Campaigning must be hard. Long hours, early mornings to late night. Candidates wake early and stay up nights. Tough, kind of like a truck drivers job.
I have driven 14 hours looking forward to a nap at the receiver while they unloaded me only to be told I would have to put my fingerprints on every box while I was the one unloading the trailer. Then when it was unloaded have dispatch send me to a shipper 150 miles away to load before I could get some sleep.
I sympathize with their fatigue and really hope all of them stay somewhat healthy. What I don’t understand is how some pussy pampered politician could compare campaigning with torture.
Check this Huckabee quote out then see if you think he is making light of an illegal torture procedure. What a dweeb!
While laying in the MRI tube last week I started feeling somewhat confined. I really don’t have much problem with small spaces but for some reason the sound of the magnets sounded like a drum circle and I went into a trance. The feelings of confinement were not related to the machine I was trapped in but had to do with the need to wander. Get out of this small town and just move around.
For years my dromomania was satisfied with touring to Grateful Dead shows and driving them big trucks. Seeing the country blow by through the windshield was almost as good as stopping in a strange place for a bite to eat and a walk. Smelling the Pacific Ocean breeze one day and waking up in the Rocky Mountains the next. Dining on the great sausages and cheese in Wisconsin on a Tuesday and crawfish or jambalaya Wednesday in Louisiana. Hearing Jerry jam out a Franklin’s Tower in Atlanta one weekend and by the middle of the next week hearing Brent pound out a Dear Mr. Fantasy on his keyboards in Columbia. Life was good.
The days with The Dead sadly came to an end in 1995 when Jerry Garcia died. My last show was in Memphis that year when I got my cousin, who I drove for, to route me to Eastern Arkansas with the express purpose of seeing the band on the Mississippi River front. It wasn’t long after his death when I quit my regional job and hit the long distances with a carrier that did all 48 states. (yes, Jerry’s music and presence influenced many lives) Irregular routes and hot loads were all I craved.
You Tuber “coyryan09″ posted this video of his pictures set to Jason Aldean’s “Asphalt Cowboy”. Because they all look alike now I’m not sure which T/A he took the photos at but I am sure I have been there. The mountain backdrop and bi level parking makes me think it’s the one at Knoxville, Tennessee. Worth a watch if you like the big trucks or country music. Blusey with that Nashville twang. Tells the story of a drivers life in jast a few minutes.
I miss those times on the open road. The days or nights driving through all kinds of weather. It could be snowy on Donner Pass in California then sunny and warm all across Nevada and Utah. According to the time of day, week, or season the traffic varied. I tried to drive at night to avoid heavy traffic but sometimes I would get hung up in Saturday afternoon traffic near a beach town on a holiday weekend. I miss that too.
I long for the days of lies in the logbook so I could hurry up and wait at a shipper while the farmhands were still harvesting the canteloupes that would become my load. Racing across Arizona and New Mexico late that night watching the streaks of light in the starlit night that could be anything. Hurrying to Chicago with my produce and waiting for the receiving warehouse to find room to unload my trailer into.
Due to a back injury I left truck driving in 2000. Probably will never get back into a truck again. Thats just the way it goes.
Yeah, I miss all of that but I also dream of the days of that other kind of truckin’. The dancing kind. The quick paced walking, The days when I could get around without a lot of pain. Because I miss all kinds of truckin’ I am posting a few music videos for your entertainment. Have fun.
I’ll start with this swinging number by Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears, an all female dance band that was made sometime in the ’30’s. “Truckin’”.
Ritchie Blackmore’s guitar screams in this 1972 Deep Purple show where they played “Space Truckin’”.
Hot Tuna with Jorma’s brother Peter Kaukonen sitting in on “Keep On Truckin’”.
Eddie Kendricks does a jam up job on this version of “Keep On Truckin’”.
I would be remiss to leave the Grateful Dead out of a lineup of Truckin’ songs so I will close out the set with the 4/17/72 “Truckin’” from Copenhagen, Denmark show.
Last weeks UFO sightings in and near Stevenville, TX made me think of a story I wrote last year about visitors from other worlds.
The people of Stevenville are just the next bunch of people all over the world who have been seeing things in the sky for thousands of years. It happened her in Roswell in 1947. The July 4th anniversary of the ‘47 crash is celebrated with a festival here each year. I wrote this short essay just before last years 60th anniversary party. Those “in the know” say an increase of sightings happen every 60 or so years so maybe the new Texas sightings are part of this phenomenon.
Every 60 years the sightings of strange craft in the sky are reported in an increased number. In 1947 a strange craft crashed near Roswell and much controversy surrounds it. The crash was one of thousands of sightings in the sky seen that year world wide. More than any other year in the 20th century. They say the sightings have increased this year and some say the visitors from far away will come to our town but I don’t believe them. The visitors don’t like crowds and the UFO Festival is expected to get crowded this year.
Don’t ask how I know their distaste of crowds. I promised I wouldn’t tell.
I can tell some of what I learned last night but I must be vague. I don’t want to mess anything up.
Early autumn of 1887 was cool at Peter Hewitt’s farm. With 1800 acres of healthy hemp growing in the fields he knew the next year would be good. The money the crop would bring would pay off the farm as well as give plenty for living for at least a year.
Peter sat in front of the fire turning one of Edison’s light bulb over and over in his hands. He wanted to figure out how a bulb could burn cooler so it wouldn’t go out so quickly. The incadescent bulbs had a filament for fuel and they quickly burned it up. There had to be a better way.
His wife was in the kitchen cooking dinner. The smells of carrots and potatoes blending with the squirrel and spices made his mouth water. Anna made the best squirrel stew. His friend Rudolf was napping in the chair across from him.His arrival from Germany this afternoon was an unexpected but pleasant surprise. The journey had left him exhausted so Peter let him sleep. Jake, Pete’s golden retriever, slept on the floor between the 2 men. His nose twitched and his paws moved as he chased a dream rabbit through the fields.
Peter was warm, the mood was calm and he soon dozed off. The sounds of the pots clanging in the kitchen was like a lullaby. Peace was in the house but it wouldn’t last long.
Suddenly Jake sat up growling. Hewitt woke from his nap A rumbling motor sound filled the air and a bright light burst through the windows. The roaring sound died suddenly and all that was left was a humming sound and the light. Jake ran to the door barking furiously. Pete got up and raced to the door curious of who would make such a racket at this hour.
Throwing the door open he felt Jake rush past him only to turn around in fear. He ran crying past Peter, up the stairs to hide behind the bed in the master bedroom. Keening and shuddering he acted as if he had seen his own ghost.
With Rudy following him Peter went out onto the porch. A huge sphere made of a shiny metal with lighted tubes crisscrossing the exterior was sitting in the pasture. It stood at least 50 foot tall and seemed to glow from the reflection of the lights on the shiny surface.
A door opened in the lower part of the ball and 6 men stepped out. Dressed in suits made of a weird shiny material with the collars pulled high. Low brimmed hats helped the collars hide the mens faces. The formed a wedge like formation . 1 in front, 2 behind him with the other three.following the leaders.
Sensing no danger Peter greeted them warmly. Inviting them to dinner was natural for this humble hemp farmer. The men politely refused and told them there really wasn’t time. They had noticed the hemp fields and since hemp fueled their craft would like to aquire some to make it home. Peter wondered aloud what his return would be.
The leader replied “Knowledge that will make you prosper.”
Without waiting for the OK the 5 men in the rear went to the hemp fields and began pulling plants. In no time they had harvested at least 2 acres, probably more. Stuffing the plants inside a hopper built into the bottom of the sphere they waved the two men towards the lighted craft.
Rudy looked into the hopper. Watching the oil being extracted from the stalks and seeds he noticed the pulp was being dissolved in a smelly liquid. Watching the simple process he somehow absorbed some kind of knowledge. His face was filled with wonder.
Meanwhile Peter was examining the lighted tubes. Some kind of glass surrounded gasses that were burning from an unseen spark. The tubes were connected by metal boxes that were producing the humming sound.The amazement on his face rivaled the look on Rudolf’s.
The man from the craft admonished the men not to ever tell of the visit. If spoken of to anyone the knowledge would disappear and the promised success would never come.
The craft suddenly roared and disappeared into the night sky. The men returned to the house where Anna was laying the good china on the table. With rumbling tummies the men sat to a wonderful meal. Neither uttered a word until after the apple pie with fresh whipped cream was finished. Rudolf praised Anna’s fine meal and excused himself to go to bed.
Thats all I will tell you of what was revealed to me. I hope my vagueness was sufficient.
In 1891 Rudolf Diesel patented the Diesel engine in Germany. The prototype ran on hemp fuel.
Shortly after that Peter Cooper Hewitt patented the flourescent light.
In 1947, some 60 years later there were many visitors in our atmosphere. Some obviously landed and interacted with humans.
The first computers were being patented in the very early 1950’s.
Alien Trucker
February 16th, 2008 by Rocky 
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