Is trucking still fun to you? I have been doing this for more than 15 years now and for the most part it just seems like a job anymore. I have been reading some blogs written by some young new truckers and in reading these you can get a sense of the excitement that they are feeling as they start this new adventure. You know that feeling that you had when you went to trucking school for the first time, you had this great adventure ahead of you to look forward to. Getting paid to see the country while driving something that is known to be the largest vehicle on the highways of this country. I know that when I started I was in awe the first time that I stood in the trucker’s store and saw all the cool stuff that you could adorn your rig with. I was like a kid in a candy store looking at the C.B. radios, all the chrome, the tools and lights. I was in heaven thinking about all the stuff that I could buy to make my truck a cool place to work.
I went to driving school in West Memphis Arkansas with Schneider and was housed in a motel near the truck stops so I had ample opportunity to walk over there at night and be amazed at all the stuff there. I couldn’t wait to get in my own truck and drive from the place that I had slept the night before to God knows where by the days end. Sleep in the sleeper and get up and do it all over again. In the beginning it was like being the captain of your own ship, I mean in all actuality we are just that, captains of our own ships. We are responsible for the safe operation; basic maintenance and reporting of deficiencies of said vehicle and the safe loading and transport of the cargo in our trailers. Some of us even have showers, toilets, kitchens and electrical generators to keep us self-sufficient. The only thing missing for those drivers is the water, the have the road instead with their ports of call being truck stops, shippers and receivers.
So when did it become just a job? For me I guess it was so long ago that I cannot remember. I still see all that stuff in the trucker’s store but today I just realize that I never had the money to buy much of it along the way. I never really made the kind of money that I had dreamed of in the beginning, I think mostly because the stories of the miles that I would get, told to me by a myriad of dispatchers never came true. Back in the day you could turn on the C.B. radio at night and hear chatter on it all night long. If you could get past the foul mouths on it, which didn’t bother me at the time, you could get a lot done at night because you could stay awake much longer. If the conversation was good you could stay up all night and get to your destination early. Sleep came while you were in the dock. I remember running across the country on interstates 10, 20 and 40 to the west coast and back, you could hear drivers talking all the way across there at night. If you had a truck that could run at least 75 mph you could keep up and stay awake.
I ran across there in the past six months and thought that maybe things hadn’t changed there like they have in other areas but I was sadly wrong. The C.B. was a dead zone. With fuel prices still out of site there were no longer the big packs running across there at speeds above 75 mph chatting it up all night. Hell you couldn’t even get a radio check if you wanted one. I think the new fad is to use the radio for shippers and receivers and the rest of the time it is like mine, turned off while the satellite radio and the cell phone are turned on.
Every once in a while I get into an area of the country at just the right time to take me back to when trucking was fun. I recently read a book called “The Dirt Life”, it was about this woman from New York City who went to interview an organic farmer. Long story short, she fell in love, married him and they started a successful organic farm in upstate New York. It was fascinating to read about how sustainable they were becoming along with all the work, trials, and hardships they faced in their first year. Since I raise a large garden every year I found this fascinating. I would love nothing more than to be able to get out of this truck for good and run a small vegetable farm. They had 50 acres and that was a lot of work. I’d settle for 20 but I digress. I was recently on a load that had me picking furniture up from Ashley in Arcadia Wisconsin. Coming out of St. Paul I ran down 94 to WI. State route 93 south to Arcadia. What a beautiful drive that was, I found myself not in any kind of hurry, just driving and taking in the breathless scenery. The heat wave was over and I had the windows down, it was like I had never been there before. The farms along that route were well maintained and looking inviting.
I guess the moral of this story is that even after fifteen years of doing this job, being away from family and getting the hell beat out of you by these trucks, sometimes life on the road gives something back if only for a day.
The next time you see a young new driver who may or may not be in your way, just remember that you were there once driving with the stars in your eyes blinding you from the lies of dispatch.
Stay safe out there and if you get a chance try to see the country again. Its still out there an d may surprise you.
TW
P.S. Remember that Peterbuilt that I wanted? I may finally be getting in one. I noticed that there had been new guys driving them lately and two just quit so I being the squeaky wheel hoping to get oiled. Wish me luck!
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