I recently took my wife Alicia with me out on the road for the week following her birthday. She has been in the truck with me several times, and I love having her with me. She takes a lot of pictures and I tend to stop more when I have a rider along, which is cool. It\u2019s nice to stop and look around once in a while. The extra stops and sight-seeing reminded me of the times my dad would take a few moments to stop and capture a moment when I was out with him. It makes me realize just how focused I am on my route and schedule, rather than the life I\u2019m missing as I try to race my 14-hour clock. As I wrote this poem, I enjoyed recalling the \u201cstop and take a look around\u201d pace that my dad practiced, and yet, he was still able to get to his destinations on-time and keep his \u201cBig-Dog\u201d image. As truckers, we get to see some magnificent scenery and cultures while out there on the road, so I urge you to take some time to stop once in a while and enjoy them \u2013 don\u2019t just drive your life away!<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n
DRIVING MY YOUNG LIFE AWAY<\/strong> I\u2019m chasing the morning, on a hot summer night, A sign on the highway, says \u201cno turning back,\u201d The lines in my book, may be long overdue, As a kid I would dream, I could chase down the stars, There\u2019s a song on the air, that is taking me back, I know it seems strange, but I get a strong feeling, There are idling trucks, at the Fill \u2018er Up Diner, A quick bite to eat, then I\u2019m back on the street, There\u2019s a place in Dakota, a town they call Wall, In the back of my mind, I\u2019m dreaming of old times, A bridge that I cross, in a town I roll through, But now that I\u2019m grown, and the old man\u2019s passed, I recall times, we would stop at the borders, Someday I\u2019ll stop, and I\u2019ll take time to listen, The neon lights flash, in the sleepy old towns, The sun will be up, in a matter of minutes, I recently took my wife Alicia with me out on the road for the week following her birthday. She has been in the truck with me several times, and I love having her with me. She takes a lot of pictures and I tend to stop more when I have a rider along, which is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-poetry-in-motion"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4725"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4786,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4725\/revisions\/4786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n By Trevor Hardwick<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nAnd driving my young life away.
\nMy eyeballs are burning, my headlights are bright,
\nAnd no one has nuthin\u2019 to say.<\/p>\n
\nThere\u2019s truth in the concept, I\u2019d say.
\nWhile chasing the morning, on a hot summer night,
\nAnd driving my young life away.<\/p>\n
\nAnd the big wheels continue to roll.
\nThe years keep on flyin\u2019, like telephone poles,
\nBut the big hand keeps tickin\u2019 too slow.<\/p>\n
\nAnd that\u2019s what I\u2019m doing today.
\nAt midnight I\u2019m rollin\u2019, on a hot summer night,
\nAnd driving my young life away.<\/p>\n
\nAnd it\u2019s been a long time since I\u2019ve heard.
\nI crank up the volume, to drown out the fan,
\nAnd sing like I still know the words.<\/p>\n
\nThis song knows the words that I\u2019d say.
\nAt one in the morning, on a hot summer night,
\nWhile driving my young life away.<\/p>\n
\nKilling some valuable time.
\nJust cross the border, for a meal made to order,
\nIs a catch-phrase they put on their sign.<\/p>\n
\n\u2018Cause I ain\u2019t got much time to stay.
\nAt two in the morning, on a hot summer night,
\nI\u2019m driving my young life away.<\/p>\n
\nWhere dad used to stop and I\u2019d play.
\nA dinosaur statue, a playground below,
\nAnd a place he could park in the shade.<\/p>\n
\nAnd memories dad and I made.
\nIt\u2019s three in the morning, on a hot summer night,
\nAnd I\u2019m driving my young life away.<\/p>\n
\nOr a brightly-lit big city street.
\nI\u2019m thinkin\u2019 of places, the old man would take me,
\nAs I would sit there in my seat.<\/p>\n
\nThere\u2019s so much that I\u2019d like to say.
\nAt four in the morning, on a hot summer night,
\nWhile driving my young life away.<\/p>\n
\nFor pics at the welcoming sign.
\nTraffic whizzed by, like we weren\u2019t even there,
\nAs we shared a moment in time.<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019ll take my own pictures someday.
\nBut at five in the morning, on summer twilights,
\nI\u2019m driving my young life away.<\/p>\n
\nThe billboards are few in between.
\nBiscuits and gravy, a hot cup of Joe,
\nAnd motels claim rooms that are clean.<\/p>\n
\nI guess I\u2019ll just be on my way.
\nIt\u2019s six in the morning, I\u2019m doin\u2019 alright,
\nJust driving my young life away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"