300671

Well, I have a new truck. Well, not new exactly, but new to me. It is a 2007 Volvo with about 200k miles on it. Now I know what you're thinking, 200k is a lot of miles, but remember most drivers do well over 100k in a year, and these things have warranties for 1 million miles, so 200k really isn't that many miles. In some ways it's better than getting a brand new truck because new trucks take about 80k miles to really break in, or so I've heard, and also new trucks tend to have a fair amount of problems with them, so it takes a while to get all the bugs worked out, so I'm happy with my truck. It is clean(well, on the inside at least), no dents or other apparent damage, and it is mine (well sort of...technically Swift still owns it, but I'll still consider it mine).

I've also completed my first solo load. See, they didn't have a truck for me in Lewiston at my terminal, but they found a truck in need of a new owner, the only problem was that it was in Great Fall, MT. So, they bussed me up there (with a 17 hour layover in Butte), and then I got a load going from there down to Usk, WA, which is just North of Spokane. My first load weighed about 45,000 pounds, bringing my grand weight that my truck hauled up to 78,000 pounds (the max legal weight I can haul is 80,000, so I was just about maxed out). I was hauling used Newspaper from a recycling plant to a pulp factory where I guess they actually recycle the newspaper. After that I bobtailed home (which means that I drove just the tractor with no trailer). I got home Friday and will be leaving again Monday morning to go...well, to go wherever the wind blows me.

P.S. The number in the title is my truck number, so if you see a Swift volvo with that number (located on the fender), then you'll know it's me, and you'll probably want to get away quickly, I am a new driver still.