Drivers don't look like drivers anymore

The year is 1973 and I'm parked in the Toledo 5 Truck Stop. It's late at night and I'm hungry and headed to the restaurant for something to eat. My memory is a little vague but as I recall it was a Union 76 and not a particularly nice place (old and pretty dirty). As I walked across the parking lot I was struck by the number of trailers loaded with steel and the number of axles. I remember thinking: "Wow, that's a lot of tires to kick." Some of the trucks were very old and looked like junkers-- old Crackerbox Jimmies and Mack's. And of coarse some were bright and shiny and new.

That unmistakable smell of the livestock trailers hung heavy in the air and that sound of a hoof hitting the side of a trailer or shuffling on the trailer floor with that anguishing moo made me sad... and that is how the Toledo 5 Truck Stop is permently etched in my memory. I wonder if it is still there?

Once inside the restaurant the jukebox played country music and the waitress took my order. I was brand new to the truck stop scene as I'd just completed my orientation with North American Van Lines. I was supposed to load in Cicero Illinois the next morning. My brand new 1973 White Road Comander was hooked to a nice new drop deck 45 foot trailer.

But as I recall, not one driver wore flip flops nor shorts nor had a backpack. Back then, it was bluejeans, work boots or cowboy boots. He carried a small suitcase or duffle bag to the shower and emerged smelling of Aqua Velva. He'd give the gal at the customer counter his towel and get his deposit back, then go get something to eat. It was the same across the country. The exception was mostly in boots and hats. The further west you went, the more cowboy hats you'd see.

I shake my head when I see what's walking around truckstops nowadays.

 

I think I saw her in a rest area....