writing a story about a trucker in 1974

Discussion in 'Questions To Truckers From The General Public' started by cathyNYC, Aug 21, 2019.

  1. cathyNYC

    cathyNYC Light Load Member

    58
    68
    Aug 21, 2019
    0
    Hi everyone,

    I am writing a story about a trucker picking up a young hitchhiker in 1974. I don’t actually know any truckers. I think perhaps that should change...

    I’m looking for someone who could help me. Someone who has lived and worked through the period I’m writing about would be a very appreciated resource.

    A bit about me, I’m a middle-aged woman and work as a Latin and SAT/ACT teacher in NYC. I write for fun and don’t expect anything out of it. And I think the advice “write what you know” is rather limiting ;)

    Please contact me if you are interested.

    Thank you for reading,
    Cath
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 22, 2019
    Reason for edit: Removed solicitation
    Coffey and scottied67 Thank this.
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. cathyNYC

    cathyNYC Light Load Member

    58
    68
    Aug 21, 2019
    0
    It's a made-up suspense story about someone recovering from combat PTSD who gravitated to a job where you get to be alone. Then he has to deal with a hitchhiker.

    I'm looking for help with the little details... so far the internet has told me that trucks at that time had 10 gears, people still generally used call signs, etc. So I would be asking questions about that and then asking for someone to read it over and see what sticks out as inauthentic. Thank you :)
     
    Coffey and Art Vandelay Thank this.
  4. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

    34,017
    42,098
    Mar 5, 2016
    White County, Arkansas
    0
    PTSD did not exist in the mid 70's They called it either shell shock or battle Fatigued. In my area. As a rule we don't collect hitch hikers in that time period or ever. Espeically now.

    A side note we were part of Aberdeen and two other bases growing up. Soldiers who were broken from excessive battle in Vietnam were shelter within Walter Reed or one of the satellite housing hospitals outside of our normal society. You would not see such a soldier in those days because they were not free. Deemed under treatment with some very powerful schedule one mind control or altering drugs and electro treatments and so on in those barbaric times. It's not often you saw such a person in normal living. You can think that trucking was a way to start over for someone who has gained freedom from such a treatments and discharge from the armed forces. Trucking was a form of freedom actually and I cherish it as such. No cubical farm boss telling me to hurry up and type up that report that I have nothing to do with to stuff into a envelope at minimum wage. that's not living that's strictly existing. So trucking was freedom.

    Not all trucks had 10 gears. Had a Reo that was running a 13 double under in milk hauling which was probably late 50's time period. It was a very well maintained tractor and would not be afraid to take it to California. Many tractors made then into the 80's even are no longer made. OR if they were made, they are not under the original badges of makers. Having been bought and sold etc at the Corporate level.

    We did not use the word Call sign on the Trucking Radio (CB) then, we just asked for each others handles and pick it up and kick it back.

    I'm not going to be too formal on this particular assignment, but I don't mind correcting against what was done normally in that time period. Be very careful to not have the story pretend hitchhiker to be a illegal immigrant from Mexico or anything that is common today. We did not have too much problems in those days, generally migrant farm workers who moved from farm to farm in harvest time by old worn out buses. Hitchhikers in the 70's were usually runaway teens, girl or boy. All the same. One of my GF's back in the 80's actually took off from the State school campus in Frederick and rode a semi truck to Baltimore Plaza downtown as a lark. One would have to be very careful on what did not exist in the 70's for example the Fort McHenry Tunnel on I-95. We had the old Harbor Tunnel on I-895 in Baltimore back then. And US 40 was full of tourist type hotels and motels in those days as a example. Much of the economy in the 70's does not exist today.

    I can go on but if you want to throw out a few more tidbits from your fiction story telling here, I don't mind taking a shot at seeing if this would be credible within the mid 70's or not. There are many drivers here who have driven for a very long time back into the 50's even.

    Even the money system was different in the 70's What we consider legal tender federal reserve note on a dollar bill, 5, 10's and 20's did not exist then. Much of what was running about was the old Silver Certificate Note. Meaning you can redeem that denomination in Silver at any bank. In the time of 1971 or so when the USA was taken off the Gold Standard, the Silver Certificate dollar bills have lost any value. zero. zip today. 1 dollar is 1 dollar and the bank will "Capture" the bill and ship to Federal Reserve Bank to be destroyed. I hold a bill made in the '58 that was a silver cert and has a private market value of 10 dollars today.

    Also keep in mind that accomodations in the 70's era on back are very sparse. Essentially a coffin. And the braking system along with small things like fuel cut off under the seat and so on are not known to today's truckers unless a older one told stories about those kinds of things.

    For example A lawman tell me to move my truck right now. (I would put my boot on top of the fuel cutoff down) and then crank the dead engine that wont get any fuel at all. That usually convinces the Lawman that I am indeed broken down. But not all of them. It's been done a number of times in the past.

    Also the radio was much more self formal in those days to have a handle, a radio and so forth was like having a internet a cell phone etc today. But the CB radio for the most part is considered prostitution and drug content trash in many areas full of it.

    Also research any locations you put into the book, You will find that possibly such a such did not exist back then or did exist then but are plowed under or paved over today. Many many many truckstops are gone from the 80's in my life even a few from the 70's and 60's growing up. They are memories now. Gone. For a big box store to be plopped and used as a economic parasite to the local area instead of a living home time for truckers with full service meals, fuel etc.

    Be very careful in story telling if you bring in race. There was definitely a line between races in those days. Some of which was settled by state law. For example Maryland passed a law that any Black or other than white races can enter a say a Howard Johnson restaurant and sit down to eat legally at the tables. Before 1962 there were places that did not allow blacks to enter or eat etc.

    I can go on. But I think that's quite enough for now. There will be others to chime in for sure.
     
  5. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

    34,017
    42,098
    Mar 5, 2016
    White County, Arkansas
    0
    It's a transmission. 13 gears. Two of which is a extra half a gear in the top when you hit a hill going up at 55.

    Much of transmissions went into double over and some even more than that in variety. I just pulled that one out of the hat. It's a good one but not that common.

    There are drivers here on this forum who can precisely explain to you what 15, 18's could do for a truck, even those who remember two sticks (As I do) in shifting etc.

    Today's trucks you push "D" and drive off. Mindless. However trucks in the 70's there were a thousand different ways to have a transmission on there. Some were very popular. It's not my forte' to talk about it much. I know I despise the company issue 10 speed. It's not very good with me. (Gears were too tall and every little hill you hit saw the shifter back and forth and back and forth all day like a gym in that cab.)
     
    Intothesunset and 88 Alpha Thank this.
  6. cathyNYC

    cathyNYC Light Load Member

    58
    68
    Aug 21, 2019
    0
    This is so helpful. Thank you. I will definitely make use of your comments. I knew a couple of the things you mentioned but mostly did not know about them at all and would like to ask more questions.

    For more context, the guy in my story does not call it PTSD; he is just ridiculed by others for being jumpy and cranky, a loner, and “off”. The hitchhiker is a runaway. The story tries to show the coldness and newness of big impersonal truck stops versus mom and pop places... alas I have no experience with either. I found a book on trucking published around 1975 and got a lot of things from there. In the book, the guys who were old-timers in the 70s dismiss CBs as new-fangled gadgets for people who can’t appreciate real driving. :)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 22, 2019
    Reason for edit: Removed solicitation
  7. cathyNYC

    cathyNYC Light Load Member

    58
    68
    Aug 21, 2019
    0
    1975 non-fiction book
     

    Attached Files:

    Coffey Thanks this.
  8. Sho Nuff

    Sho Nuff Road Train Member

    1,175
    1,400
    Apr 9, 2015
    0
    There's a movie with Robert De Niro and Ed Harris called "Jacknife" made in 1989 that has a similar storyline to yours. It's about 2 vietnam vets who dealt with PTSD (wasn't called PTSD back then) in different ways. Both are truckers.......



    Edit....audio is not in english.
     
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2019
  9. cathyNYC

    cathyNYC Light Load Member

    58
    68
    Aug 21, 2019
    0
    Awesome, I never heard of it! Thank you.
     
    Sho Nuff Thanks this.
  10. starmac

    starmac Road Train Member

    6,642
    12,524
    Apr 11, 2019
    Fairbanks Ak
    0
    Truckers did pick up hitchhilers in the 70's and they also ran cb's , even the old timers thought they were better than the hand signals they had always had to use. At least those I knew did.

    I actually watched a truck driver pick up a young (younger than she looked) giirl a few years ago that was a runaway. It happens. I did not know she was a run away for another day or so and stopped in montana and there were fliers out with her picture on them.
     
    cathyNYC Thanks this.
  11. skellr

    skellr Road Train Member

    8,737
    12,179
    Jul 17, 2011
    The Village, Portmeirion
    0
  12. cathyNYC

    cathyNYC Light Load Member

    58
    68
    Aug 21, 2019
    0
    That is wild. Thank you for sharing.
     
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.