10-4 Magazine March 2022

70 10-4 Magazine / March 2022 stopped at a rest area west of Birmingham, AL. All day, there were multiple stops in each state along the way, and when they finally arrived in El Paso, TX, Mike said he had to get go. He had to deliver that next morning in Sacramento, CA and logbooks needed to be put together (yes, plural, for those not accustomed to using loose-leaf and paper logbooks). That was about a 15-hour trip, and he made his appointment time, got the truck unloaded, reloaded on Tuesday night, and headed back for Georgia. After making it to Odessa, TX, Mike’s refrigerated unit quit working. He called into dispatch to let them know about the problem. He was asked where he was going to get it fixed, and then Mike asked what the outside temperature was between there and Atlanta – it was in the low 30s the whole way. Mike said he wasn’t getting it fixed, and that he was going on to his delivery. He opened the doors in the back and headed to Atlanta. When he arrived to unload, the receiver asked why his refrigerated unit was off and Mike said it was almost out of fuel so when he arrived, he cut it off. The receiver did a thermometer check, and the product was at 34 degrees, right where it needed to be. He dropped off his truck to get the unit repaired on Friday morning, went home, and was reloaded for California that same night. Not only are there stories of mishaps, but there are shenanigans, too. Mike Mann mentioned a time when Donnie Austin was driving a Kenworth W900 and Mike had a Peterbilt 359 with a group of trucks running together. Mike showered in Shady Grove while the others wanted to shower at the Petro in El Paso, TX. Mike stopped at the service road near the Petro to take a nap across the steering wheel while waiting on the others. He asked Donnie to wake him up if he fell asleep. Mike had dozed off and Donnie pulled up to where Mike was and decided to pull the nose of his truck directly up to Mike’s truck. Mike said the noses of the two trucks were so close that you couldn’t even fit a cigarette between the bumpers – and then Donnie set down on the horn. Mike said it scared the hell out of him and he called Donnie everything but a white man! Some lessons are learned by example, and some are learned the hard way. I also heard confessions along with the shenanigans. These were not necessarily all regrets, but more so life lessons. One of the members talked about doing jail time for drug use back in the day. He talked of the fun they had back then, and if he had it to do all over again, he wouldn’t have changed a thing. One driver mentioned that back in the day he was a train robber, so-to-speak. He’d pull up to the side of a refrigerated box car at a packing house and fill up his tanks. He managed not to purchase any fuel for a good while. A couple of the other drivers had talked about the various driver’s licenses they would carry from different states. It was a memory game, because you had to recall which license you needed to provide should you be pulled over. Some drivers today couldn’t fathom what went on in trucking’s past. It was in the past though, where regulations weren’t as heavy, and drivers were willing to take risks. One thing I can say is not one of them said they didn’t have fun. Those were the days of running fast and heavy. Run-ins with the law were inevitable, and Artie “Dollar Bill” Daniel had a group of us laughing when he talked about him and another driver getting tickets. Artie signed his ticket, but when the officer handed the ticket to the other driver, the driver said he couldn’t write. The officer said, “Well then, put an X on the line,” but the driver said he couldn’t because that was his daddy’s name. The officer said he better write something or he was going to jail. If anyone has ever mentioned being out on the road and using the “business” channel, then you can bet they ran a big radio in their truck (most still do). Certain ten-meter radios have upper and lower bands that have several hundred channels. For the ITA, a channel was picked, and it allowed you to talk on the radio to anyone across the country. If you didn’t have a radio with the upper and lower bands, there was a kit you could purchase to get those extra channels. Clifton Whitley said, “You always knew you had seen a pal when you saw that white porch light on the truck.” This business channel encompassed the group, so no one was ever alone on the road. They made sure there would always be someone available to talk to on the radio. I had several different conversations with Donnie Austin, both at the reunion and on the phone, as he became my contact for formulating this article. He spoke about the strong friendship he and Mike Mann had, and how they would run together every other week, if not every week. Donnie said the brotherhood and the excitement of what they might do next was what he anticipated. Trouble or not, Donnie was always all in. Donnie said he was just a kid when he got started. With his father being in the military, he traveled a lot. Everywhere they went was by car, and Donnie became infatuated with big trucks. At 19, he couldn’t go over the road, however, he knew some people who fudged his paperwork so he could get into trucking, and hasn’t looked back since. This reunion was full of laughter, hugs, and tears. As with most reunions, this was family, brought together by the many miles they’ve spent together. You find traces of this Broomstick Shade Tree Chestnut Dallas Outlaw Carolina Freak