10-4 Magazine February 2024

The Veteran’s View: By Dennis Mitchell Another month has rolled around, and I need to make a note to myself: if you don’t want to spend the rest of this month in the doghouse, remember the 14th is Valentine’s Day! Drivers, if we want our significant others to remember “10-4 Day” then we might want to get something special for themon this lover’s holiday. I’m thinking, maybe a new Peterbilt necklace to hang from the sun visor. You know, a little “truck love” for Just Steppin – my truck – since she hasn’t learned to read yet, and I should probably give the card to my wife. Maybe she won’t read this article and then I won’t have to explain anything! Just for the record, on the 20th of last month (January), we celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary. That’s a lot of living between us, which includes four houses, eight cars/pickup trucks, and somewhere along the way enough semi-trucks to rack up a whole lot of miles. Every time I see one of those wall signs that say “Live, Laugh, Love” I’m reminded of a lifetime of memories, all worth living again. We would still live the life we have, laugh at our mistakes, and love every minute together. I know this is sentimental, but when you find a good thing, spend your time practicing what enhances the experience. This month I want to give a shout out to all the moms, dads, uncles, and grandfathers who have taken the time to teach the next generation how to do what they do – drive. No, I didn’t forget the aunts and grandmothers, because they were busy teaching many of the ladies who we are married to how to live with the egotistical, eccentric, and obsessed individuals we drivers are. When I was learning the art of driving there were very few lady drivers. That’s not meant to be a sexist comment, it’s a matter of record. The equipment we drove was not designed to accommodate lady drivers, and there were limited accommodations to service them on the road. In the 70s, if you wanted a shower, you would get a cheap motel and sleep a few hours before dispatch gave you your next load (pre cell phone days, of course). Many of the rooms had a phone in them or close by so we didn’t have to wait in line at the truck stop restaurant for a pay phone. The trucks were by no means easy to drive either. My first truck, a Ford 9000 cabover, didn’t have power steering, which meant I had to stand up to turn the wheel whenever backing up or turning at a slow speed. Every time I see a 22-inch white steering wheel I’m reminded of that old relic and the times it would “whip” me around the cab when I hit a big pothole. Back when I was too young to drive with a license, but was moving trucks and docking trailers, the clutch was so stiff I would use both feet to press it down. Don’t laugh – there was a time before the “Easy Pedal” clutch was a thing, and long before the automatic transmission, when men were men, and the ladies just didn’t drive. Did I also mention that Ford 9000 didn’t have an air ride seat either? Mine was hydraulic, and unless you weighed 200 pounds, it didn’t bounce anything except the driver. We used to joke about having “air ride” seats – that was what we called the space between the seat of your pants and the top of the chair – mostly air. The rear suspension on my first truck was a 9-spring stack made by Reyco. The only time it would give or spring at all was when the truck was fully loaded, and then it didn’t ride worth a darn. And, back then, there wasn’t any of this riding with your feet on the dash and reclining the seat into the bunk. You had both hands holding tightly on the wheel and your feet flat on the floor. It was a matter of safety (mostly your own). With all that being said, we still showed up to work every day, and climbed up in the cab to see what adventures awaited us out on that open road. I never said truck drivers were the sharpest tools in the shed, but we are the toughest. Outside of iron workers and high rise construction workers, we have some of the most dangerous jobs out there. That may be why the pay is like it is. Don’t start with the “we don’t get paid what we are worth” conversion with me because I’m not listening. There is a great range of pay value in the trucking industry. Why, you ask? That’s a great question. It’s because the experience level of the driver and the potential value to the company is assessed by the people at the company, not the driver. 46 10-4 Magazine / February 2024 A FAMILY AFFAIR