The continuing tale of DocFrank

Really been humping it out here. From Washington WV went to Memphis tn then back to the Real Washigton (DC) or just past it in Maryland where we dropped a trailor and picked up a load to York PA then to Wallyworld dc at Cullman AL. Beautiful country all the way. In PA Qualcom Jill sent us on a merry secondary route. May have been shorter to a computer but speed limits were mostly 45, two lane winding up and down road and tons of little hamlets full of Gilligans. Missed a turn on a round-dee-round (trainer called it wrong) and had to drive a pretty good ways until we found a place we could turn around and get back on track.
What is it about TN and %%##@@@!55 mph signs? Seems like the whole state is one giant speed trap! We dropped our load and found an empty trailor (Big thanks to a really nice Walmart yarddog) and shut down across from a Petro on 65so It seems to be pretty new as it doesn't show up in the truckstop directory. It's at marker 186? or there abouts and has a fairly good sized lot but the nice thing is that a Jack's across the street has a nice sized place to shut 'er down and catch some Z's.
We're off in a bit to pick up a load and then to Arkansas then OK then Modesto! We're going to have to team it as it's a dedicated run. Just what I was afraid would happen if my trainer wa an owner-op! I have to say, though that Tommy has really been great and is helping me get my skills up a Lot I guess it's a good thing as I'm going through my 240 pretty fast so that means I get to test for my truck sooner. I did not know my testing days won't be over until after the training period but I suppose it makes sense. I sure hope I get a DM that will keep me running like Tommy's does. Bills Will Be Paid!!!
Got o get humping, I'll get back when I can. Oh, by the way, we've run 4186.3 miles so far and it's great! Oh and Howdie BlueBonn glad you came by say Hi-de-ho to A21CAV for me. Hope to see some of you out there. Ah and Sammy C. you are not forgotten!
Be safe out there and Don't let the Minahunees get you!

 

Oh yeah I've taken some neat photos and will past some if I can figure out how to do it. LOL

 

Still movin' non-stop got a few moments to catch up work on line and bills and wanted to say Hi! Guys! In the flying J not far from the Wyoming/Co. line on 25 got until 1700 to make delivery in Denver so have a bit of a break. My mentor is a really nice guy I think I was lucky to get him. He's an owner/op so we've been doing a lot of team driving. It's getting me a lot of experience but I need to practice some more on my backing than I've been able to do. So far we've put 9500+ miles in (whew!) and I'm over 100 hrs. on my 240. I hope I'll be prepared to test out when we're done. It's hard to study much when it's mostly drive and sleep and not much terminal time. Speaking of which, what's the problem at some of the terminals (Memphis and Denver to name 2) the lot is full of trailers...all red tagged! I had to hunt all over the place 2 nights ago to find a trailer we could use and then some jerk put a lock on it after we got dispatch to assign it to us. It was wait until 6 am for the shop people to cut it off or find another trailer. We found one somebody tried to hide finally and hit the road. Wierd. Well gotta go. Be safe out there and Don't let the Minahunees get ya'.

 

That was what I was hoping for but you take what you can get and I'm thankfu I'm getting the experience.My mentor, Tommy, really seems to care that I get what I need to go on solo. Apparently when you do dedicated team runs you get the mileage I just wanted the time to improve my skills. I think it's better not to rush the limited time you have with an adviser. Wish I could have gotten on with you Blue.
Anyway, I'm at the La Quinta in Oklahoma City tonight while mentor gets some home time. Tomorrow at noon we're off back to CA for a double delivery (my first) and then who knows. I'm really glad for the down time as I drove from Salt Lake City to just outside Denver last night and I was "up against the wall" had to take three breaks and a fuel stop to keep going. I won't drive when I'm starting to wooze out, better anything than a wreck.
Tommy understood and we still made our unload early.
Forgot my camera on the tractor but I swear I have some interesting pics from where I had time where we were.
Be safe out there and Don't let the Minahunees get you! Also, hug somebody, it'll make you both feel better.