Long Road Home

As I was rolling down that long black ribbon through the early morning darkness Tuesday morning, I heard another one of those songs on the radio.  You know, the ones that talk about going home, or the long road home, or going back to the way things were at home.  It got me to thinking about the roads I've traveled and got me wondering about where I am going. Where have I been? Where am I going? What roads do I need to take to get there? What will I find when I get there?

I have traveled all of the interstate system in the continental United States with the exception of about 150 miles. My career has allowed me to travel the entire width and breadth of our grant land and grow to appreciate every part and what it means to the tapestry of the USA. I have seen the sun rise majestically on the Atlantic coast, driven into the gales of a storm on the great Gulf coast, braved the harsh winter winds of our northern border and watched the sun quietly set serenely into the Pacific Ocean.  Do you know what it really means to see the "spacious skies" of Montana, the "amber waves of grain" in Kansas, "the purple mountain majesties" of Colorado, and "the fruited plain" of California?  Niagara Falls has destructive yet beautiful power, yet a high mountain river has the unique ability to calm and comfort. A dry desert wind can sting the skin and a blizzard can destroy your sight but when they stop the landscape is changed and brings about a new beauty.

Home, where is it? For the purpose of this narrative it is where I grew up, where I was raised, the place I am  going back to someday.  Home is great friends, my old fishing buddy Steve, my sweet neighbor Twila, my renewed friends thanks to technology. It is the place of my birth, the place where I spent time with my family both blood and extended. It is a place where I drank coffee with Uncle Odell and Aunt Ann, where I fished in the bays with My Uncle Martin and my cousins, where I climbed the fire tower with my Uncle Herman. It is that place that formed my soul and my being. It is the old elementary school, the Baptist church, The Old Place, the marinas and fish camps. It is where I would walk out on the railroad bridge by the old creosote plant, where I fished at the foot of the highway 90 bridge. It is "The Singing River", Mary Walker Bayou, the Mississippi Sound, the salt water that courses through my veins. It is a place that existed before there was a "Salt Life".

The West Pascagoula Creosote Works

The day is coming when I will return, the day when I will rest, the day that I know I have arrived "Home". I will sit upon the beach that I played on as a child, a beach that I have introduced to my children. I want to float those back waters again. I want the peace of knowing the familiar. I get glimpses of home each time I pass through on my way to another place. It is breakfast with a friend, a gathering of family, fun times with high school pals. It is remembering the fun, the struggles, the enjoyment of all that was growing up in our own small town.  I remember when going to a big city was all about Biloxi, Mobile, or that grandest of all big cities when I was growing up, New Orleans.  All roads lead you somewhere and I have traveled a lot of them. But for me, the destination is home, it is the Mississippi gulf coast. All these ribbons of asphalt and concrete will bring me there someday. A day that cannot get here soon enough.

My friend Steve Bennett and I 1981

Just a Truck Driver?

I would like to vent today.  I rarely come across people who are so full of themselves that I must speak out against what they are.  I cannot say with any certainty that it is who they are as I am not familiar with them on a personal basis.  What can be said is that people allow there station in life to make up for what they are not.  I ran across this in the last 2 days and must share.

I had the rare opportunity to find myself unable to locate a specific delivery point yesterday.  I had done my due diligence in the days leading up to delivery but with little success.  In most cases the way my situation works is that I am given contact information, I initiate that contact and make all necessary arrangements for safe and on time delivery.  When I arrived in the area of my delivery, that exact address was not found.  I safely parked my truck at a local business, notified the proprietor of my intentions to not be there long, then proceeded to  follow standard procedure when things go wrong on a delivery.  I called my company contact, I then called my contact who originated the load and was able to acquire the contact that was supposed to have made the proper arrangements.  At first this person in a "management" position was very professional and helpful.  I followed his instructions to call back at a specified time and that is when I heard out of his rude mouth the words I despise, "you're just a truck driver".

Maybe it was the fact that I was cold and soaked, a little fatigued from driving in rain, traffic and limited visibility, or the fact that he was just dead wrong.  At that moment it all came together and I realized that after giving him the benefit of the doubt, I was wrong about what he was.  He was neither professional, nor personable.  His desire was not to assist me, but, rather to get me off of his phone so he could manage someone he actually held sway over.

You see sir, I am not "just a truck driver".  Just a truck driver would have sat warm and dry at a truck stop 100 miles away and waited for management to get their stuff together.  Just a truck driver may have still been over 1200 miles away because he was waiting on you to organize yourself and get everything taken care of in a timely manner.  Just a truck driver would not make compromises in his route to take care of the customer when you failed to give correct data.  Just a truck driver would not take a week without seeing a paycheck in the bank in order to wait on the prize at the end of the line.  Just a truck driver would not have shown up at your public show with a clean and polished truck so that you sir are represented well.  Just a truck driver does not have any desire to represent your product on the road.

While my common title is truck driver, I am not "just a truck driver".  I arrived at your show clean, with hours to run, and a maintained piece of equipment ready for your multi-stop, long mileage load. I made sure that all preventive maintenance and necessary inspections were completed prior to my arrival at your venue.  I arrived with a plan in place for routing, fueling, meal stops, and anticipated arrival times.  Even when you failed to give me information at the time I was leaving with your equipment, I moved forward as if I had a solid plan in place.  I manage a $138,000 piece of capital equipment.  I maintain records for the equipment, I maintain records for myself, the driver, I maintain records for the business.  I was delayed once by weather, had to push and work hard to beat the possible closing of mountain passes by weather.  I made phone calls, I made arrangements with customers, I went out of my way to see that a customer was accommodated, when you gave me incorrect information.

On my final stop, which was on a narrow two lane road, was where I needed accurate data for safe and legal delivery.  But because of what you are, you know, someone with more job title than "just a truck driver". You felt it necessary to use your position and title to degrade the very person that had safely, with alacrity, delivered all stops up until that point, and had even with a lack of information made the attempt at delivery.  Something I am sure, "just a truck driver", would not have done.

Sir, based on the  example you have given, you would not even begin to be able to handle a business such as mine.  I have to be able to anticipate what a driver in another vehicle is going to do.  I have to be able to comprehend weather and road reports and make adjustments on the go when those are wrong or change.  I have to put the customers needs ahead of mine.  I have to deal with the shortcomings and errors of management and still make safe and on time delivery.  My failure in accuracy can lead to death.  My inability to properly do my job causes you to miss an opening curtain.  Your failure in leadership and accurate management of data, well, blame it on "just a truck driver".

All About People

It is important to remember all those that touch us from time to time.  When you are out here on the road, the person you touch you may only see for a few minutes.  I get the wonderful opportunity to meet folks from all walks of life.  In the past couple of weeks I have learned a lot just from sitting down and listening to what someone has to say.  It is an education that no college, tech school, or motivational speaker can give you.  It is the education about what makes our great country great.

Last week it was the chance to meet farmers, truckers, auctioneers, tractor salesmen, carpenters, and family men.  Yes, it was great to sit there and talk to those two men.  Sitting down for breakfast before starting my day with a couple of men in small town Nebraska.  In all the talk of things going wrong, never did these two men say they were waiting on a government handout, help from another state, or wondering what someone else was gonna do for them.  No, these two men talked about what had to be done that day, and what they were going to do to get it all accomplished.  There was talk of the cattle auction the day before, how many loads of grain were gonna get loaded, who was buying a new tractor, and work on the barn that had to be done.

I have also had the chance to meet new people in the last weeks.  Last night I spent an hour or two talking to a new driver about some of the ins and outs of this lifestyle.  I also got to meet a new friend who shares a sporting interest.  It is always good to meet new folks.  I also want to say a word for my friend, Dustin Thomas, Lawyer and Talk Radio Host.  You can hear him at Talk Radio 1580 in Pascagoula, MS.

Keep it between the lines my friends!