10-4 Magazine October 2020

34 10-4 Magazine / October 2020 company and Dean knew he wanted his trucking company to be the same. Some lessons may not have been learned in the best way possible, but that’s probably why they are never forgotten. When Dean drove for G-Line, he always pulled a reefer trailer, but occasionally a tanker would need to be hauled somewhere, too. An extra load needed to be taken to California. The plan was for Dean to haul it out and then meet one of the other drivers at a rest area for a drop and hook. As many drivers assume, the thing to do when waiting or stopping somewhere is to take a nap behind the steering wheel, or so Dean thought. Dean thought he would grab a quick nap before the other driver arrived, and this became one of those “memorable” training sessions. This other driver, the one meeting Dean, saw him napping in the driver’s seat when he arrived. Pulling his rig right up in front of Dean’s truck, with the high beams on, he laid on the horn. Dean jumped up and slammed on the brakes (even though he was parked) and was both scared out of his mind and extremely angry. The other driver locked his doors until Dean cooled off and then said that he had just taught him a very valuable lesson – never sleep behind the wheel, because it will create bad habits. Utilize the sleeper for rest, that is what it is meant for. From there on out, Dean made it a point that no matter what, if he was going to rest, he got out of the driver’s seat and went into the bunk. Since I first saw this well-dressed combination, considering he lived in Iowa, I had been trying to figure out how I could photograph it. With all the shows that have been canceled, my trips to the Midwest were diminishing quickly. As luck would have it, Dean runs to Florida quite a bit, and he ended up delivering in Florida on a Friday, with time to kill over the weekend in Georgia. The day I shot the truck was a Hail Mary, meaning I wasn’t familiar with the area and I didn’t have any spots picked out. The only thing I knew for certain was I was going to leave my house at 4:30 AM, meet up with him in Pinehurst, GA at the truck stop at 6:30 AM, and photograph him rolling north on I-75 towards Perry, GA at sunrise. That day, the sunrise wasn’t all that impressive, but the rolling pictures definitely were. We made our way to Perry, hoping we might be able to get into the Georgia State Fairgrounds, but were unsuccessful. So, I had him wait on the offramp and I went driving around the area. The first location I found, with permission from two members of the local law enforcement agency, was at the Go Fish Education Center in Perry. These pictures turned out great, but I really wanted to photograph him at a second location. I mentioned to Dean that I knew of some orchards about a half-hour from Perry, and wondered if he would be willing to head up that way to see if we could find a spot around them that would supply us with a good photo opportunity. Lane Southern Orchards is located outside of Fort Valley, GA and there are orchards for days. We managed to find a gravel parking lot with lines of orchards in the background, which was the final location we needed.