Truck show season is here! And if you are one of the people who try all winter to prepare your old rig for the shows, then I’m sure you realize just how quickly these shows creep up on you. It can get frustrating to feel the time-crunch as your intended show is now upon you and you don’t feel quite ready. However, let me encourage you a bit – the truck shows aren’t meant to be a stressful event. They are intended to be fun and casual ways to enjoy our beloved big rigs, in the company of like-minded truck nuts. The older generations get to impart their wisdom and tall tales upon the younger, and the younger generations perhaps lend a fresh perspective on their predecessors. But my favorite part is actually driving an older rig the entire distance to the show. There is just something special in the feeling an old truck offers. Its primitive design, or lack of complexity, has its own allure. And the sounds and smells of those dinosaurs will take you back in time. Arguably, the earlier days weren’t necessarily simpler times, according to the rugged individuals who made their livings behind the wheel way back when, but for many, the bitterness of the early days fades away and yields to fond memories of days gone by. Driving a classic rig down the open road just takes me to my happy place, far away from modern stresses and concerns. And it takes me to the times that impressed me the very most. The old truck might be taking me forward, physically, but more importantly, it is doing its intended purpose of taking me back.
TAKES ME BACK!
By Trevor Hardwick
I love to light up this old rig,
And put this thing in gear.
It’s good to get ‘er going,
Since she sits most of the year.
But truck show season comes around,
And I can’t wait to go.
This old rig will stretch her legs,
And take me to the show.
It’s something just like daddy drove,
And I would ride along.
We’d listen to the diesel sing,
Its’ lonesome highway song.
It smells just like a memory,
Of dust and diesel fumes.
And sounds just like a melody,
Of long-forgotten tunes.
The sun will chase our shadow,
Through the ditches, once again.
And chase away the present place,
And time I’m living in.
Behind the wheel of this old truck,
I’m thirty years, rewound.
And memories keep flooding back,
While wheels keep spinning ‘round.
I hear the whistle of the wind,
Where the wing windows won’t seal,
It lacks some modern comforts,
But I love the way it feels.
The seats are squeaking up and down,
Like vinyl seats will do.
Antennas swinging back and forth,
And the CB mic is too.
Onward down the road we go,
This antique truck and me.
Reminding one another,
Of the place we’d like to be.
Every time I drive this truck,
I’m taken back in time.
Back when I would ride along,
With that ol’ man of mine.
This old truck won’t let me down,
She’s always right on track.
She takes me to the truck shows,
But she also “takes me back”.