Truck Driving Friday #2…

#2 only because somewhere along the lines I lost it. I wrote it yesterday, had it ready to post, and this morning it was suppose to posted but….well it’s not there. So I guess that means I’ll write it again….but the second time is never nearly as good as the first time.

Have you ever been hit by lightening, not really you…say your car or really very close to the car? Well it happened to me not one but twice in one night, in the truck hauling 60,000 lbs of saw dust from Minneapolis to a small family farm in Wisconsin. What started out as a super cool summer night turned into the most scared I have ever been in my whole life and that includes being in Chicago in the middle of the night, dropping of garbage cans in Louisiana where I was the only white person around (by the way, not that color makes any difference to me what so ever, I was just way out numbered), not almost driving over an older couple in their teeny tiny little car on a freeway going 80 miles an hour in Texas during a rain storm. Never before or never since. Anyways,

It’s a warm night, the radio finally comes in (no XM yet), the windows are opened on the truck and Jim is sound asleep in the bunk when all of a sound there is this bright light and a deafening noise. Lightening has hit the guard rail next to the truck. I scream, at least I’m pretty sure I did, I come to a quick stop and the truck dies. Lighten and electronics just don’t mix well. Jim still sleeps. I change a couple fuses, start the truck back up and head down the road again. I’m guessing less then 10 minutes later it hits my truck. The mirror bracket on the passenger side. Instantly the truck dies and I am pretty sure I saw my life flash before my eyes. It scared me so bad. It’s an amazingly bright light and the noise, it’s not just a bit loud it’s beyond that. Jim is awake now sure that I’ve killed us yet again (by the way, in the million miles I drove, I never, ever had an accident but you’d never know that they way he always thought I was going to get us killed). Since the truck is dead and Jim’s the fixer he gets to spend the rest of the night replacing fuses, rewiring a few things and trying to calm down his almost hysterical wife. I had to change my clothes, you know why and then sit and relax for a long time before I was able to function safely again. I think that is why I really hate lightening and thunder now, it just scares the pants right off me. It never happened again but twice in a life time was two time to many.

Do you like Hot Air Balloons? I was driving though Iowa and they were having some kind of festival or get together or something and there were hundreds of them. I really mean hundreds of them. Some in the air, some getting there, some flat on the ground. It goes on for miles and miles and I’m so interested in watching them, keeping up with them I’m speeding along and not paying a bit of attention to my speed and next thing you know, well I bet you can guess, I get my first speeding ticket in the truck. 80 in a 65, not good and quite expensive and my first real learning experience with paying attention no matter what. But I did get to see the most beautiful sights watching those balloons floating in the air. It was really good.

Last one, yes it’s possible to cry yourself out of a ticket when it’s Christmas eve and all you want to do is get home for Christmas. It was late on Christmas eve, we’d been out for 9 weeks and I wanted to go home. I wanted to go home really, really bad so I’m hammering away and just thinking home, home….and out of no where comes this officer. I stopped and before he’s even to the truck I’m crying. Not because I’m about to get another ticket, because I just wanted to go home. He looks at me, motions me to get into his car and I’m a blubbering idiots. I told him yes, just give me the ticket, I was wrong and I knew it but I wanted to go home. I just wanted to be home with mama and daddy. We sit and chatter a few minutes, he never asked for my log book which really was great because you can’t make it from the east side of Ohio to where I was at in the time period my log book said and I think he knew all of this. I think he was checking, doing his job without wrecking my Christmas. He let me go with a Merry Christmas, a hug and a bit more respect for the officers of the law. They are human not just mean machines out there to make some money.

So there you have it. Another story in the life of a lady truck driver. It was a great life guys, we say 48 states, 2 providences. We got to sight see, visit a few place we would never of gone in our life time. We made a bit of money and learned more life lesson in those 8 years then lots of people learn in a life time.

Thanks for stopping by for me to share Truck Driving Friday. Take care and have a great TFIG!!! God Bless you all.