My-oh-my, time does fly. When I started this blog, I had every intention of chronicling my time spent driving a big truck. I figured I'd encounter many circumstances and experiences that would be worth sharing, and that this would be a good place to put it all down. Well, I most certainly did have those experiences, but composing them here proved more difficult than I'd anticipated. A gentleman I considered my mentor writes a blog, "Life as a Road Warrior," found here: http://lifeasaroadwarrior.blogspot.com. He also has been a prolific contributor to the forum on another trucking website, Trucking Truth, which can be found here: https://www.truckingtruth.com. On the forum he is known as "Old School." I mention him because when I began researching the whole truck driving thing way back in late 2016, I found the Trucking Truth site, which is phenomenal, and from there was led to his blog, "Life as a Road Warrior." Old School, beginning with his very first post, teaches. It was an amazing journey, reading his words of wisdom from his first post to his most recent. I was in awe, that someone with zero experience in driving a big truck could impart so much insight and knowledge of the lifestyle.
Not lost on me was the time Old School must have put into his writings, from adding to his blog to participating in the very busy forum of a popular trucking website. He writes with eloquence and purpose; there are no wasted words, especially on the forum, where he has written thousands of responses to others' queries. Everything he writes is incredibly well thought-out, drawn upon his own experiences and acumen. I thought that in his former life, before he began driving a big truck, he must have been a pastor... all the pastors/ministers I have known were expert linguists and great communicators. Turns out Mr. Old School had owned an electrical-manufacturing type of company, a large one, using big trucks to ship his products nationwide. His background wasn't in public speaking... he was just an amazingly astute and articulate man. The prevailing mystery to me is where in the heck did he find the time to do all that writing? As a truck driver myself, I/we only had 10 hours, sometimes eight, from the time we stopped driving 'til the time we were able to start driving again. In my case, it was always a 10-hr break. Normally I would have already showered at some point during the day before stopping for the night, so I had 10 hours to wind down, make & eat dinner, sleep, wake up, and ready myself for the next day's work. On days I hadn't showered before stopping for the night, add the shower to the mix. My point is I had no time, zero, to write in a blog, much less write in a blog while participating in a forum, answering questions and giving advice to would-be or new truck drivers... how the heck did Old School find the time? I never asked him. I suppose I will at some point.
Now that I'm retired, I'm going to effort to share some of my experiences driving a big truck. It's not going to be easy; my days are now filled with spending time with my wife, drinking coffee, riding my bikes, walking our dogs... all the while encountering new circumstances, the present drawing my attention away from the past. I'll see how it goes. As the love-fest with Old School has apparently drawn to an end here, I'll close with a few photos that I don't think he'll mind if I share... they were taken from his public photos shared on the website Trucking Truth.
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| The most well-known photo Old School is known for... |
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| Everyman's hero. |
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