10-4 Magazine August 2023

10-4 Magazine / August 2023 71 As I grew older and time went on I promoted my abilities – and the greatest one was my ability to adapt. I benefited from the experience most would have considered a misfortune, but people saw me move livestock at the auctions, they watched me interact with my customers, they saw me handling other people’s money, and doing many of the duties of someone much older than myself. I was considered dependable, and through the association of others, the kids who “used my service” later became the men and women in our community who run many of the local service industries. By the time I was old enough to drive myself, I had a car, so I didn’t need to borrow dad’s, and I had a job, so there was gas in the tank. It may not have been full, but back then $5.00 went a long way. My first paid driver’s job was in a Volkswagen bug, doing taxi service for a price. Some of us have been getting paid to move things since we were very young, and those of us who consider ourselves to be professional drivers, take it quite seriously. I got a little long winded on that first part, but what I really want to talk about is leaving some space. What got me to thinking about the county fair was an article I read about Johnny Cash and his style of playing the guitar. Someone once said he learned three chords on the old flat top box and, by changing up the spacing of those chords, built a lifelong career as one of country music’s most loved artists. In case you are wondering, the first time I saw him perform was at the county fair. I’m sure I earned the price of admission shoveling road apples, but I got to see the show most of my friends only heard about, because they had to stand outside the fence. We all know Johnny Cash sang songs about trucking, and my favorite is still “I’ve Been Everywhere.” He was famous for his black 359 Pete that pulled the show trailer back in the day. Many drivers claim to have been passed by none other than “The Man in Black” strolling in the hammer lane. Rumor has it he would get bored and didn’t like to ride in the bus, so he would sometimes drive the bus and, other times, he would drive his rig. Then others, me included, have listened to some singer belting out a ballad on the CB radio. Back in the eighties and nineties, it was common for people to sing on the radio, and some of them were very good. I can’t say I saw him or the truck, but Lord it sounded like him. In my heart, I want to believe I was there, and he was just hanging out with the guys. If ever there was an artist who could have been one of us, “The Man in Black” would have been that guy. Johnny has been gone for a few years now, but he still sends us messages. In case you missed it, the message is in the music. Now I’m no musician, I can’t play any instrument, and given half a chance, I’d get the radio out of tune, but what’s this got to do with trucking? Well, everything! A musical score is composed on a staff, and the notes are arranged in an order with the appropriate spaces and timing to keep the conductor on course, and the melody will always be the same, provided no one crowds the notes or pushes the spaces. If the timing is off, the notes will all run together. It’s all about the timing! So, think of the interstate system as the staff and the vehicles in each lane as the notes. It’s all about the timing or the space between each vehicle. As we drive down the road of life, each of us should be asking these basic questions: are you leaving enough room for slower traffic, and are you in an appropriate lane for your speed? Is it really necessary that you need to drive like it’s the Indy 500 and you’re the next pace car? August is commonly the month when families travel to and from their vacation destinations. They are making memories at the speed of traffic, so be certain you don’t become part of their summertime tale. Can you stop your truck in the distance between you and the next car or that pickup towing a camper? If I were to take an educated guess, the answer is no! Many of today’s trucks are piloted by someone who is probably not driving the truck, they are more of a passive rider, these days. Too many of these drivers are just holding the steering wheel and listening to some distraction on the cell phone. There’s a good chance he or she is semi reclined and relaxing, at 75 mph, in the far left lane, with a curtain covering their left side window to block the sun. Does this sound like you – are you “that” guy? Well, don’t be! We have all seen him or her. They are riding the bumper of the last car in front of them and, given the chance, they will pass in a construction zone. For some reason they don’t recognize speed limits for hazardous conditions or, if they do, they disregard caution with reckless abandonment. Careless and reckless driving is their norm. These so-called drivers aren’t the least bit concerned about crashing or running someone off the road, as long as it doesn’t slow them down. And if they get stopped or ticketed by law enforcement, that doesn’t faze them, either. They will get a different truck, from another company, and just continue to wreak mayhem until they lose their license, and then just walk away from the industry. Okay, I may have been a little heavy handed there, but every single day I’m surrounded by stupid and his truck. I’m one of those drivers who still enjoys his job, and I try hard to educate the motoring public on the virtues of professional drivers. Just for the record, if I ever call you a Professional Driver, consider it a compliment. There are still a few of us left, and we are not all old guys. Some are the very ones you see