Jason S. Harry

Pennsylvania is in the process of rebuilding its service plazas along the turnpike. I am a man who drinks too much coffee, or sometimes needs a place to stay overnight when traveling along with my office-on-wheels. I have paid many visits to the ones that have been revitalized, and they are very nice.   The old plazas were completely demolished, and the new ones built from the ground up, so that would be expected. It’s been a slow process. One goes down, and it takes several months until it opens again. When the project is completed, the workers move on to their next victim. All of this has been bearable until the closing of the Midway South Service Plaza located near Bedford. Once that was shut down, and signs posted that it was closed for reconstruction, I was sad for two reasons. The first was because it has a Sbarro’s Pizza restaurant that surely won’t be back when the new plaza opens. Second, I love the old stone building that housed the amenities that were located...

I never really noticed how much people like to hurry until I became a truck driver. It’s also of interest to me how the road can level the playing field. We are all one people with a common goal: Trying to get somewhere. Sans the different the classes of automobiles, we are all just little people going about our business. It was soon after I began holding the wheel of an eighteen-wheeler that I gave up the nonsense that is defined as the rush. Paying attention to the beautiful things and the people I interact with holds more importance with me than sticking to a schedule. Amazingly enough, I always seem to arrive at my destination. There were many destinations in my travels this past week, thirty-three to be exact. In a weird twist of fate, I began the week by delivering to one of my favorite stores on Monday, and saw them again on Friday. It’s a rarity to see the same account twice in one week. Actually, it wasn’t a store. It was a warehouse for Laskey’s furniture in Farrell,...