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Give Me My Lane or Move Over …
Have not been over here in awhile and I heard Tom’s bus was for sale, so I thought I would check on the price and availability of the Gunner’s coach. Anywho, have been traveling the bi-ways and highways of America, and discovered that things, once again, have changed.
Have been home about a week now, back in “the swing of things” familiar surroundings, smells, routines. It is always nice to get away, and believe it or not, I am ready to head out again.
On the other hand, the wife is not.
Driving to town yesterday on the Super Slab to purchase even more LED’s to light up the Mothership and perhaps attract Charlie Sheen, I looked over at my bride and said, “You ready to do it all again?” and her answer was a firm, resounding “No!”
(What else would you expect from a woman who has thirteen episodes of Date Line on her DVR?)
There seems to be no wanderlust in the woman’s soul, she will never make a good trucker. One thing I have noted that definitely hinders her, is her inability to make up her mind on what her super-secret-CB-code name will be.
This could very well be a problem.
Back in the day, as a friend of mine always puts it, we would find me hauling apples out of Washington State to Dallas or dead-cluckers out of Arkansas to the West-coast. So I am used to the road, it is always calling my name, like a lover in the dark. I often think of it, even today, it is right there, just four miles down the road from my little Goat Farm in Oklahoma. But as with all things in life, it has changed.
Folks talking on Cellphones, Texting, throwing Chicken Bones out the window. CB Radio is now void of good chatter, a lot of people on there speaking Farsi or Spanish, not a whole lot of interesting things being said (unfortunately it all sounds like gibberish to me). To be candid about it, I am not sure where they are from, but pretty much sure it isn’t Birmingham or Atlanta.
Most of the Road Monkey’s (Professional Drivers my butt) out there are not as courteous as they used to be, and the volume of traffic has increased exponentially over the years to where it gets downright crowded at times. Not only on the trucking side of the scale, but on the travelers side, I note a big change.
Could be the influx of immigrants (illegal or otherwise) filling the roads of America. A great many folks now are driving, owning a motor vehicle in this country, for the first time in their lives (which was impossible in their country of origin). This has definitely proven to be a challenge for some of them.
Take the woman we came across in New Mexico recently. This woman is driving for first time on the highway.
Her husband calls her cellphone and says: “Be careful honey, It’s just been broadcast on the radio, that someone is driving opposite to the traffic on the highway…” She replies: “Someone? These idiots are in hundreds!“
(yeah I know, but whadya expect for free anyway)
Slowly I am learning to move amongst them and still do my thing. Sharing the road with some who clearly do not know how to drive. Which is fine with me, if I have learned anything in all my years, it is how to be flexible and adapt to change.
These days, I am more than willing to share the American Highway with all of them. Just wish they would stop throwing all of their trash out the window.
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9 Replies
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Great post!
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Welcome back. Come stay a while.
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Hammer down Oakie..
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Great post indeed!
As I spend a lot of time on the highways traveling back and forth to our Florida home from Illinois, as well as making deliveries of high quality solid wood furniture and cabinets here in the Midwest, I identify completely with the comments concerning the overall lack of common courtesy, trash on roadsides etc.
I love to travel but do receive elevated blood pressure from all the road rages/idiots out there! Oh well, I’m not going to let that stop me from continuing to see this great country of ours.
Especially after filling up with #2 yesterday for $2.39 per gallon. 🙂
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It’s always great to read your posts. Hoping to see more in the future and hear about your experiences.
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Great to see you back Okie with another great post. Keep them coming.
AL
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Hey, thank you for all the kind words (much appreciated) on this piece. Just about every time I go out, I run into something interesting or amusing, and then try to channel it to my webpage. It is just part of the game for me, and I do my level best to report it as acurately as I can.
As I understand it, polishing a Prevo is close to $500 now, which is kind of pricey. Like Jon, I do most of my own work and I put up something on my site about polishing products (new) that I have had limited success with here lately. If you would like to read it, here is a Link: Polishing Tips
I would have posted it here, but it has quite a few photo’s and I am feeling lazy today.
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Okie:
Went to your Blog and read that polishing thread. Good info! I was off work yesterday and looked out at the bus and, yes, it could use a little elbow grease to bring out that luster. Yesterday being a holiday and me not having any of the polished you recommended, I thought I would try your recommendation of using Vodka.
Got the vodka and pulled out a lawn chair. Sat and looked at the bus to decide where I wanted to start, front or back. After about 4 shots of the vodka, it was already looking better. A couple more shots and I was about to decide that it was shinny enough. Four more shots and all three of those busses looked fantastic. You are correct, Vodka DOES make them, all of them, shine.
Welcome back to the forum.
Fred
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Now that is funny I don’t care where it is you live …. The Cable Guy.
I knew it would hit me sooner or later, but I swear, it works. Never tried the application as you suggest here, but it could be feasible. After four shots, I am pretty sure, I will not be able to unfold my deck chair, yet alone stroke a bus from one end to the other.
Thank you for your well written comment.
BCO
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