A History Lesson
Whether you’re 93 or 23, you have a history in trucking, and one of the fun parts of writing this column is sharing space with awesome photos of classic rigs. I would imagine a rookie climbing into a ’77 Freightliner COE today would have the same glazed look I had climbing into it in 1980. I’m sure Steve, Pam, and Dan have watched hundreds of young drivers jump in and out of cabovers, just like I did back in the day.
But I’m also sure they’ve watched drivers my current age struggle with every step, just like I did the other day. I wasn’t surprised. I was stunned. It’s only ten months since I stepped away from trucking, but suddenly the only way to get out of that Freightliner appeared to be falling out. We laughed about it while getting my breath back, but my knees didn’t stop shaking till I sat down for a cold one.
You might recall the 1975 movie “White Line Fever”, starring Jan Michael Vincent and Slim Pickens. The real star was the “Blue Mule”, a 1974 Ford WT9000. My first truck was just like that, though not nearly so new or purty. Also, Vincent’s co-star Kay Lenz was kinda purty too, at age 22. My co-star was stuffed in a pack of Marlboro’s, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.
Anyway, eventually I wound up driving another Ford, the big ol’ CL-9000, and learned really quick how thin the air was up there. We hauled chip spuds right out of the fields in North Dakota, driving non-stop to Indiana, and ricocheted right back to the Badlands state. Then the boss wanted his truck back, trading a Pete long hood for ‘my’ cabover. The change was dramatic, and I’ve been in conventionals ever since.
Back at the truck show, at the famous Newell’s Truckstop, we spied an ’81 Kenworth W900 painted a beautiful black. Powered by a Cat 425, geared with a 13-speed, and built with a single-bunk coffin sleeper, I learned the driver had purchased it new. So now it’s 43 years later, and he’s still working that truck, so I asked a crazy question.
How many miles on the odometer, I asked, and he instantly said four million. How many parts had he replaced, I asked, and his response should surprise no one reading this. “All of them!” he replied without hesitation. I don’t know about you, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea of driving the same truck for more than four decades!
People often ask me if I miss the good ol’ days. Well actually, in the spirit of full disclosure, no one asks me anything about my trucking career. But I know, and you know, that we've been there. We did that. We’ve been from Jersey to SoCal, and Canada to Calexico, with an antique GPS known as a road atlas.
We didn’t do it the hard way on purpose, but with a purpose. That was to keep Cheerios on the table back home. I do miss breakfast at Stockman’s, supper at the Flying J buffet, and movies at the Triple T, but haven’t forgotten showers behind their shop bay, either. Or creepy people banging on the driver’s door. Or spending an entire holiday weekend behind an Arkansas convenience store on a dirt parking lot.
No, I couldn’t drive the same truck for forty years, even if we replaced all my own parts, but somehow, we all got through it with our good looks still intact!