Life is What You Do . . . .

The play Cabaret informs us that life is what you do while you are waiting to die. In other words it is not what we plan, it is just what happens. Columbus discovered America while he was going somewhere else.

I do not recall ever sitting down and making a conscious decision to do most of the things that have transpired in my life. For one thing I never expected to be 60 years old; I’m sure I never planned on dying, but I am from the “Never-trust-anyone-over-thirty” generation. It just never occurred to me that I would be this old. Just for a frame of reference the Arkansas Oil Marketers Association and I both got started in 1942.

Just to give anyone younger something to look forward to I really don’t feel any difference between 61 and 21.

The trucking business is really on my mind because I am the relief truck driver for P&W Oil and Mike Reed is sick. This means that last Thursday I drove to Little Rock, picked up a load of diesel, unloaded in Pine Bluff, and headed for Beaumont, Texas. This was my third, long distance, over-the-road trucking endeavor in the past four weeks.

This has led to a lot of time to think. You can concentrate on driving and hold deep intellectual debates with yourself while driving a truck. In the first place you have a lot of time. Any experienced truck driver can tell you that you need to maintain a good average speed. Any experienced truck driver can tell you that the best way to maintain a good average speed is not by driving fast, but by keeping the driver’s door closed. Persistence, not velocity is the answer.

Here are some of the musings, brainstorms, puzzles, and observations from this recent trip.

There are certainly a lot of people on the road in conveyances of all kinds.

Most of the drivers seem to have something else to do that they feel is more important than driving. Some of them still seem to be learning to drive.

Arkansas two-lane blacktop roads are smoother than Louisiana Interstates. At least US 79 from Pine Bluff to Camden is better than I-20 ever considered being.

I’ve gotten older, but I haven’t grown up.

There are more deer on the highway between Rison and Fordyce than most people ever see in their entire lives. We’re talking herds, not a few deer. Herds.

No matter how busy she is, no matter how harried and hurried she is the woman behind the cash register in the convenience store, café, or truck stop appreciates it when you smile at her and she will ALWAYS smile back.

A poem composed while driving through the Texas night:

A young lady on a morning most brisk;
Stripped nude the better to frisk;
Though totally bare,
She flew a plane in the air;
How silly her little *

Texas speed limits (70 daytime, 65 night for the most part) make a difference in your average speed, but most people seem to want to drive a little faster than the legal limit. I wonder what effect the extra 10 to 15 miles per hour have on accidents?

I wonder if the speed limit were raised to 100 miles per hour if people would want to drive 105 to 110?

If you see a bunch of trucks at a roadside café it does not necessarily mean that the food is good, it means there is room to park.

I hesitate to mention this because I know that we pay the bills for all the new image changes, but I don’t think anything looks more ridiculous or ugly than a Chevron station. Especially in the rain they strike the eye like a blight on the landscape; maybe like a scab on a knee. Exxon sure looks like Exxon. The new Diamond Shamrock look is an improvement.

I still miss Gulf Stations.

Trucks are a lot more comfortable than they used to be. Quieter and they ride better.

Parts of East Texas and Southern Oklahoma give new meaning to poverty.

Lots of people seem to be lonely.

The reason truck drivers all listen to County and Western music is because there isn’t anything else on the radio, at least on stations that you can pick up for more than a few miles, but at least you can hear the radio.

I am fairly certain I never said, “When I grow up I want to be a jobber.”

I promise you I never wanted or intended to be in the trucking business; just like most of the rest of my life it just fell into place…or fell on me.

Love means you never have to say you’re sorry. Cell phones mean that you are never off duty. They also mean that no one who works for you ever has to make a decision again.

The speed thing again. If you are driving the speed limit in an 18 wheeler a line of traffic forms behind you immediately.

The vehicles trying to pass you are not nearly as disturbing as the tailgaters that will not pass!

Sunsets look different in Texas than they do in Arkansas. Not better, not worse, just different.

Okay, worse!

All in all driving a truck is not that bad. You do have to put up with a lack of courtesy from your fellowman, but that is not necessarily limited to truckers. There is the danger of being on the highway all the time, the odd hours, the bad food, the long hours of loneliness, the downright weird hours, and general indignities. Well, I didn’t say it was perfect, just not that bad.

Okay, driving a truck is awful. But you do get to see a lot of territory, you don’t get in a rut, there is the joy of the open road, you don’t have to put up with direct supervision, you can meet a lot of nice people, and you are your own boss. Not terrible, just awful.

Just when you think things are really bad and gray and dismal you notice some dang fool Dogwood is out there celebrating. It is practically shouting, “Hey! Look at me! Ain’t life grand.”

You had better drive mentally about a quarter of a mile in front of your hood ornament. This is because you need to anticipate at least that far ahead. Almost anything that happens between a quarter of a mile and your hood ornament is going to be a problem unless you are prepared. You really don’t want any surprises because once one of these things gets above 15 miles an hour it is out of control. You start to feel like an accident looking for a place to happen. If you aren’t constantly alert someone pulls out in front of you and you become a statistic.

This is a beautiful country.

When I got home my wife and daughter thought my stress level had dropped so much they recommended a career change.

Hopefully this gave me a better idea with what my key employees have to put up with on a daily basis.

I apologize for the rambling nature of this, it is just sort of what came out. Hope to see all of you in Hot Springs.