For the 1st several months, I did all the paper work,
got all the loads & took directions. Finally the day came
I was told it was my turn to learn to drive. WOW! My heart
was in my throat. I looked in the miror & my response was
"man, its a long way to the back of this thing. After a few trys
I was doing ok. My hubby would not go to bed & let me have
it on my own for about a year. I mastered the going forward
with no problems at all but the backing up was all together
another thing.No matter how hard I tried the trailer would not
go where I wanted it to. Finally one day we had coffee with
a driver that told me a whole new way of tackling this problem.
I tried it & it worked & was backing up from then on out.
After we had driven as a team for 7 yrs. the company we drove
for got in a tight. They needed 2 trucks to go to the same place &
asked us if we could carry 2 trucks for them. We said yes, & for the next
3 yrs. I found myself driving a truck by myself. Any time they needed
help that took an extra driver, we were given the job.
In 1997, I was bob tail after dropping a trailer, & as I was leaving
to go to the truck stop for the night, I got hit in the side by a car.
The car was going about 80 mph. It hurt noone seriously, but we
were all lucky. The car hit me in the front of my fuel tank, then hit
my steering tire, which was already turned out making my turn.
The impact was so hard the fire wall was busted loose under the
hood. It threw me against the window & the steering wheel spun
around while I had a grip on it. Other than a few busted lips,a broke
nose, & bruises all was ok. The wheel spinning tore the legiments
& muscles loose in my shoulder. After the DOT put me through
all sorts of drug test, I was cleared of everything.
After having lots of trouble with my shoulder while trying to drive,
I was told by my doctor I needed to quit driving. Then a few months
later, my hubby had a heart attack & was told he did not need to
get to far away from home.
I can look back to the 1st trip we made & how far we came in the
years that followed. That 1st trip is something we can laugh about now.
For a country girl, that had never gone any where, it was an experience
of a life time. I got to see places, see things & do things I would never
have got to do if it not been for a truck. I learned more in those 10 yrs
than I had my whole life. Learning to drive gave me a self confidence
& a trust in my own decisions I would never have gotten. I learned what
is to deal with people everyday.Met a lot of nice people & some not so
nice people. I made a lot of friends that only knew me by my handle,
but knew me when they heard me & knew exactally who we drove for.
I said if I never got to drive a truck again, I would take nothing for the
years I drove.
Don't get me wrong. It was one of the hardest jobs I ever did. The long
hours,going without sleep, without eating,making sure all paper work was
done right, & at times having to help unload the trailer, being sick & lay in
bunk while going down the highway,getting to come home maybe 3 days
out of a month. But its funny,if I thought I could I would go back & do it all
over again in a heartbeat.
