfall sounds very appealing. We also were fitted for classy clothes for the National Competition.
Monday - our BIG day of The Chairman's Challenge, our inhouse competition. Increase the stress, heat and humidity. The day wore on very slowly and even with all the liquids taken in and wet cloth on my head, I had serious concerns that I might collapse. I made it but I was concerned. I didn't get to do my driving, pre-trip nor interview until the afternoon at which point I was cooked. All in all, I did an acceptable job, but still leaving myself a tremendous amount to improve. I think my composite score was 6th of 15 in twins class.
Tuesday was up early, catch a plane home and collapse, laundry and rest. Whew it is so good to be home and facing my standard work routine. I'm already looking forward to seeing new friends when we gather in Tampa next month.