Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/293070
Voices 10 | Overdrive | April 2014 Learning from highway 'gentle giants' While growing up and often being the shortest person in the room, I learned that I had two choices in life — either I could resent those taller than me, or I could be grateful for the fact that gravity would be less kind to the taller folk than it was to me. And if I chose to be resentful, I would not only have to get used to the limited company of friendships with me, myself, and I, but I also would have to become more adept at climbing shelves in grocery stores due to the fact that those I resented would be more reti- cent to help a bitter little old man like me. I learned, though, that there are gentle giants among the taller folk if I just looked up or took a glance in my rearview mirror and smiled. Childhood with an open mind teaches you that interstates and high- ways offer a plethora of game boards for a child's entertainment. From "I spy with my little eye" to "slug-bug- no-slug-backs," I believe even today's most advanced portable gaming technology cannot match the creativity and originality of the spur-of-the-mo- ment traveling games of my youth. Yet, one game we are all famil- iar with helped me shatter my own preconceived fears and notions of the most prevalent vehicle on the interstates and highways — the semi. We all remember vigorously pumping our arms up and down when a semi passed, with the hope that the driver would sound his commanding horn. I discovered that there was a deeper joy I experienced: the discovery of a gentle giant of the road – the truck driver behind the wheel. I could have held on to my fear of seeing the giant beast-like presence of these vehicles barreling down the road. But I came to realize the cargo they were pulling for millions of people – their bread for feeding their families – imparted a mistakenly menacing presence. The menace was not them, but our own misconceptions. If I was not able to overcome these misconceptions, I would not have been able to meet and get to know a lot of true gentle giants. Yes, I look at many of you as Andre the Giants of the road as you command your giant semis with your even larger hearts. Therefore, like a kid on a small-town corner standing in awe as a giant red fire truck goes by, knowing that this ve- hicle keeps him safe, I will always feel like that when I see a semi passing by. Yes, that is a big 10-4 from the heart of this grateful 4'4". – Michael Irving Max Heine With the upcoming raffling off of the Long Haul Survivor custom 2000 Peterbilt to benefit cancer research, we asked readers what they would do were they to win the truck, which will finish its yearlong tour of trucking shows in May at the Midwest Pride in Your Ride show in Earlville, Iowa, where the win- ning ticket will be drawn. Stay tuned to OverdriveOnline.com for coverage of the winner and the grand total raised. Find a roundup of readers' dreams below: Tony Hege: Run her, and take a percentage of every check and donate it to cancer awareness. Dan Hladasz: Add some black to it. Shave the roof lights. Drop it down low, and paint every piece of chrome. Then auction it off, and donate the proceeds to actual cancer patients to help with their bills. Todd Modderman: Run it and use it at [the B.R.A.K.E.S. driver instruction program] to teach teens how to drive around big trucks. Dana Crisp: Work it, care for it, and show it like a rig should be. Martin Anderson: I would sell it and give the money to a cancer patient or cancer survivor. Cynthia Ariana Roberts: I would pull a mobile imaging system around the nation so low- to no-income people could get help … or anyone that needed a mammogram could get one. I went through a cancer scare, and trust me, it's not fun waiting for your sentence. Charitable plans for prize truCk The truck was built from the ground up by small fleet owner Eldon Jaeger and his shop team, with a bevy of sponsors donating custom equipment. Michael Irving aspired to be a driver, he says, but instead studied to be a teacher and today works in a bank. He lives with his wife and daughter in Knoxville, Iowa. Voices_0414.indd 10 4/1/14 2:01 PM