Keeping it in prospective.....

Well said Martin! I know exactly how you feel.
I think when you come from across the pond you tend to see the opportunity here a little easier than most. Keep the optimism going, we all thrive on it!

 

Dude, I was there too. I had 4 houses on the market when the market went bust. I had no intentions of ever driving again. Lost my arse. Lost everything. Couldn't get any driving job. Put in one of those online apps for a flatbed job, and Swift called. Told me I wouldn't have to go to school, but I had to ride with a trainer. I had to sit there in a Swift truck. For me, it was like joining the circus to be a clown. Swift used to run down the roads with those mini tyres on their trucks at 57 mph. It was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever seen any trucking company do. For me to accept a job at Swift was extremely humbling. Fortunately, their flatbed division was completely different. Even at Swift, you can have some respect from other drivers because of the flatbed. So I worked at the circus, but I didn't have to be a clown.
The whole atmosphere was horrible. You feel like you're in a slaughterhouse. You roam from terminal to terminal, slaughterhouse to slaughterhouse. Over here is completely different. Nice office chocked full of eye candy. Midroof trucks, enclosed headache racks. Seemed like a nicer place...

They don't send you to the slaughterhouse here, they throw you to the wolves. They give you what you need to start, pat you on the back and send you out the door. "Good luck, driver. Be safe." And you're out in the cold, surrounded by a pack of wolves. So, you show up to a restaurant, covered with scars, but wearing wolf pelts and you're warm. You see most of the people in the restaurant wearing cloths, but there a couple other guys wearing wolf pelts and scarred up. They ask you, "You pulling oversized?" And you all laugh.

you come to realize, that in our end of the business, no one is going to hold your hand. They send you out to fend for yourself. The only people that can understand what you do is that person that's doing the same job. The only person that knows how to help you is that person doing the same job as you. How did he get to where he is? Same way as you. Some other driver showed him the ropes.

When you see a new driver coming into the restaurant, you can tell. And you laugh, because you remember when you were there. "Made it through the wolves, driver? Nice pelts.

 

Triple, I dont consider myself a HH. widest I done is a little over 14 wide heaviest I loaded is about 68k but sounds like if we sat down to have a few beers we would have some intersting stories to share.

 

Yeh it's nice when someone calls you unexpectedly on the radio cuz they recognized your truck from pics you posted on here.

 

I know I have seen Martin back when he had his FL on his way home on a skinny 2 lane down in MO. I also met the driver that use to be on here Horsey who drove Oscar for Pape. Met him one morning at JD Harvester in E. Moline.

 

Nice post Martin.
Glad to be the icing on your cake..Usually I'm the crumbs....lol

 

All very touching stories, and I wish nothing but the best for you all.....
now can we quit sitting around singing Kum- bi - ya (or however you spell it) and get back to work. This is the flatbed forum and curfew in Beaumont is almost over.....

 

And a cute waitress?

I normally list list my favorite watering holes.

Im trying to think about watering holes in your area...

There was one that I went on the other side of Market Street from the Key Truck stop. When I first went in there, it was a biker bar. Had a girl started hitting on me and I found out that she also worked the parking lot....Ummm, no thanks. The next time I went in there, it was a hip hop joint. Not my scene.

Had one of my guys told me that he need a drink. His first drink in 14 years. I called one of my pilot cars and asked if he mind running us around. Pilot car picked us up and took us to some place between Channelview and Baytown to get a drink. It was some sort of gentlemens club, but everyone was black. I won't fit in anywhere I go, my pilot car is cool, so he fit in, my other driver is straight Neck.

So my PC is having a soft drink, I'm having a draft, Neck Is having Patron. This beautiful girl came up to PC.

I wave her over.
"Hey baby girl, I need your help. My buddy over there (pointing at Neck) is having his 40th birthday tonight. He would love a private dance, but he likes his girls big. I mean 275 or bigger. Do you have a girl like that working here?"

She came back with this girl that looked like a walking bale of hay. Hay Bale jumped on a half lit Neck, rubbed, and tugged, and slapped.

Happy Birthday, Neck.

 

LMFAO!!!! That is great!