Excalibur
Non-truckers don’t know much about truckers’ relationships with the trucks. They may be a means to an end (income, benefits) or something more personal (family tradition, freedom of the road) or even something else (a safe/familiar place, a companion, an obligation).
What does the truck, whether it’s yours or not, mean to you?
Being a truck driver is, for some of us, is more than just a job or a career, you may say its in my DNA, it’s part of Me and who I am. I was given my very first ride in a semi when I was 5 years old, MAN I was sold, a big BLUE PETERBILT! from that day on I wanted to be 4 things in life, a policeman, a firefighter, a high power business tycoon (just wasn’t meant to be) and a truck driver. My law enforcement career ended early due an accident which also ended the prospects of being a firefighter which left me to being a truck driver. I have driven truck before while working on farms in my youth and so started my life as a professional driver, well as soon as I was old enough. Being a driver became a passion, when I wasn’t driving my truck I was driving something at home going somewhere doing something just to drive, one can like it almost to a disease, incurable.
We make our trucks an extension of our trucks the longer we stay in them, a home away from home, more or less. One truck I had a 2 burner stove in it with a small fridge and I would cook as many of my own meals as I could. My current truck has a 3.2 Cubic foot fridge with a microwave sitting on top of it for the same reason all though I don’t cook as much as I should. It is the original tiny home, for some it is the only home they know as they don’t have a home to go back to, whether it is because they are single saving up money (or spending it faster than they can make it), married and the kids are out of the house and this is the way they want to travel to see the country, divorced… Yes, divorced. It’s a hard life and it takes a strong woman to literally raise their children as if she is a single mother because her husband the truck driver is gone for 3 to 6 weeks at a time and then only home for a couple days before he has to leave again.
This truck is my livelihood, it provides an income to give my family what they need to survive and every now and then a few extra’s, not going to get rich by any means but I am not sure what else I would do, could be happy doing. I am an independent Owner Operator, I work for myself, that in and among itself is an accomplishment and not an easy one as I don’t know that I would go back to drive for anyone else. McDonalds would almost be a better option than driving for another company, scary thought, but I am free this way, this is my freedom. I get to choose where and when I go, how much money I wish to make that week, month, what better motivation to make you a better person though, succeed or work at McDonalds…