Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/535950
Voices 8 | Overdrive | July 2015 Truck stop parking lots are a beehive of private industry. At any given moment, you could be minding your own business and be offered a set of slightly used dentures for a private fitting and possible purchase. But you get used to being firm, yet polite, when you say "no" to the variety of services on offer. Unless it's something like tiny pink lighters with a picture of Jesus on them, and then, if your name is Wendy and you like tiny shiny things, you just have to buy one. That's why I was completely shocked when George told me he let a guy pol- ish out the headlights on The Precious at a truck stop in El Paso, Texas. I get nervous when anyone who is not a close acquaintance, blood relative or member of Bruce Mallinson's team touches the truck. To have someone just walk up in the parking lot and offer to do something to the truck is instantly a no-go. George is usually the same way. I distinctly remember an incident in Arizona when he vaguely threatened a guy who offered to clean our tires with something that looked remark- ably like urine in a raggedy spray bottle. When he sent me a picture of the polished headlights, I called him right away. "Did you polish the headlights?" "Nope." "Did you get new ones?" "Nope." "Did a fairy come and give them to us?" "If you want to call a guy in the Pilot parking lot a fairy, then yeah, kind of. I paid a guy $20 to polish them out." "I can't believe you let someone else do the headlights!" "I watched him do it. He did a good job – you saw the pictures." "Yeah, but they're headlights. They're really important. What if he messed them all up?" "He didn't mess them up. He put the right clear coat on it – slightly yellow tint to get a truer color from the bulbs. It's fine – don't fret." "He sprayed something on the headlights that's yellow? Oh, my God, it's going to look like a jaun- diced disco in the road when you turn them on." Sometimes, it's hard to let other people touch the truck. I'll probably need to work on that – right after I get done worrying myself to death about whether or not the headlights are going to fall out. HEY, MISTER, DON'T TOUCH THE TRUCK! Wendy Parker chronicles her journey on the road with her owner-operator husband, George, in the George and Wendy Show blog on OverdriveOnline.com. Scan the QR to read more from her on your phone or tablet. " The guy who did the headlights wasn't the same guy who wanted to do the tires, was he? BTW, you can get stuff in most parts stores or at airport flight services that works great for headlights, marker lights, dashboard lenses, etc. – any see- through plastic surfaces. Helicopter pilots use it on the windscreens and the whole 'bubble' on smaller ones, because you can't imagine what it costs to replace the 'bubble' on a Bell B-1 if it gets hazy. I'll bet George noticed a huge difference in night vision afterwards. " — James, via OverdriveOnline.com George Parker's 2004 Freightliner Coronado, a former Chip Ganassi Racing haul tractor, took third in its Wash & Show class at Overdrive's Pride & Polish event at the 75 Chrome Shop in Wildwood, Fla.