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TO THE FIRE DEPARTMENTS - Topix

The War On Truckers

The Mental Health Effects On Truckers Taking Us Out Of A Lifestyle That God Gave To Us

How many times have you as a Trucker heard or said yourself, "this job is killing me?" That is the question I pondered in my head as I traveled the roads for the last three years before coming off the road in 2010 after trying various kinds of anti depression medications over the years many years before 2010 and at last being on Prozac for around the last 3 years leading up to my 2010 retirement not because I wanted to retire to sit home and stare at the walls and t.v. set with all the glit and glammer that may seem to have to one, that hasn't been there and done that

My story is like many that are still fighting the fight to stay the stay, all I ever wanted to do since I was in the 4th grade in school was drive a truck, I started working when I was 15 for a grocery store in Pennington Gap VA thanks to my brother Tommy that was the Supervisor for Cas Walkers Super Markets, my goal was set in stone, soon as I turned 21 I was going to Trucking School and get my dream in gear, I remember always talking to the Truckers that delivered to the store I worked at, I even talked a Pay Cash (name of the company) Driver out of Knoxville TN into letting me back the tractor trailer into our dock one day, I was a natural for it, I had a friend that also let me drive a Ford Tandem coal truck 350 Cummins Motor with a 13 speed (my favorite transmission, it just seemed trucky) somewhere in that age category 

I'd say when I was 16 or 17 and at least had my drivers license

When I graduated high school, still working at Cas Walkers Super Market in 1981 another guy I was acquainted with had an uncle that had a couple of tandem bulk milk trucks that he run a route through the back woods of eastern Tennessee in Hancock and surrounding Counties, my buddy about the same age as me, I don't remember his age but we were close in years, taught me to drive a 1972 International Tandem with a 3000 gallon or close to that number best I can remember bulk (no baffles) milk tanker that I made my route through Southwestern VA and Eastern TN doing my pick ups from small Mom and Pop dairy farms and then hauled it to Kraft in Greenville TN I was on top of my world with that 238 Detroit motor screaming down the south side of Clinch Mountain with the Jake brake doing a million rev's a minute (sound wise)

Then came 21 after waiting a life time seemed like, Mom helped me get a loan at a local bank to go to CDI (Commercial Drivers Institute) in Murfreesboro TN I did a 2 week training course there and came back home to work for the same guy I hauled milk for as he had purchased a 1974 Freightliner Cabover also with a 13 speed transmission and a wide opened 350 Detroit motor in this unit, I don't think the air conditioner ever did work, I'm not real sure that it even had one, can't remember now, I do know it didn't have a Jake brake which with earlier company trucks wasn't a popular item back then anyhow we had a 30 foot dump bucket and hooked up with a Broker in Cincinnati OH don't remember the name of that guy now, but I ended up hauling coal from eastern KY around Hazard KY from on top of a mountain called Job 9, I remember getting my first load, I got the last bucket of coal on my wagon and started to ease up the hill out of the pit in low gear but the weak 350 wouldn't pull the grade holding the rpm's at about 2200 I'm guessing it was, so I backed back off the climb out and got a run and go, I don't remember what the R's were then, I do remember one of the guys telling me the front left steer tire came plum up off the ground as I powered that big load out of there though

within that same trip as I was on my way to Cincinnati OH with this load, I also remember getting pulled to the side around the toll road on the portable scales and needless to say got my first over weight fine, up around the 144 exit on I-75 actually just a little way below it, the rear end started whining really loud well, turned out that's exactly what it was, the rear end had gone out, I pretty much remember making the climb up that mountain to Job 9 to get that load of coal and pretty much remember loosing traction and grabbing the differential lock and locking it in not real sure if I had power going to the spinning wheels or not, but probably did and my mind still to this day rejects it

I spent a couple or three days at that Truck Stop there in Corinth KY waiting on my Boss Man and another guy he had with him, can't remember his name now either that was around the year 1983 I'm pretty sure of that and it was in the heat of the summer, I remember that very well, sleeping in a cabover tractor with the windows rolled down and the bunk vents open doesn't give any comfort to a hot humid night by any means, I still to this day haven't figured out why no air comes in a rig but it just don't, come to think of it over the years of my career I spent many nights without air conditioning not to get off the subject but one night in particular in Miami FL when I worked for Roy Widener Motor Lines out of Morristown TN which by the way was my second swivel in the middle trucking job also my first major Company that I ever worked for I camped out in a Levitz Furniture parking lot sleeping across the dog house of a 1979 Cabover Cornbinder give or take a model year, windows down and just laying sweating and waiting on daylight

Well back to the Coal Bucket situation, after I guess the third day they made the trip up there worked a day on taking the old rear out and putting the other one in and I headed on up to Cincinnati to make my delivery O, I remember the name up there now, it was Hatfield Coal Company I delivered to, my first professional backing of a 30 dump trailer, I had to jack in backing up with my view out the drivers side being a great view as the unit was cocked just enough to where I couldn't see my trailer out of my passenger side mirror, of course sitting in the area I was backing into on the right side just where my passenger side trailer tires should have been a couple inches to the left a little more than they were was some sort of steel rail guide that tore the side out of both right outside trailer tires, can you believe that????  All this in one trip

So, I pulled up like I should have to start with and backed in straight with the dump area, I think it may have been a coal bin and not an open spot on the ground or rater it was a grate I dumped into, after having to crawl under the truck and hammer the PTO shaft into position to raise the trailer anyhow, I got that load off, got the tires replaced at can't remember for sure but I think I flopped them up the the Unocal 76 Truck Stop in Florence KY

I remember the 76 Truck Stops, I felt like a real Truck Driver back then, now we have convenient stores they call Travel Centers because that's a fitting name I guess, and the C.A.R.B. bunch that inspired me to write this much to start with, yes ladies and gentlemen the California Air Resource Board I don't remember hearing anything about these people until around 2008, seems after the population doubled out there and in many places they decided since they needed more trucks to keep up with the needs of more population they decided that having drivers sleep in hot or cold trucks with their anti idle law now and if you're not a lucky driver with an external power supply for A/C or Heat or don't happen to be one of the few that is getting rich off the cheap freight rates that many companies cut at the drivers expense in order to haul volume freight that can afford to buy an $8000 dollar carry on APU then you end up like me today

Resentment and anger toward those that brought all this about including unit train speed governed trucks, left lane restrictions, heavy right lane traffic me first exit ramp and don't give a flip entrance traffic all turned inward has me out of the lifestyle that I dreamed about since the 4th grade in school when an Over Nite Truck used to bring my Dad freight like the small UPS trucks do now let me sit up in the drivers seat of his rig one sunny day at an early age of 7 or 8 years old whatever the 4th grade age was back in my memory of the "Good Ole Days"

Yes driving isn't much of a physical aspect but it is very mental, my hat is off to those that keep the whole World moving not just America but the World, because Truckers really do move the World, 3's and 8's to you guys that do that ole deal, keep on Trucking!   TruckerTwotimes told ya that at 4:49 a.m. on Monday August 6, 2012 They took the driver outta the truck but they didn't take the truck outta the driver!  I'm still running through the midnight hours :)   and I'm back quiet... You can visit my website at http://www.truckertwotimes.com I still have some Audio Podcasts and Videos of my travels on the road. Now I'm back quiet...

2009_enf_rpt.pdf (application/pdf Object)

A Place for Hiding in Public

After Today By Hiding In Public TTT Approved
http://rvrb.fm/I3KzL7

Lyrics
Dragging my feet I caught my reflection
Tattered and torn, I was worn paper-thin
Ran out of streets, I had no direction
I couldn't stop my head from spinning

I love you now as I loved you then
I think I thought that I saw you again

Yesterday I decided
Tonight I'll see it through

Chorus

After today I won't get caught
I will get over the years that I lost
After today I will move on
I will move on
______

I never fought against your decision
But I always thought it was wrong
You said our love was a cold, dark prison
I was the chain you dragged around town

Now days are dark and smiles are cold
I mark the time by growing old

Yesterday I decided
Tonight I'll see it through

(Chorus)

Bridge

After today
I will move on

(Chorus)

After today I will move on
I will move on
We will move on

Copyright 2012 - Hiding in Public


A Place for Hiding in Public

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TruckerTwotimes Trucking Podcaster: Preview "Adam Curry Daily Source Code FUBAR Friday"

TruckerTwotimes Trucking Podcaster: Preview "Adam Curry Daily Source Code FUBAR Friday"

I love ya Adam, you know if I was a woman I'd have somthin for y-o-u :-)>