Back the Truck Up!

You may think my job is easy. "All you do is drive. I've done that since I was sixteen!" you might say. Yeah, it's not that easy. I have to know the weight on each of my axles. Don't wanna go into a weigh station overweight. I have to know how high my trailer is loaded, so I don't roll the truck in a curve. I have to know if I'm going too fast for a corner, or if I can stop when I hit the brakes, when some idiot cuts me off and decides to slow down. That happens more than you would like to know, believe me.

But by far, the hardest part of my job is backing. Particularly at night, when I'm tired, and I pull into a truck stop. These are the places that provide the greatest challenge for me. Truck stop parking is tight. I try to get in there early enough that I can get a place to park without any problem, and usually, I can do that. But not always.

I just watched another trucker back into a spot, and he was driving the same truck I do. He took about five minutes to get into the spot, and he did it without backing into anything. This is an accomplishment. He & I drive a truck with a notoriously long wheelbase, making backing difficult to begin with, but to add to the problem, you can't see out the driver's side window when backing. That may not seem like a big deal, but believe me, it is.

In any case, this trucker made it into the parking spot. Took a long time, but he made it. I feel like I'm a patient guy, but I don't have the patience to do what he did...yet.

I guess my point is, that backing a fifty-three foot trailer is not an easy task. I've been doing it now for more than a year, and I still feel like I have a lot to learn. The fact that my tractor isn't good at said task doesn't make it easier.

When you see a truck on the road, think about where they've been. Where they're going. Their journey may just be starting, or may just be ending. But in any case, their job is harder than you might think.

On a side note, the first anniversary of bin Laden's death is upon us. It is said that you'll never forget where you were when you heard the news. That's probably true in my case. I was trying to sleep in the top bunk of a Kenworth T2000 in Gary, Indiana. I was kinda chuckling, because I was so close to where Michael Jackson was beaten into greatness, when my little sister sent me a text saying Obama got him. It was raining a little, and I enjoy listening to the raindrops hit the fiberglass. I sent a text to my little brother asking if he'd heard anything. As usual, he was oblivious. I only have one little brother. You know who you are. Dumbass.)

That was the first time I'd driven through Chicago, and Obama got bin Laden that day. Pretty cool, if you ask me.