Trip in the Truck

Last Thursday...
I got to ride shotgun in the Freightliner with Daddy-O. What a TRIP! It was a day trip, actually. We were pulling a 53 foot reefer full of meat and eggs. We delivered to two places in Houma, LA and one place in Harahan, LA.

I thought I'd be scared, especially going over bridges, but I wasn't. At least as long as I didn't look in the side-view mirror and see how close the rear tires were to the rail. I was so proud of Daddy-O, man-handling that steering wheel, shifting up and down through the gears. He was taking corners with that rig on roads that were meant for horse and buggy. Truly, it doesn't take long to get "The King of the Road" feeling.

Here's where I'm going to rant just a bit.
First - A little background information... Daddy-O is a company driver (as opposed to Owner/operator). On average, he's out for three weeks and home for three days. Twice it's been eight weeks. He drives 48 states. We call each other about three times a day. On any given day, we can be chatting about bills, dinner, conversations with other truckers,... and all of the sudden he'll yell, "DAMN FOUR-WHEELERS!"
"WHAT? WHAT?" I'm in a panic, helpless, as I hear in the background tires squeal or the engine of the truck being geared down.
And then he says, " Some bastard just pulled out in front of me! Saw me coming and did it anyway. Dumbass doesn't know how close he just came to getting killed."

Three different times, the day I was in the truck with him, people in cars did dumb things. Twice, cars pulled onto the highway in front of us. Not from an on-ramp, but from gas stations. The third person passed us on the left, on a two-lane road, WHILE WE WERE MAKING A LEFT-HAND TURN And then, because it's common-road-punctuation...flipped us off. Had we run him over with 45,000 pounds of fully-loaded truck, he wouldn't have any fingers left to do that.

If you finally made it through all that ranting: HERE'S MY P-O-I-N-T...
Daddy-O is neither "B.J. and the Bear" nor is he "Smoky and the Bandit". He's a family kinda guy. When he's behind that wheel, he's STILL OUR FAMILY KINDA GUY. He, like all the men and women who drive big rigs, are just doing a job. That's all. No more, no less. They don't want to be in a wreck any more than you do. They want to make it home to their families, just like you do. And they may not get to see their family until after work either... and that may be weeks away.
PLEASE... when you see a big rig coming, don't let your first thought be "I'M GONNA PUNCH IT AND BEAT HIM." Be safe, let them go...you'll be able to get around him. We all do it. A lot of those company trucks are governed at 65-70 mph. They aren't going to go any faster if their trailers are empty.
Please be safe. Be courteous. You may be running a little late, but if a semi hits you, late really doesn't matter. Those truckers want you to make it home safe from work, too.

It's never boring, John-Boy
The Happy Medium