From the time I can remember my dad’s parents have been truck drivers. When I was pretty young my mom went to get her CDL license and started driving as well. She had been with my step dad for a number of years and he was a truck driver when she met him. It seems as though being a truck driver is just something my family does.
Not many people think much about the drivers of semi trucks. There are stereotypes about truck drivers that they are nasty people who sit on their butts all day and end up getting fat. Well this isn’t always true. Truck drivers are dedicated and hardworking. We don’t realize how much dedication it takes to drive all day and/or night. They get a bad reputation from the few who are actually nasty and the face that Hollywood uses in movies.
I can remember going to my mema and papa’s house every weekend when they would come home from runs. They hauled flowers from Florida to California every week. They had a dedicated run, my mom and stepdad did not. They would go to almost every state in the US as well as Mexico. They did not know where they were going until the dispatcher called to tell them. I have souvenirs from almost every place they ever went. They brought me bells with the state name or town they went to. They were gone for 2-3 months and would be back for about two weeks at a time in between runs. They hauled almost everything you can imagine.
One summer my brother and I got to go out with my mom and stepdad on a run. They had it set so we could each go with them for a week (I got to go for 2). We went from Florida to California then back to Georgia to get a new load that would go to Washington. We picked up our puppy in Oregon on the way through. I never realized how cramped a truck could get but with my mom, stepdad, three dogs, and myself it was pretty packed. I got to see so many fun things on my trip (the Grand Canyon and the big Texan in Amarillo to name a few).
I do have a point with this article, I promise. My point is that I have mad respect for truck drivers and my trip helped me realize all that they do. They haul and deliver most of the goods we have in stores. Without them we would have to find another way of transporting things. Next time a semi truck passes you on the highway remember that they probably have a family just like you but they have to do their job just like you and they do a really good job at what they do. Don’t just think of the nasty stereotype you have heard before, get to know them. In the words of Shrek, “people are like onions, they have layers”. Underneath that odd exterior of a truck driver is probably a really nice person.
