United States of America

            
It all started on June 1, 1935 in Duluth, Minnesota... That's when I was born at home, not in a hospital. My Mother and Father divorced when I was 1 year old and I only saw my Father 1 time for about 15 minutes at a train station in Duluth when I was about 6 years old. I just barely remember it.

Anyway, my Mother moved back and forth between Duluth and Los Angeles, California about 5 or 6 times while I was a small boy... So, you can say I was indoctrinated into
traveling at a very, very young age. Mom passed-away in 1993 in Denver where my half-brother lives, but in the summer of 1990 she was visiting us in Rockford, Illinois, and she and I were talking about the past. We both tried to remember all the different schools I have gone to around the country, we could recall about 50, and however, we both knew there were more.

My mother re-married to my step-father, (Who was a very good Father to me and I respect him. He passed-away in 1970.) They were married when I was 9 years old. He was from Dekalb, Illinois, and we continued to move around the country, from Phoenix, and then Los Angeles area, then Marion, Iowa, and Duluth, Minnesota, etc. to name a few. Every time I would just start to get to know kids my age in school we would be on the move again. Finally I got tired of being in one school after another and quit in the 10th grade at 15 years of age. I went into the Marine Corps at the age of 17, and after my stint there I went into the Army. All of this of course involved more travel. I couldn't stay in one place if I wanted too. I was always wondering what is on the "other-side-of-the-hill". I love to travel, I can't help it...

Oh, I've tried to work in factories, but that almost drove me crazy. I felt like a prisoner
and found myself always looking out the window, or standing in an open dock door watching the lucky people driving by, how free they were, while I stood by some hot, smelly, noisy machine, covered in solvent and/or oil, breathing all that foul stuff into my lungs. My work history was terrible. I'd work a job for a short time and quit. I just could not adjust to being in one place all the time and having some "boss" constantly around. I am what you would call a "loner". I like being by myself and making my own decisions.

From January to June of 1974 I was a cop, a deputy sheriff in Stevenson County, Freeport, Illinois. At least that job allowed me to be out in the weather, breathing fresh air, moving around and doing and seeing different things, and I enjoyed being a cop, however, the pay was so low that I couldn't pay my bills. I knew I had to do something that would allow me to be out in the fresh air and at the same time make enough money to support my family.

The tuition included a very nice, clean sleeping room at a small hotel in Sun Prairie where I could stay during the week. If I can remember correctly I think the tuition was about $1,000 then, which nowadays would be a lot more... That was a lot of money back then, but, the government paid it for me so off I went to become an "over-the-road" driver, a concrete cowboy, king of the road gear-jammer, with "white-line fever".

At that time there was only my wife and me. Our daughter had not been born then so it was just the 2 of us to worry about. My wife was a wonderful person, truly my "better-half". It really takes a very special woman to be the wife of a road-driver. She passed-away in October, 2001 from breast-cancer. We were married for 33 years when she passed-away and no other woman can ever take her place. She told me many times that she knew how hard it was to have to work a job you didn't like and she would not want me to do that.

When I arrived at the school I found that they were very serious about what they were doing.  We would have about half the day in a classroom studying the Federal Safety Regulations, how to handle Haz-Mat, log books, manifests and in general the paper work and rules and regulations involved with trucking. Then we were taken out to the trucks.

What an exciting feeling it was the first time the instructors took us out onto the real highway. They showed us the shift patterns of different transmissions and how to "double-clutch". Some trucks had 7 speed shifters, some had 9 and 10 speed, and then there was the "feared" 13 speed splitter. Everyone feared that one, trying to split each gear both up and down, took a lot of concentration and coordination as far as we were concerned, and we all felt that we would never catch-on to it.

After graduation I returned to Rockford and got hired on at Tucker Freight Line as a "causal" driver which meant I only worked when they needed me which actually turned-out to be pretty regular. Of course, I only got the loads the regular drivers didn't want. Usually I was sent to Kelly-Springfield in Freeport, Illinois (about 20 miles West of Rockford) for a load of tires. Geez that was hard... I had to stack tires all the way up to the roof of the trailer, all the way back. The sun would be baking down on the roof and it was over 100 degrees F in that trailer. It would take me hours to get it done, and I didn't "goof-off" either. But I remember how it felt when I was finally done and headed back to the terminal with the windows open and the cool wind blowing in on me. I had the feeling of satisfaction of getting it done. I would be driving a cab-over day cab and I remember looking back out the rear window at the trailer hooked on behind me, and looking in the mirror at that trailer with a full load, and I couldn't believe that I was finally driving a real 18 wheeler with a full load, and getting paid for it.. That brought on a feeling of satisfaction that made all the hard work worth it.

One time they sent me to a factory in Rockford for a load. There was a railroad track running through the back of the factory yard where the dock doors were. Anyway, it was a dirt yard back there and the tracks were a little higher than the ground was... Yup, I got my drives up on that track and sat there spinning my drives, hung-up. At that time I had forgotten that I could lock my axles. Finally, with a great deal of embarrassment I had to ask another driver there for help. He of course came over, flipped the switch locking my axles and I was able to get off. That let the air out of my balloon real fast.

I drove local for Tucker for about 3 or 4 months. But, what I really wanted was to get out on that "big road". Tucker Freight lines didn't have any road drivers domiciled out of Rockford so I went back to the school for help on locating a road job for someone with my limited experience. There were plenty of road driver jobs in Rockford, but they all wanted experienced drivers. They set me up for an interview with Ellsworth Freight Line in Eagle Grove, Iowa. Ellsworth hired a lot of recent truck driving school graduates and as a result their turn-over with drivers was very high, plus the pay wasn't that good. They were a reefer company hauling mainly swinging beef, or cheese. I don't remember what the pay was at that time, maybe around 12 to 14 cents per mile. Anyway, I knew I had to sacrifice a lot in order to gain the experience I needed for a good job. What I needed were as many miles under my seat as I could get.

Ellsworth hired me and started running me into Ohio and towards the East coast with swinging beef. I absolutely hate going east. Anywhere East of Chicago I don't like it because of too many people and congestion. However, North, South and West of Chicago I'm in my glory. I didn't last very long at Ellsworth due to the poor pay and running east, but at least it got my feet wet on that "big road".

I've driven for so many companies and brokers over the years I just can't remember them all. I've been cheated out of my hard earned money quite a few times, and learned a lot of lessons. I've had some hair-raising experiences that scared the crap out of me and I've had many gratifying experiences. I ended up driving for 28 years with over 2,500,000 miles and I never had an accident though I've come very close at times. I only have 1 speeding ticket from Ft. Stockton, Texas thanks to a rookie State cop there, though I have deserved many more. There's a time and a place to "hammer-down". You can't keep your foot on the floor all the time.

The last 10 years of my career were spent on excellent jobs. I was with Yellow Freight out of Chicago for about 5 1/2 years and went from there to Consolidated Freightways in Peru, Illinois for almost 5 years before I finally called it quits. I am qualified on both doubles and triples. Now my wife is gone and so is my career. All I have left are the memories of the truck-stops and the beautiful places I've seen. I'm 70 years old now but I would like to make just one more "run" into the high-desert. Maybe running a trip on Route 54 down to El Paso would pacify me. I love it there, and the mountains. My hat is off to you drivers out there. I know what you are going through.

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