Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/550385
Voices 6 | Overdrive | August 2015 Nothing like finding a love letter at- tached with duct tape to your custom paint job. Did I mention duct tape? You know, the stuff that degrades into gray goo when it sits on black paint in the heat of the sun? Yeah. That duct tape. Unfortunately, when we're home, we can't park the truck at our place, even though we have plenty of room. Our property shares a driveway with the neighbor, who calls the law on George when he brings the truck down the lane. We have legal rights to use the lane, but who the hell wants to meet with the law every time they go home to park for a few days? George made arrangements with the local drugstore to park on their property during home time. Not only did he speak with the manager (shout-out to Steve at Drug Mart), he also called the Clark County Sheriff's office and let them know he had per- mission. They also said the deputies who patrol the area thought the truck was beautiful. They said they'd keep an eye on it when they patrolled, but apparently they weren't present when the angry duct-tape jerk struck. I'm not going to go into detail about the four-alarm fire that raced through my veins when I saw the duct tape. While George was removing the note carefully and taking it all in stride, I was flopping around on the pavement, having a grand mal seizure. "Baby, calm down. It's not going to rip the flames off. It's coming off." "I'm going to destroy every human being with duct tape in their possession." "Well, start with me, because I have about three rolls of it in the side box." I eventually calmed down enough to write a response. I had to revise it twice, as the first note was two pages long and contained a whole lot of references to steel-toed boots and planting a foot in certain places. Our son, who is used to my fits, suggested some changes. "Uh, Mom, do you really think this should be written with such vitriol?" After pausing to be completely proud of my son for using a $10 word, I decided he was right and edited the note down to one page without the use of expletives. We didn't hear back from the note writer, which is a good thing because I don't know if I would have been able to keep myself from duct-taping cat poop to their forehead. Sometimes trucking is hard. DUCT-TAPING THE LOVE 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. " You're not supposed to have downtime at home. You're always supposed to keep the truck running 24/7. Didn't you know that? " — sthomas1957, via OverdriveOnline.com " My '80 corvette with new paint/interi- or, etc.? Stolen, wrecked, recovered. … My '99 Western Star w/ original paint? Not a thing to complain about, and The Good Lord has left me alone so far. Knock on wood. Love people, not things. " — Bborn1, via OverdriveOnline.com " Wendy, I feel your pain! Just about makes you want to run a key down the side of their car, worth less than your beautiful paint job. Parking at a place that sells drugs would not be my first choice, for obvious reasons! " — Jon, via OverdriveOnline.com THE NOTICE THE RESPONSE