Taking A Page From Old School's Book

This evening I found myself spending the night at my shipper's, in a tiny little town in western Georgia. I'm nearly out of food; all that remains in my cooler is a bag of carrots and bread, so I decided to do what most Americans do, and I do very seldom, and eat out.

Not long into my walk through town I passed a house featuring a wrap-around porch, with a magnolia tree in the yard... just like my grandma's old house in North Carolina. Then I saw a house with an attached carport and workshop, and standing in the light of his shop was a guy working on something.... just like my brother-in-law. You could drop me on the street in front of my sister's and his house, and 99 nights out of 100 I'd find him right there, piddlin' around in his shop.

Several minutes later I noticed a house on my left, half-brick and half-tile, a boxy two-story house, reminiscent of most of the houses in the neighborhood where I grew up and my mom still lives. And there, at the beginning of the street, on two opposing corners, sat two enormous churches, one of which seemed dominated by large stained-glass windows, reminding me of the stained-glass window in my grandma's old house, and of the enormous stained-glass window in the church I grew up in.

And that's where the similarities end, because whereas Old School would have found a quaint local cafe or diner and enjoyed a delicious home-style cooked meal, I found a Huddle House. There was magic in the walk, however. If you spend your trucking career never venturing further than 500ft from your truck, whether it be at a truck stop, rest area, or operations center, you're surely going to miss out on some of what this lifestyle has to offer.

*While the title pays homage to Old School, I remember Brett touching on this as well, though I don't remember if it was in his book or in a reply to someone's post. If memory serves, Brett caught an NFL game (Kansas City?) while trucking, and on a break.

So cool.

-mountain girl

If you spend your trucking career never venturing further than 500ft from your truck, whether it be at a truck stop, rest area, or operations center, you're surely going to miss out on some of what this lifestyle has to offer.

Very well put Pete! And very true. It pays untold dividends to just get out of your truck and enjoy some of the things around you. We all do this stuff to make money, but there are definitely things about this career that can't be measured monetarily.

When I was OTR , I avoided big cities. My favorite thing to do was to stop in the middle of no where and go on a bike ride down a dirt road or up a trail.

I had so much fun in Elk Mountain, WY, Wamsutter, WY, US97 in OR, Snowville, UT, Reed MI, and a few other small places. I rode next to so many wild animals I'm surprised I didn't die.

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