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a couple of times and are undefeated so far this
season, thank you very much.
She also looks forward to having more time to
connect with her old friends.
Mariah’s the only one who’s gotten married so
far. “She and her husband had been dating since high
school, so we all saw that coming early on,” Sanner
said. Mariah’s father had been the music teacher
at their high school, and she joined him as a music
teacher in the district.
It’s only a few hours’ drive from Washington
to Ebensburg. Kelsey is living in Pittsburgh, so she
gets back home pretty often. But as they each go
on with their individual lives, “I think we know it’s
only going to get harder” to all get together, she
said.
Right now, Morgan is the one having the hardest
time getting home. The comedian of the group is in
the middle of earning her doctorate degree at the
University of Tennessee.
As for herself, Sanner is pretty sure she’s done
with school. At this point she’s more interested in
moving forward with her career and her goal of
visiting every continent.
By her tally, she’s made it to four so far: North
America, South America, Europe and Asia. She’s been
figuring Australia should be next, but Africa was
tantalizingly close during this spring’s trip to Spain,
which has gotten her thinking. If she goes back to
Spain, it would just be a quick jump over the Straits
of Gibraltar to get to Morocco, which she would love
to see.
There’s also quite a bit of America she needs to
explore, too. In fact, a while back, a friend came to
visit. Sanner asked her what she wanted to see while
she was in town. When the friend rattled off a handful
of touristy stops she wanted to make, it occurred to
Sanner, wow, after eight years in Washington she
hadn’t done any of those, either.
Part of her reason for wanting to see more of
America is to consider her future. She imagines she’ll
always want to do something government-related.
Washington is OK, but it’s a very big city and she’s a
small-town girl. Maybe there’s a state capital that’s
more suited to her style.
For now, though, thoughts of traveling far and
wide can wait. This summer Sanner has been focusing
on her new job at TCA.
“I don’t have a strong background with the
trucking industry,” she admits, and she’s quickly
seeing that trucking is a world unto itself. But from
what she’s gathered so far, it’s a world where she
feels very much at home.
She grew up in a hardworking community.
Sanner’s father had been raised on a farm and had
been a coal miner before he went into teaching. Then
there’s the missionary work she did with her mother.
Wherever Sanner goes in life, this is where she came
from.
Compared to her job at ANA, where she dealt
with a lot of slick, high-power, corporate, advertisingindustry
types, trucking “is a little more down-toearth
and grounded,” she said.
“I think it’s so much more up my alley, to be more
connected with real live people, that the things we’re
asking for here in Washington will make a difference
in people’s lives.”
She might not have come in knowing a lot about
the trucking industry and its issues, but she knows
government affairs and legislative processes. In
grad school, her areas of focus were regulatory and
technology policies.
Jumping into the trucking industry, why, it’s like
being a kid in a candy store.
She has been getting her feet wet writing
regulatory comments on behalf of the TCA to the
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and
updating the government affairs section of TCA’s
revamped website.
You can sense the pleasure she takes from her
own wheels turning as she starts talking about some
of the topics she’s been focusing on.
“I’ve learned about ELDs and all the pros and cons
that come with them,” she said. What she wants to
know is “how are these devices being protected in
terms of cybersecurity?”
Also, “We’ve been working a great deal lately on
the F4A.” It reminds her of a similar issue she dealt
with in the advertising industry. Every state has its
own laws concerning data breaches.
“You don’t ever want a patchwork,” she says
flatly, then moves on.
“The one thing you learn very quickly is that every
industry has its own dictionary of acronyms, and
that’s been one of the biggest challenges, to learn
this alphabet soup, what does everything stand for,”
she said. But that just takes time, and she figures
at the rate she’s picking it up she’ll be up to speed
in time to discuss these issues with lawmakers and
TCA members at Call on Washington, coming up in
September.
Her goal to visit every continent may have to be
sidetracked just a little while she explores trucking’s
regulatory, legislative landscape, but that’s fine.
Australia and Morocco aren’t going anywhere.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, no, she
hasn’t forgotten about Antarctica.
Kathryn Sanner, second from right, vacations in Spain with
her stepfather, Mike Blair, left; grandmother, Donna Miller;
mother, Lynn Miller; and her boyfriend, Nathan Pobre.
Kathryn Sanner and Nathan Pobre share a
coconut concoction while in Guam.
CUTLINE NEEDED
It probably wasn’t baby Kathryn’s idea to put a bucket on her
head for this picture with big brothers Jason and Jim Sanner.
Thursday night is bocce night out on the National Mall for Kathryn, second from left, Nathan, center, and their friends.
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