OOIDA’s tour trailer continues Northeast trek

OOIDA’s tour trailer continues a tour of the U.S. Northeast with a stop in Fultonville, N.Y.

Marty Ellis, skipper of the Spirit of the American Trucker, is scheduled May 12-14 to be at the Fultonville TA at Exit 28 from I-90.

Fultonville and Fonda

The Fultonville TA has parking for 121 tractor-trailers, and the dining room of the Country Pride restaurant is open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

That is the Mohawk River that sidles alongside the Fultonville TA. Across the river is the community of Fonda, N.Y. The village of Fultonville is sometimes called “South Fonda.” The Mohawk is the largest tributary of the Hudson River and it connects to the Erie Canal.

Fultonville is named in honor of steamboat inventor Robert Fulton.

Fonda is named for a Dutch settler who was killed and scalped during the Revolutionary War. One of his descendants is American actor Henry Fonda, who wrote about his ancestors in his 1981 autobiography, according to the New Netherland Institute.

The word from drivers

One driver who bemoaned the lack or training for entry-level drivers suggested T-shirts with the saying “Ban assault trucks,” meaning trucks driven by dangerous, inexperienced and untrained drivers.

OOIDA has long supported national entry-level training for drivers.

The issue was covered in the final quarter of the May 5, 2021, broadcast of Land Line Now.

Last fall, OOIDA formally opposed the United Parcel Service’s request for an exemption from FMCSA’s entry-level driver training rule. UPS wants to be exempted from the requirement that training instructors have at least two years of experience behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle. It was the second time for UPS to ask for the exemption. Read about the case here.

You can read a white paper from the OOIDA Foundation on the issue here.

Columnist John Bendel took a swing on the topic in “Feeding the machine, driver training edition.”

Stop by when you see The Spirit

If you see OOIDA’s tour trailer, stop by and say hello. Ellis is looking forward to visiting about the Association’s activities and current issues. There are copies of Land Line Magazine to pick up there. You can join or renew your membership for $10 off the regular price there. Face masks are available for anyone with a commercial driver’s license at The Spirit.

After Fultonville, The Spirit is scheduled to stop in Willington, Conn.

Here is the schedule for The Spirit. LL