Things just aren't what they appear to be! They just aren't ..no matter how carefully you look and study and watch. Take it from me... I know!
I learned to drive a truck so, I could drive team with Skip. Oh, the things we saw and heard and experienced those years! Just those days have ... are alot of stories to tell.
I will begin to tell them... it will take 'forever' with ..all the stories in my life. Some stories are so funny, some are so painful and so sad... but also.........there are the happy and beautiful times we experienced.... on the road.
I was driving that big truck down the interstate just feeling so proud that ...I ..was driving this big truck and I 'was doing something!' I was in my magical bubble experiencing what it felt like to be a woman..... driving a big rig! Wonderful!
People, both men and women, passed waving and smiling and pointing at that blonde-haired young woman driving that big truck. Kids would motion for me to blow the horn at them and ..I would! I've seen many smiles across the USA....many, many times... all at me! I was so happy!
Sometimes women would go the speed of the truck and motion for me to roll down the window and for instance, one woman yelled at me 'you go, girl!' I just grinned. I was so proud to get all this wonderful attention driving that big truck! It was happy attention ..the colors of the most special rainbow with the sun shining on it with it's golden-yellow light! Special! Magical! Happy!
Other drivers would yell over the CB radio to Skip.... 'who is that pretty seatcover in there?' Do you see what I mean? I'd become a 'seatcover' and... I didn't know it!!!
I was driving and just enjoying looking around .... Skip told me to watch out for gators!!! Oh, I wanted to see an alligator crossing over the interstate... and I kept looking! I didn't ever see an alligator and finally asked Skip 'why was I watching out for gators, I wasn't seeing them!' He'd already spotted several! I didn't see them!
He began laughing at me and asked me did I remember the big chunks of recapping/tires that I.... (I just naturally avoided hitting anyway!)... was moving over to not run over? I told him that I did and I wouldn't run over them..... they are so dangerous and wreck people... they aren't just pieces of rubber... they have wire in them and the rubber isn't 'soft'! What stands out in my mind is up on Interstate 40 in Flagstaff, Arizona... a van that hit recapping caused the van to wreck..... the van held a family... they were all killed.
Anyway.......... Skip told me that on the interstate when truck drivers told each other to 'watch out for gators!' That mean the chunks of recapped tires that some companies/drivers ran on their big trucks....... came off the tires! It was bad when the recapping would be almost like the whole tire.... that would definitely wreck someone... and we did see where big trucks hit it and it tore things out from under the truck.
There were truckstops that we stopped at regularly ...some of them had tigers in cages to attract attention. There were billboards saying.... Stop Here! and the billboard would have a picture of a tiger underneath Stop Here! to get people to come off the interstate to their truckstop.
I really thought that sad and I never did see anything 'happy' about it. I could sense the tigers were bored and unhappy. I remember once near El Paso, Texas there was an old truckstop out in the desert and there was a cage with a young tiger in it. Now ...all animals 'recognize' Skip for the animal lover he is (they 'know' I love them but, for some reason they are calmed by Skip's presence).......... Skip began walking toward that
tiger cage while the attendant was feeding him. That little tiger began to peep around the man standing in his view just to see Skip.
Skip walked up talking to the attendant and of course, he told Skip not to put his hands near the cage. When the attendant left... Skip began to talk softly to that little tiger calming it and it came to the bars....... and Skip reached out to rub his head! That little tiger .....opened its mouth................and ......began to lick Skip's hand! Skip began telling me that its tongue felt like ..............sandpaper. It was a special sight.... soft pink and blue and...golden.
I didn't rub the tiger! I just 'knew' he'd bite me!
Up and down the interstates 'everywhere' ..you'll hear 'watch out for that bear!' Or... 'look at that 'honey' bear!' Truck drivers have a language of their own and it's comical alot of the times. Bears and honey bears are highway troopers... and drivers share with each other where they are!
Oh.....let's don't forget about the lot lizards! This is an animal of a different sort that I came to find out about. They come out mostly at nighttime and walk all over the parking lots where the big trucks park. They stand around outside the door of the truckstops or inside in and around the driver lounges.. they are everywhere. They are the women of the night, street-
walkers, loose women.
They want to give drivers a 'date' and they get money in return. They will even service the women for money.. it doesn't matter. It's the money that's important. Lot lizards... that's what they are called. You hear their names on the CB's each time you near a truckstop.... 'it's Hot and Spicy' here! Anyone need a date?' They advertise their 'goods'.
I can tell you some stories of different times about lot lizards.... what a name for them. Some are sad and some are funny. I'll tell them one by one over time. Some of the funniest was when I would play tricks with them on the CB radio... only in a fun and humorous way.
Sometimes, I would laugh and talk with them even knowing what they do. I can understand in a way what they do and then, again I don't. I didn't judge because I was living my life and going my way. Sure... I did think at first bad things about them, over time though I still thought it 'bad'......... I understood. It's truly a sad life and the most awful way to earn money to take care of children and just to... survive. During my 'trucking days'... I learned to have great compassion for them.......... if one thinks about it.. we all do what we have to ..to survive. Hopefully, not in a bad way like we hear about on the news....
Gators... Tigers... Bears and....Lot Lizards............... things just aren't what they seem..in more ways than one!
No comments:
Post a Comment