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<\/a><\/figure><\/div>Tell us another story old timer! Hey, who you calling an old timer? I ain\u2019t that old yet, but if I keep working on it, I\u2019ll get there someday. I started my March 2021 article last month talking about teaching the next generation some tips for successful driving. I had more I wanted to say, but there is a limit to space, so I will try to carry my thread through this month. You can always read the first part, titled Concrete Classroom, on the 10-4 Magazine website (www.tenfourmagazine.com\/2021\/03\/veteran-view\/concrete-classroom\/<\/a>).<\/p> All of us use the Internet today to find information of all sorts. Mostly we try to find facts about some place or someone. Dispatch likes to text us a name of the shipper and a time to be there for our next load \u2013 the rest is up to the driver to figure out. So, grab the cell phone and start searching. Let\u2019s see, we know who they are and where they are, but what\u2019s the best way to get there? Now where did I put that GPS unit? Even with all this information available, we still don\u2019t get the lesson or the knowledge we seek. Why not… isn\u2019t this the age of information? The average 10-year-old has more book smarts than I think I had when I graduated from high school. So, what am I missing, then?<\/p> Book smarts will only take a person so far. After that, you are going to need ability, and with ability you should gain experience. Often in trucking these two things come the other way around. Most of us don\u2019t think twice about starting a job we are not qualified to do. A good example would be if a tanker driver dropped his\/her trailer and hooked up to a flatbed. Pulling a skateboard isn\u2019t much different than their original trailer, right? True, but what about the loading and securement process? I bet all of us have pinched our fingers or bumped our head the first time we used a cheater pipe or threw straps over a load to tie it down. \u201cDon\u2019t forget your hard hat, driver!\u201d<\/p> There is something to be said for hand and eye coordination. First you experience a misfortune (pinched fingers or a bump on the hat rack) and through the process of saving yourself, you find a better way and, thus, the road to ability is much easier. Now, if we were common folks, we would just chalk all this up to \u201cThat\u2019s truckin!\u201d \u2013 but, sadly, we are not common, we are special. So, give me a minute to dance around holding my head with one hand and looking dumbfounded at the two fingers on my other hand that are quickly changing from pink to purple! Just for the record, no drivers were harmed or injured during the writing of this article. The bandage on my hand is from spilled coffee, which happened when I was telling my buddy about the experience. That\u2019s my story, and I\u2019m sticking to it! For now, at least.<\/p> Everyone loves a good story. Some are true and some are, well, let\u2019s just say trucker tales. Riding up and down the interstate all day gives me plenty of time to spin a yarn or two. People ask me where I get all these fables from? Well, they are all highway highlights, and some are stories I hear on the CB radio. If you don\u2019t have a CB, then I strongly recommend you purchase one and learn how to use it. It is undoubtedly the voice of transportation and the key to your safety as a driver. Many of the huge pile ups we have seen this winter could have been avoided if drivers were able to alert one another early enough to STOP! Plus, it is great fun chasing those large cars and trying to keep up with their BS.<\/p> Some of my stories are things I make up while watching life happen. How many of you see something funny on Facebook (don\u2019t forget to join 10-4 Magazine\u2019s group on Facebook \u2013 the Lounge) and then try to describe it to someone else? That\u2019s how many of these \u201ctrucker tales\u201d first get started. For example, a driver might see an accident on the highway and starts to figure out what might have gone wrong or how it could have been avoided. The more he thinks about it, the more information the driver will be able to piece together. Sometimes, all the info is not available, so we throw in some unknown variables on our own. Add circumstances like weather, wind, traffic, construction, or maybe just a rough road to see how it plays out in our head. Now, two or three drivers may have seen the same event, and when they get together at the truck stop, things can really get mixed up.<\/p> If you ask twenty drivers the same question, you might get twenty different answers. They may all be good answers, just from a different approach or angle. That\u2019s the benefit of a driver\u2019s lounge or an area for drivers only. It is a place that lets us drivers be, well, you know, drivers (away from the watchful eyes of law enforcement and the public). That area is fast dwindling since the small truck stops are closing their doors and their parking lots. I once sat in on an advisory board with the owner of Uncle Pete\u2019s Truck Stop in Lebanon, TN and he told me if drivers didn\u2019t stop shopping at the big box stores and eating out of their sleepers, he and many like him would soon be forced to close.<\/p> Fortunately, Uncle Pete and his truck stop have survived, at least for now, but many other small truck stops have not been so lucky, closing their doors, and then quietly slipping into trucking\u2019s history books. Those parking lots are expensive to maintain, and that trash doesn\u2019t go away on its own. Keep that in mind the next time you can\u2019t find parking at 10:00 PM and you see chains across the driveway with five acres of vacant space. Note: I never stop and use someone\u2019s restroom without buying something from their store \u2013 ever!<\/p> For those of you who still wonder how we survived back in the day, it\u2019s not too late to experience a taste. Have you ever stopped at the old 49er Truck Stop and RV Park in Livingston, KY? If not, then you are in for a treat, because that place is from way back when. They always have a western movie playing on the TV in the dining room, there\u2019s only a few tables out front, and the menu is printed on a sheet of plain white paper, but their beans and cornbread are killer. The television shows kinda fit the people who stop there, and I keep waiting for Marshall Dillon from Gunsmoke (James Arness) to walk in with his spurs jingling and a six-shooter on his hip. Most of the drivers who stop there are from back in coal country, or they are folks like me who take life at a slower pace. If you\u2019re not sure where coal country is, you\u2019re in luck. Down here, folks will all tell you the same thing: \u201cIt\u2019s over the hill a piece, and two or three hollers past that. You can\u2019t get lost, but if you do, follow an empty dump truck!\u201d<\/p><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div>