Longest time out on the road

The longest i was out was 5 weeks and that was my choosing, just to get as many miles as i could for a couple good pay checks.

 

Not a bit of truth in it man. I am only taking experiences I have had, and people I have known and molding them into a story.
There is a little bit of me in Ricky, but I promise that is not me.
I use places I have been and similar situations I have experienced, but I promise is my life has been nowhere near that exciting.

look at the thread "Where are the stories from the road" started by noble one, and see my posts #2, 3, 4 and 5. Those are 100% true. Read those and you can see the difference.
Now #25 is total BS

 

Back when I had my own truck leased to MS Carriers,I would leave home and stay out as long as I could.A lot of trips turned into 3 months on the road.But of course this was my choice,and the truck aint makin no money parked behind the house.At the time I was the perfect candidate for a long haul trucker.I was divorced and there was nobody to come home to.So the longer I stayed out the bigger the settlement checks were.And all I had to do was push the home request button,on the Qual Com and my next load would be heading toward home.

 

Not a bad place. Even got me a room with a view of my truck. Quick shower and off to the bar.
Not wearing my CAT hat, ala Jerry Reed in Smokey and the Bandit.
Try to blend in some, but just as soon as I open my mouth, I will surely blow my cover.
You ain't from around here, are you?
About time I take my first sip of a cold Pabst Blue Ribbon, this fella takes the stool next to mine.
Now he has clearly made no effort to blend in. Got truckdriver all over him.
No doubt driving that 359 Pete I parked next to.
Over six feet tall, pearl button shirt, pointy toed snakeskins, chain drive wallet and straw cowboy hat, ala John Travolta in Urban Cowboy.
Apparently I gave off an aura myself, for the first thing he said was "Howdy pardner. I see I ain't the only cowpoke spending New Years in yankeeland.
Name's Jesse. Most folks call me Tex"

 

AAW man! i thought this story bout the trucker in this thread was true! well just goes to show what a good writer you are! you got me hangin on every word man! Keep it up! true or not its some of the best readin ive done in a LONG time! THIS is the kinda stuff they should have us read in school! instead of all those frickin art books! LOL!

 

Sorry dude, but I'm too honest to let you go on believing that.
I added a Texas character for you. He will be a good guy, I promise.

 

"Pleased to meet ya Tex. Name's Ricky" I said as I offered my hand.
"Dumb question, but I reckon you're from Texas?"
"Not a dumb question at all. Actually born in Shreveport LA. My daddy moved us out to Midland TX when he got a job in the oil fields.
I was just a youngun. Been there ever since. Texas that is.
Not too long after high school, I took off for Ft. Worth where my brother was.
He was driving a cattle truck and told me he could make a truck driver outa me.
Where you hail from? Sound like South Carolina to me."
"Little town called Inman. How the hell you guess that?"
"Oh it's an old technique I learned way back"
"Really? Wanna share it with me?"
"I seen the tag on your truck" he said and burst out laughing. "Inman, huh? Now that's something to be proud of son.
Home of David Pearson. Hands down best driver ever in NASCAR. Screw them Richard Petty fans. Pearson has always been the man.
Gettin some age on him now, but he's still a tough old bird. You ever get to meet him"
"Not real personal like, but yeah I've shook hands with him.
He came out to the high school on career day one time. Talked to our class.
Didn't seem real comfortable though. He was nice enough, just not real educated. Think he was nervous about it, a little shy.
Only reason he was there was on account of the principal bein his cousin. Talked him into it"
"That's so cool man. You live so close to all the good tracks. Charlotte, North Wilkesboro, Rockingham, Atlanta, Darlington.
Maybe one of these days they will see fit to build something out my way. #### shame we ain't got a track in Texas. Un-American I tell ya"
By then we moved into a booth and started ordering pitchers.
We began discussiing the circumstances that led us both to be spending our holiday in Edison NJ, of all places.
Seems Tex blew his turbo down in Virginia and cost him a whole day in the shop.
At some point during the telling of my tale of woe, I noticed a strange look come over Tex's face.
I asked him if I said anything wrong. He just stared some more, and finally says "Bondo? Did you say Bondo? The Bondo from Dallas TX?"
When I told him yes, he just howled with laughter and splilled half his mug of beer.
Mystified, I asked him what was so funny and did he know Bondo.
"Know him? Know him? That sorry sack of bull hockey is my brother-in-law.
And tell him if he's thinkin about stiffin you on that four hundred bucks, and I promise he is, ole Tex is gonna come by his house and kick his sorry butt"

 

LOL! its all good dude! Thank You! thats mighty nice of ya! make it even more interesting! oh, and if you ever publish this book i will buy the first copy!

 

"Wanna take a guess at what he did before he got into brokering?" he asks me.
"Uh, I don't suppose he was a minister?" I joked, feeling a buzz coming on.
"Good one Carolina. He was a used car salesman. Yes sir, slickest of the slick. He had a gift. He also had a paint and body man that could work magic with a wrecked car.
Bondo would pay a couple hundred or less for these cars that had been declared totaled by the insurance and maybe sink another grand in it. At the most.
If Bondo spent twelve hundred, you can figure him getting four to five grand out of it.
Would have them rides looking good too. All bright and shiny. He never raised the hood. Did not give a #### about anything but appearance.
That's what sells. But he rarely replaced any body parts. Heavy on the bondo. Looked real good. For a while anyway. But that ain't the real reason they call him Bondo"
"It's not?" I said, wondering just what the heck it could be.
Tex just stared for a bit with this goofy grin as if he were having trouble containing his laughter, which he was.
Then he blurted out "It's his face!" and howled with laughter. People were staring now.
"What the heck do you mean?" I asked, not understanding.
Tex was bent over laughing now, not even trying to regain his composure. He was going into full buzz mode.
I signaled for another pitcher as Tex wiped tears from his eyes.
Finally calming down some, he asked me "Remember that comic book 'The Thing' ? Kinda like the Hulk, except he was orange and all cracked looking"
"Yeah, but what are you saying?"
"That's what I'm saying dude. Bondo looks like his face was made outa red Georgia clay. Then he layed in a tanning bed all day.
Then he beat it with a ball peen hammer" And then Tex resumed his hysterical laughter.
It was contagious. I started envisioning somebody with a red clay face selling cars. I was laughing now too. Like I hadn't laughed in a while.
I also realized I would never shake that image whenever I talked to Bondo on the phone.

 

As full pitchers replaced empty ones, the conversation drifted to ten years of the nationwide 55 MPH speed limit and President's Reagan campaign promise to eliminate it.*
"Believe it when I see it. Almost the end of his first term and we still got it. 824 miles across Texas is a killer brother.
Got me one of them new Whistler bird dogs. Pretty decent. Still got three tickets last year. Two in Texas and one in California" I said.
"Yeah, sucks don't it. It's all about money. Claimed there was a fuel shortage in '73 when they dropped the speed limit.
Now fuel is cheap again but the double nickel is still here"
As the evening progressed, I noticed the Holiday Inn lounge was starting to draw a pretty fair crowd.
Younger than I expected too.I also noticed a recent trend in the jukebox selections lately.
Joan Jett to Cyndi Lauper. Bonnie Tyler to Pat Benatar.
What is up with all the chick music I wondered.
I found the answer at a nearby table, having to peer around Tex's eight gallon hat. No less than five young ladies had set up camp.
Plenty of sky high bangs short skirts. By then I was totally ignoring whatever Tex was yammering about and shamelessly staring.
And it seemed my staring was not going unnoticed. Did she just wink at me? Jet black Joan Jett hair and purple eye shadow.
One way to find out. Feeling kinda goofy about it, I gave her a wink of my own. That earned me a giggle and I felt myself blush a little.
By now, Tex realized I was no longer paying him any mind.
"Boy, I know you didn't just didn't wink at me" he said with mock seriousness.
"No sir, I didn't. Ain't nearly that drunk yet" I answered. "But you oughta see who done moved in behind ya"

*Abolishing the federally mandated 55 MPH speed limit was indeed a campaign promise from the Ronald Reagan camp in 1979.
It was finally lifted near the end of his second term in 1987.
It would be more than another decade before Texas lifted the 60 day, 55 night speed limit for trucks.