THE SUN OF REMOTE ROADS

The repair took two weeks. On the side, couplings, hoses, tubing, sensors, mounting bolts had been replaced. Rust began to destroy the truck just immediately. The fitter pointed out to the rusty pipes over the engine. Rust was rarely seen there and evidently the truck had sunk upon the latest storm in New York and later quickly sold.

Additional three days were spent to fix minor problems and the engine had also been tested. There were no improvements. All the lights of the instrumental panel sparkled. The engine blew the oil via all the sensors. Out of checked valves two had been punched. But it could not lead to such strong spills of the oil. No one counted endless computer diagnostics until one of its cycles found a turbine’s breakage. A completely new factory turbine had been defective. After its replacement the truck had nicely growled.

The fitter was replacing the air bags and had examined both the drive shaft and the rear axle. Once again he was admired by my luck. The drive shaft had been worn out completely: there were practically no teeth, the play exceeded two centimeters. He thoroughly examined the truck and noted that the pre-delivery had been fulfilled on the highest level. All defects were so cleverly hidden, plastered and painted over. Only rigorous inspection could find malfunction. I told him my said story and the fitter promised to do his best to return the truck back to the road. The repair took an extra week. That time the fitter had given a two-three months’ warranty and advised to get rid of the truck after the warranty expiration.

The repair total cost had zeroed my bank account. I was going on the warpath to recover the money of repairs and to make money on a second truck. The dispatcher offered me a very valuable cargo but the said cargo should be delivered by a team. If I was ready to cover a great distance without rest they would give it to me. I had unconditionally accepted the offer. While having a practice in “SR England” school I set an original record in the first days. I spent behind the wheel over twelve hours with no stop listening to overstrained Qualcomm sounds. Upon that time I had covered 756 miles I did not have any negative consequences.

The cargo should be delivered from the East Coast to the Central America at the good price of $ 2 per mile. I would have to cover 1,250 miles. There left two hours in stock after loading. I had delivered the cargo fifteen minutes prior to a time window closure. Everybody remained happy except me. For the first time I had suffered a driver’s professional deceases: swollen legs, shortness of breath, rapid pulse, hazy head.

In that race the advertised energy drinks had rapidly flowed via my liver. They would certainly excite the central nervous system for short time. In the long run their effect was decreasing. After their daily drinking I felt tired, irritable and unnecessarily aggressive. The liver and spleen were clearly opposed to take the magic liquid inside. Finally I had completely abandoned to drink them. The accumulated fatigue would not disappear and moreover energy drinks consumed the body resources and it would take much time to restore them.

Under hard conditions I used medications of the nootropic brand. They increased the level of wakefulness, concentration, attention, clarity of mind, and lowered the general lethargy as well as increased the body's resistance to action in adverse circs. The effect was somewhat akin to the energy drinks, but they differed significantly as far as the principle of action, the body sensations and consequences were concerned.

But by the end of that race against time the efficiency of those measures had been completely exhausted. In addition, there was no time to sleep, and to recover because I was waiting for the next load. Under loading I had to use a proven fashion to recover forces, namely: a practice of breathing exercises. There were many names and varieties but all they had rooted in the Indian yoga.

Breathing was a complex process. The aperture was the main respiratory muscles of the body. It worked as a piston sucking air into the lungs and pushing it out. A driver spent much time behind the wheel motionless, and immobilized the diaphragm. Certainly breathing retained because other respiratory muscles worked. But the diaphragm did not contract and relaxed as necessary and a pressure in the abdominal cavity remained constant. Soon, the abdominal cavity lymphatic system congested and lead to disruption of metabolic processes in the body. As a result legs were swollen, pressure jumped, and concern intensified. The lymphatic vessels were the drainage system of the body. It outputted the excess of fluid in the tissues and prevents their swelling. Therefore, improper breathing would be the beginning of health problems. If you were sitting hunched, being nervous or overeaten then the breathing rhythm got off, blood was poorly oxygenated causing negative consequences.

I faced the problem while driving in a non-stop fashion and unexplained tides to the head and flows from it had begun. I quietly drove and suddenly a tide had rushed to the head, the eyes were darkened, it became difficult to breath, the chest was clenched and tightened. I started to panic. What should I do? Should I stop? I couldn’t because I was crossing a section of the road under repair, or the city traffic was dense, or the road without the verge. Therefore, I had tried as much as possible to straighten my back and breathed actively raising and lowering the diaphragm. Because of an influx of air into the lungs I seemed to be losing consciousness, but a couple of seconds later, the internal pressure in the body had stabilized and returned to the normal condition.

I encountered such health expressive problems and was involved in breathing exercises. Immediately after a hard day, I sat down on the floor between the armchairs cross-legged. The ideal case would be to sit in the lotus position. Long practice in stretching was necessary to cross the legs properly. One could damage the tendons and the knee joints. I laid hands on the knees, kept the back straight and slightly tilted the head forward. The spine straightened and was vertical from the coccyx to the head. I felt uncomfortable because of nervous and physical strain. But a few minute s later I was calming and relaxing.

Afterwards, the preparatory phase followed. To do that I five-ten times inhaled and exhaled air for cleaning of the nasal passages. Thereafter, I deeply breathed through the nose first filling the lower abdomen, then its middle, and the chest was the last to rise. I held my breath for 10-20 seconds and air was exhaled effortlessly through my mouth. Exhalation duration should be at least three times longer than inhalation. It took seven seconds to Inhale, and 20-25 seconds to exhale. Exhalation was in the reverse order. First, air was exhaled from the lungs then from the middle until the lower abdomen pressed against the spine. I was holding the breath as long as I could and repeated the cycle up to 5-10 times.

Under the main phase I breathed in the air and detained the exhalation as long as possible, clutching the crotch and the throat, not to exhale. At this point, one needed to relax the body, the muscles of the face, the forehead, the lips, the eyes, the neck, the shoulders, the hands. I was focusing the mind on something unique, for example, on a black point and its dimensions. At first it seemed impossible, thoughts rushed in the head like a herd of horses. After certain practice thoughts were ordered and the highest skills would be to think about nothing freeing the head of all thoughts and worries.

When patience was at the limit I effortlessly exhaled air from the lungs until the abdomen had fully pressed. I again was holding the breath without inhaling air. In that moment I felt the fire at the bottom of the pelvis and an increase of the body overall temperature. That was normal. I repeated the exercise from 10 to 15 times and constantly increased the performance. I exercised regularly and my full cycle of breath delay before the next one had reached approximately three minutes.

It was better to do exercises in the dark that was why I tightened the curtains in the cab. Complete silence was the perfect atmosphere. It would not be always possible at the truck stop. That was why I had big headphones connected to the computer and listened to quiet music imitating the sounds of nature.

After a while, tides to the head had ceased, the state of internal organs had stabilized, the blood pressure had improved and the overall work capacity had enhanced. I spent behind the wheel the full shift but either in an hour or an hour and a half of practice I would be able again to continue travelling if necessary.

Meanwhile, the truck continued to surprise me. After another loading the air conditioner stopped working and at that time the anomalous heat had established across the continent and night temperature did not fall below 75oF. Nothing was left except to clench the teeth and to continue to drive via the route. At the truck stop a neighbor in the parking lot came and pointed to the exhaust pipe. At the junction the pipe bend from beneath the truck and located behind its cab had rotten and part of the pipe was hanging on the top bracket. Also vibration had pulled out the tube of the holder directly behind the turbine and if breakage was found at the weight station then I would be allowed to go on the only after replacement.

In the nervous anxiety of a vague future, I collapsed on the sunbed, bright horizons and financial welfare had been again postponed indefinitely. The truck once again had tripped up. Heavy thought had enveloped consciousness, the brain continued to work feverishly and only thoughts in anxious oblivion carried away in bright memories of easy flight, of boisterous charm of freedom and of the joys of independence of all vain.




***



The second fiscal year had been over. Our companies’ total turnover had exceeded the magic number of one million dollars. Future prospects would augur well for a successful growth of the business.

Together with the partner we had managed to find our niche, developed it and got the decent margin. We had delayed the initial plans to build our empire for one year exactly. But it had been worth of it. The theoretical and practical regulatory framework had been developed, our own brokerage and dispatch services had been created, contacts with the right brokers had been established, agreements with financial institutions had been signed, rolling stock had been arranged properly and the right technical equipment had been chosen.

The field of interest had expanded to haulage of cargos by cars, ships and railway. The supply chain covered business relations not only within the USA borders but throughout the world fully managing cargos forwarding from a producer to a consumer. The head office with the loading and unloading terminal was in Houston. On an equal footing affiliated offices had been established in Chicago, San Francisco and New York.

In the race against time I had not avoided to meet the Bob Partner and after that meeting I ceased to be a truck driver and incredibly happy. I busied myself with more familiar administrative and economic activities and had become a respectable bastar... I demanded my employees to be in irreproachable compliance with numerous procedures. Available funds let diversify them to other branches of economy.

The first truck was sold at an acceptable price. We were able to gather the money for the most of the second truck. But the said truck had become the last to be used for works around Houston. We had not bought more trucks.

I returned to a favorite pastime, that was, to extreme sports. The said year I would participate in an “Ironman” qualifying tournament held in Texas.

Looking back I could say that it had been difficult to start without the corresponding knowledge, experience, relations, understanding of the provisions of operation and interdependence in the branch of economy. It was a way of a blind traveler who started to climb but broke down at the very bottom of the abyss, met and passed on his way all sorts of obstacles and pitfalls but, nevertheless, he had managed to get up, become stronger, and soared in free flight. In the aggressive media called business I had accepted a defeat with the same grace as that one inherent to celebration of victory. Life was such that losses were inevitable. But one had to try so that they would not become the rule.

Here it is the truth apprehended in the harsh everyday life, in a passionate desire to achieve unlimited happiness, in being oneself, in becoming financially independent, in being proud of it, in an effort to move forward, and in seeing new horizons of possibilities.