A couple of trucks for you to enjoy @TruckinManDan
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There’s an outlaw mystique surrounding truckers:
And I’ve been from Tucson to Tucumcari
Driven every kind of rig that’s ever been made
Driven the back roads so I wouldn’t get weighed
This song offers a different perspective, which I imagine to be more accurate:
You’re sick of hangin’ around and you’d like to travel
Get tired of travelin’ and you want to settle down
I guess they can’t revoke your soul for tryin’
The closest I’ve come to trucking is hauling a trailer behind an ordinary car, across a continent, which hardly qualifies as a trucking experience. Still, I have the utmost respect for truckers:
Truckers are courteous: When a long truck overtakes my at night, I flash my headlights when it has safely overtaken me. More often than not, the trucker flashes his/her lights to acknowledge my help, as s/he pulls back into my lane.
The trucker’s work is dangerous: In an ice storm years ago, my ordinary car ran off the road. I walked several kilometers in the sleet, on the ice, until I arrived at a location that still had power and could call for a tow truck. Eventually, I ended up at truck stop, where I ordered a cup of coffee. The waitress asked me whether I was scared. I said “not really,” but then I realized that she probably assumed that I was driving one of those big rigs that sat outside, and those truckers face a danger on many days that I had faced on only this particular day.
My experience in an ordinary car, in that ice storm, could hardly compare with the experience of the many truckers who were stranded at that truck stop.
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the lowell george song is perhaps the most beautiful song in the english language. been to all those places and all the fine desert terrain. ‘Albuquerque’ would have fit somewhere, but dallas it was…still perfect. I lived at 8000 feet up in the high desert (flagstaff) for years. my respect for truckers on the I17 and I40 are immense. I followed them closely when all highway cars were ground down to snowstorm and 35mph and spinouts. we are talking white knuckle commutes every day. they are the smartest and safest on the road. Of course I didn’t follow them close enough where they’d brake check me–they hate those drivers. this is the southern end of the rockies and just as dangerous. they have a 6th sense for the terrain and the conditions that most of us will never have.
yep, same
yep same
yep same
yep same. it sold itself.
great introduction Dan–good to have you around
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Hey! Great to have you with us, however many wheels you have, there’s a spot for you here. Enjoy the journey! 
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Welcome to the forum and EOS!
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welcome to the 
side
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@kwg - I think the “outlaw” side of trucking exists, just not as much as it used to. The introduction of electronic logs, vehicle camers, etc - have calmed things down. There some old truckers I’ve talked to that would spout some wild stories from back in the day before lines were painted on the highways. But both songs are pretty accurate in their own right!
@drunkenvicar - I’ve had some of those drivers follow close behind, but being on the east coast, it’s been more becuase of the pouring rain and/org fog and us being the first line of defense against the wild animals trying to cross lol. You can generally tell if somebody is close behind out of caution vs being a jerk, and we don’t pay no mind to the jerks anyway, but we just keep an eye on the mirrors!
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