Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/324702
VOICES 8 | Overdrive | June 2014 We made it home without falling into a pothole and starving to death. It got close in Arkansas, where we ended up on that lonely stretch of 40 with few truck stops and fewer parking spaces after dark. George was betting on a little spot he'd heard about – apparent- ly at one time it was a small fuel stop, but now it's a Mexican restaurant with an insanely bad parking lot. There was a parking spot, though, and George shut it down with just a few minutes to spare on the clock. I woke up about 97 times and checked the locks, as I often do when we're in places where I don't feel so secure. It became painfully evident at 4 a.m. that I might have to walk across the street to the Motel 6.5 (it's a real place, with a hand-painted sign, I swear) to use their facilities. I didn't want to wake George at 4 – he had driven hard the day before, and I knew he was tired. There was no way in hell I was walking to the Motel 6.5 by my- self, so I laid there and suffered. And by suffering, I mean I laid there for a few minutes and quit thinking about having to go and fell back to sleep. When we woke, the parking lot was completely full, with trucks jammed ev- erywhere. The owner of the restaurant came out and started banging on doors, and I made a beeline for his bathroom, stopping only to drop $10 on the count- er and thank them profusely for the use of their toilet. By the time I exited, I had a cup of coffee and sweet bun waiting beside the change for my $10. George was doing his pretrip when the law showed up. They were block- ing the road for a young guy in a big truck to pull in beside the lot where we were parked. There was no doubt the guy had been for a wild ride: The front end of his truck was mostly gone, and there was mud up to the bottom of the door on the driver's side. He parked and got out to speak to the sheriff who had escorted him. He looked like he was about 12. George walked over and asked the sheriff if the roads were clear. He told him it was all fi ne, that miraculously this had been a one-vehicle incident. He went on to tell him that the kid had gone through the wire fence, down into the median, managed not to jackknife and somehow had gotten it back on the wrong side of the highway, where he continued driving for about four miles. He had been escorted up the on-ramp at the exit where we were getting ready to go the correct way down. I am so glad I had to go to the restroom. I don't know what happened to the kid. I'm not going to pass judg- ment because I wasn't in the cab of the truck. I do know we witnessed the end of his driving career, and I think that might have been OK. I am so thankful no one was injured or killed – especially us. Please be safe out there, and remember, sometimes the delays are lifesavers. When delays are lifesavers in disguise 'WOULD MAKE ANNE FERRO PROUD' "At least he'll be careful around trucks for a long time now. Sometimes having to change your underwear and cut your fingernails back out of the steering wheel is the transition between a new driver and a safe driver." — "Godfearingrebel" on OverdriveOnline.com 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. "I think my rescue pit bull has this trucking thing all fi gured out. He would make [FMCSA chief] Anne Ferro proud with his berth time and breaks. Come to think of it, his break starts when the truck starts, and his break ends when we get home." — Mary Hanlon, about Buddy Roe, the rescue pit bull pictured, well acclimated to over-the-road trucking since she wrote in looking for advice on local laws and regulations concerning the breed Just hours before this photo was taken, a truck crossed the median and continued driving on the wrong side of the highway. Voices_0614.indd 8 6/3/14 11:06 AM