End of Week 2

Ok. This is going to be pretty short since I have to get back in 11 hours. Don't have my logbook with me so I'm not going to try and sort out the days.

Week 3 - Lebanon, TN to Elizabethtown, KY. We were supposed to unload there and run back down to Red Boiling Spring TN to pick up a load to Harrisburg PA but weren't going to make the appointment so they sent another driver. We deadheaded back to Ashland City and picked up a trailer on the yard that was bound for Berlin NJ. Unloaded in Berlin and deadheaded to Curwensville, PA for a load of leather headed for Hartmann Luggage in Lebanon. Picked up a loaded trailer in Lebanon headed for North Haven CT. Deadheaded North Haven CT to Middleville MI for a drop and hook coming back to Lebanon yard. Dropped trailer and hooked to loaded trailer headed for Burlington, Ont. , Canada. Leave tomorrow morning a 0800 for Tueday delivery. This is my last week in training -- I should get my truck a week from tomorrow.

Observations There are a lot of really gorgeous historical farmhouses along I80 in PA.

Political Commentary I see that most states have started to collect on the 'Work Zone' Scam. This is where they line a row of orange barrells along the shoulder of the road (typically in the grass) for 12 miles, drop the speed limit by 10mph and call it a construction zone in which the fines are doubled or worse. The fact that there are never any people in these work zone and that no actual work ever gets done doesn't seem to bother anybody. My grandfather worked for the highway department so I'm familiar with the dangers posed to workers along the roadside and support strong laws to protect them. I'd also like to see the laws address the fact that they must be actually PRESENT along the roadside to be in any significant danger.

End of Week 1

Monday 07/04 We picked up a load at the yard in Lebanon TN at 0700 headed for Miami, FL. Dispatch managed to turn it into a round trip.

Tuesday 07/05 Arrive Miami about 0400 for a 0700 unload appointment. They unloaded us and then reloaded us for the return trip to Lebanon.

Wednesday 07/06 Arrived Lebanon TN at abt 0500. Dropped trailer at yard and picked up a trailer loaded for San Antonio TX.

Thursday 07/07 Dropped the trailer at SA at abt 1700 and deadheaded empty trailer to El Paso TX.

Friday 07/08 Arrive El Paso abt 0900. Drop trailer and bobtail to Austin to pick up trailer at repair facility. Of course, trailer that has been at repair all week with nobody noticing the brake chamber hanging down from the axle. Takes a couple of hours to repair. Leave for Brownwood Tx load trailer bound for El Paso yard about 2300.

Saturday 07/09 Pick up other trainee's tractor and trailer in El Paso about1200 and leave for Lebanon TN. Snuffy's A/C goes out on the truck in the middle of the west TX desert. We had to leave him in Arkansas because the clutch on his AC compressor seized and we had to get back.

Sunday 07/10 Arrived Lebanon TN abt 1200. We leave tomorrow at 0800 for Elizabeth City KY and Harrisburg PA.


Total mileage for first week a little over 6000.

Strangest sight: A new looking upholstered piano bench sitting upright off the shoulder of the road in the desert at milemarker 199 on I-10E in Texas.