Wed, Nov 19 .... My First

Today started like any other morning... I wake up and don't have a clue where I am, what time it is, or what state I'm in. After the "Good Mornings" then come my onslaught of questions to Trapper... "Where are we, what state, and what time is it?"

Actually I'm not that bad... it does start running together at times.

We began our day nice and easy. Trapper was up early having "his" time and I took my brisk morning walk to the truck stop. We knew we wouldn't have to leave early, we didn't pick up our load until 1:00 pm. and we only had to drive about 60 miles.

Arriving early, like always, our shipper decided they would go ahead and start loading us. I did my daily chores and walked over to Dollar General while we were waiting.

Loaded and leaving came around 2:00 pm and we started toward IL. We don't deliver until 5:00 pm on Thursday, so we have plenty of time. Trucking is like any other job... busy days and not so busy days.

We decided to stop at the Pilot Travel in Lebanon, TN. This is a huge truck stop. I think it will hold 100 trucks and it is full!

Before I started riding with Trapper, I read a lot of blogs from girlfriends, wives, etc. and they were all worried about "lot lizards" and their significant other's fidelity. Well, 10 total weeks on the road, I had not seen the first lot lizard and then came tonight!

There she was walking down the long line of trucks, knocking on every door that had the cab lights on. I read somewhere once that Tennessee didn't have lot lizards... they were all volunteers! (Tennessee Vol's... get it?)

Anyway, on a more serious note, earlier today, there was a girl at the first truck stop trying to get a ride to PA. She didn't have anything with her other than the clothes on her back and a cell phone. She was asking every driver that walked by if they were headed to Pa. She most likely would have gotten in the truck with anyone.

It makes you stop and wonder what it was that put these girls in the position they are in... bad luck, bad judgement, bad choices... how will they get out of their predicament... do they want out... do they have family or friends...

There's probably a time in every one's life that we all make the "bad" calls... it's what you do with it that matters. My own life... I've helped a lot of people... in different ways and when I needed it the most and probably realized it the least... the favor was returned to me a hundred times over... I wonder if the girl this morning is on her way to PA tonight...

It's a different world on the road. You see a lot of things that you would never otherwise see. It puts a different perspective on life.