8:30 a.m.

Chattanooga, Tenn.

One. Two. Three. After lurching up three large steps and gripping tight to the handles, I’m in the truck. Climbing around the shotgun seat, I feel like I am stepping into a home. There is a medicine cabinet and shelves with CDs and books. A television is bolted to the side of the wall between two bunks. Scent bursts from a hanging air freshener.

Sheila Stanford, the driver, is anxious to get on the road because she had been in Chattanooga for over a week training other drivers.

Every week she drives from Chattanooga to Philadelphia and then from Philadelphia to Atlanta delivering old and new car parts for O’Reilly Auto parts.

Sheila is worried about her dachshund, Clara Belle, who has a back injury from falling off one the bunks in the truck. Until I came into the picture, this was Clara Belle’s domain. She usual sits in the front seat next to Sheila and has a ramp that leads up to the bed. So far, she hasn’t left my side. Sheila said she is really needy because she has never lived outside of the truck.

10:00 a.m.

Charleston, Tenn.

$3.89 - unleaded

$4.54 - diesel

Everything in the truck stop is supersized and cheesy, and I have noticed that a lot of drivers like to wear cowboy hats. We passed a shelf full of fabric roses on our way out, and Sheila said that if a driver ever tried to give her a gift like that she would slap them upside the head. I agreed.

Times Free Press reporter Joan Garrett and Covenant Transportation truck driver Sheila Stanford meet at the Covenant terminal at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning.

Ms. Stanford checks the wheels on the truck to make sure tires are far enough apart from one another and that there is enough air pressure.

Ms. Stanford finishes hooking up the cables and the trailer to her truck cab before beginning the drive. Inspections are an important part of a driver's job.

Sheila Stanford drives through the Covenant truck lot to pick up the trailer of used car parts that she will be transporting to Philadelphia, Pa.

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