For those who do not know, my husband is a long haul truck driver- yup- a big rig jockey. A modern day cowboy riding the ribbon rodeo. For years I tried my best to talk him out of learning to drive a truck..then, after the place he worked closed their doors and he couldn't find anything else, he slipped away one afternoon and signed up. He was going to school. Our son- who at the time thought it was cool- couldn't wait to tell me. I'm wondering if he thinks vback to that day and regrets that excitment?
During the time that he was 'in school' we helped him with what we could book wise. He is no fan of reading, growing bored with it quickly. He wanted to spend all his time turning the wheel- not turning pages of a book. James and I ended up at one point making a cd for him to listen to going back and forth to school. It worked, do I regret helping? Some times, but he asked, so I did it. He passed the class and got his cdl. The next day he had a job with a company in Charlotte and was off with a driving instructor. With this company he was home weekends.
I remember watching the first time he drove one of those tractors into our driveway. I thought that was just so cool. He was finally living his dream. He was back at work after being unemployed for months. I had my 'me' time back and could actually get the house back in order. Watching him drop down from the cab and walk across the yard like he was king of the hill was nice. It sure beat listening to his grumbling over not having a job.
Now here we are five years later. He has been driving those things all over the country and even into Canada once, the Canadians weren't too upset but our border guards sure were suspicious of him when he tried to get back across where he belongs. He missed his exit thanks to road construction. But he did say that Canada was nice that time of year..what he saw of it.
His GPS can not understand when he refuses to follow instructions when the thing tries to send him into Canada when he needs to go to NY from Michigan..if he had a passport he might could do it, but eventhen I doubt it. Just as neighborhoods don't care for commuters using their roads as a cut through I'm sure that Canada may not care ofr it either.
I've listened to him complain about weather, he has spent his fair share of time sitting on an interstate going nowhere thanks to roads being closed due to snow and ice. He's called and talked about his truck rocking because of the wind, not because he had his radio window rattling loud. He even told me once about a law enforcment officer directing him to drive through standing water... he said the water was up to his running board..I asked him if he told that guy that he was in a truck not a boat.. but didn't.
I've listened as he talked about what he has seen across the country. How a small herd of deer ran across the road in front of him, or the big really big, I mean REALLY big buck and his doe were standing just off the side of the road somewhere along the line.
He has gotten much better at backing that thing- I don't envy him at all- because I seriously hate backing and I drive an suv-
I road with him tonight when we took James's car over to Sam's Club to have the tires checked. Remember, James's car is a Dodge Intrepid. It is not a big car. At every turn, he swung wide -- I mean over into the next lane wide. I'm hanging onto the door of the car and he's asking what's wrong.. wellllllllllllllllllllllllllll
When he went to slow down, youwould have thought there was several thousand pounds of something, probably empty drink bottles and fast food wrappers pushing him. He had the most difficult time finding the controls of the car. He was looking for the lights..and turned on the windshield wipers. Not just once, but several times. He tried to find the emergency brake release, and turned on the windshield wipers and then opened the window. By the time I'm biting down on my hand. If he heard me laughing I'd have been in trouble.
On the way home we had to come a different route than what we usually take due to Christmas Town being lit up and the traffic makes passing through that area down right impossible, unless you don't mind waiting an hour to move twenty feet.. personally I think its too cold for that right now.
But anyway, on the way home, the turning lane's beginning is right after a traffic island type thing. You pass that, you move over and make your way tot he red light. He kept going and going, I told him that he could move over at any point, he wasn't hauling a 53 foot trailor. Of course that set him off demanding to know if I thought he couldn't drive..well no, of course not. He just needed to remember he was in a mid size car not his truck.
I'm sure that anyone behind us was wondering what was wrong. I'm just glad that we didn't pass any law enforcement officers.. they may not have been as understanding.
I still think its funny--maybe I should have someone weld some stacks on the side of the car, put some air brakes on the thing, a big grill on the front, air horn..fifth wheel-it might be a tad bit easier then..he'd feel right at home--
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