Tapeworm is starting at Swift on Monday!

Hey Longshot - does your mentor run all 48 states, or is he running in a confort zone? My mentor is running all 48. I hope you get out West sometime soon. One word of advice I have to offer is to check the wether forecast before heading into the mountains. The weather can vary significantly at higher elevations!
Stay safe, and enjoy the journey Longshot!!

 

We accepted a preplan for the next load. We will pick up in York, PA and drop in IL. It's another heavy load, so I will get some more practice shifting gears in the mountains. No NYC or NJ on this trip east! I thought for sure that we would be sent further east from here.... We have 3 days to deliver the next load, although I expect we will make the trip in 2 days.

 

I wish you all the best as you start at Swift! I think you have chosen wisely. I have been out for 2 weeks, and have had a good time thus far. I have driven through MN, IA, NE, WY, UT, IL, IN, OH, PA, WV, MO, AR, and Kansas!
We are headed back now to take a couple of days off, then will hit the road again next week.

 

Things did not go exactly as planned today. I got to the terminal at 7:45, as I was told to be there at 8am. We had the weekend off, and the truck was parked at the terminal for 3 days. Well, I get in and try to get it started, and the the motor only turns over twice. I went and tracked down a shop employee, and they got the service truck out there to charge the batts.
We finally got the truck started and hit the road around 11am. Of course, our preplan is for a load picking up in WI, and due in east PA as soon as possible. We picked up the load in central WI about 2pm, and headed east .
We made it to Madison around 7, and decided that we best shut down for the night. We thought about trying to make it to the next TS, but the snow was blowing horizontal here and was supposed to be worse to the East.
Stay safe out there everyone - the weather blows (literally).

 

Ok.. been a crazy couple of days! We made it through Chicago just after the storm blew through. Some lanes were blocked with snow, but there was no traffic! All the smart people stayed home on Wed. Once we hit the Indiana border though, the roads were terrible. Once we got 30 miles in, the roads were fine. We made it to a TS in PA during wee hours wed night/thurs morning. We had a 7 am delivery for a furniture store. This one was a driver unload so my mentor, myself, and 3 others unloaded the trailer. Ouch...
From there, I drove south on US 219 to pick up a load of charcoal in Parsons WV. US 219 is barely wide enough for 2 trucks to fit on, and is windy and hilly. I am gonna bring the motorcycle out there someday and have some fun! In the truck, I spent a lot of time at speeds under 40mph.
We dropped our load of charcoal this morning in Atlanta, and picked up a load headed to OH. My left leg got a workout today cause I drove through the morning and evening rush in Atlanta. I think traffic there is just as bad as Chicago.
Tomorrow first thing we will drop our load in OH, then we will head to WV to pick up our next load. The next load has some time on it, so we will get somewhat of a break from the crazy schedule we have been on.

 

We picked up our load in WV this afternoon, and we are headed to Michigan. We have time to spare on this load, so we will be looking for a good place to watch the Superbowl tomorrow. We really need a little break from the craziness of team driving for a day or two. For those of you that team and run a lot of miles, you deserve a lot of respect! It is tough to sleep in a moving semi, particularly on a standard issue mattress. Tonight, we are parked in a TS near Columbus OH. I hope to get some much needed rest.