It's a family tradition....

I would like to tell you a little about Happy Jack and his family. When I met Happy Jack 23 years ago I had never known anyone that drove a truck for a living. Everyone I knew were small business owners to ranchers, but no truck drivers.

Happy Jack tried to explain what it was like to grow-up with a truck driver for a father but I didn't have any point of reference to start from so I had a hard time understanding, the one thing that he was addetment about was that he didn't want to be a driver and have a family. So for the first eight years we were married we did everything we could to keep Happy Jack off the road. To say the least we struggled to make ends meet and raise our young family.

The first driving job that Happy Jack took was driving a transit bus in a resort town, not too bad we though, he was home a night and was paid well. Then we hit a patch of bad luck and had to find a new place to live. So Happy Jack took a job with the county road and bridge department hauling heavy equipment around for the county, 170 miles away from where we were living at the time , still not a bad driving job, but not enough money to move our family across the state so we could be together. The bad thing about taking that job was Happy Jack had to get a Class A CDL to do it. At the time I didn't realize that we were only months away from Happy Jack being a full-time over the road truck driver and what that would mean and how it would change us forever.

All it took was a phone call from Happy Jack's dad Slowpoke offering us a job to change our lives forever. We took it and within two weeks moved back to Happy Jack's hometown of Burlington, CO. An interesting factoid about Burlington, CO is that it has the highest per capita number of CDL holders and truck drivers of any town in America. Burlington is also a town of big wheat farms, where the saying goes "if you ain't farming 5000 acres it is just a hobby." and feedlots. So it would be only natural for a young man to find hauling grain, farm equipment and cattle as a first job and end up making a lifetime career of it. That is one of the reasons that Happy Jack left in the first place to experience something different.

There are times when where you come from or how you are raise you are bound to repeat or revisit and that is where we were when we moved to Burlington. Being a driver is a family tradition in Happy Jack's family and something he was almost expected to become. Not that he wasn't accepted when he wasn't driving, but some wondered why he would want to do anything else.

The patriarch of this family that I married into is none other than, dare I say it, the "legendary" Slowpoke, he turns 70 this year and will have been trucking for over 40 years, with literally millions of miles driven. There are hundreds of young men and some women that got their start in the trucking industry through Slowpoke and the number of people that ask about him when they see our last name on the side of the truck is truly mind boggling, no matter where we go.

Currently Happy Jack and Slowpoke are working for the same company and so they get to run together quite a bit, and I sometimes get the impression that Slowpoke couldn't be happier to be out on the road with his son and working together. Happy Jack and Slowpoke are so much alike is some ways and couldn't be more different in other ways. They both are hard workers and believe in doing any job they take on well, on the other hand Slowpoke loves trucking and trucks, Happy Jack loves building and woodworking and taking time off with family. I am not saying that Slowpoke doesn't love being with his family, but it does seem that trucks are such a part of his life that it is hard to separate him from his truck.


Next in the family comes CK (Computer Kid) Happy Jack's older brother, he has been driving since he was 18 and is 48 this year. He did take a few years off to try his hand at farming but that is much harder occupation to get in to when you don't come from a family of farmers. About 9 years ago CK started driving for Wal-mart and enjoys a more stable job than he knew before when he was trying to make a go of it as an independent. We are all happy that he was able to find a company where he could work doing what he does best and not have to worry about all the other stuff that we have to deal with on a daily basis, like how to pay for our next set of tires or makeing our insurance premium.

There are various cousins and uncles that are or have been involved in the trucking industry or heavy equipment industry. Even our daughter is working at a fuel desk at a truck stop. Having been raised in the industry she relates really well with drivers, and has toyed with the idea of getting her CDL, but that may not work out for her in the long run. One of the other career options she has is becoming a police officer, or DOT officer, which with her knowledge of drivers and how the industry works would make her really good at her job, but probably not too popular with her relatives. Our two year old grandson, has even done a run with Happy Jack, Las Vegas to Boise, sat right up in the navigator seat and rode like an old pro. The picture to the left is Little Zach Attach in his go-fast glasses.

Everyone of our three children have gone on runs with Happy Jack over the years, mostly so they understood what it was that their father did for a living. However I don't believe that any will follow in the family business, which is okay with Happy Jack and I. Of our two sons one is in college and trying to get a degree in computer science, and the other is getting started in the construction trades, we are both proud of these choices.

As a woman married to a driver, the world is very different than that of our friends and non-driving relatives. I have yet to meet a woman married to a driver that doesn't hate the industry at one time or another. When Happy Jack started driving my sister-in-law told me it takes a special kind of woman to be married to a driver, I didn't know what that meant at the time but 15 years later I know exactly what that means.

You have to be strong enough to be a single mother, and love and trust your husband enough to sleep at night. Many women have no idea what they are in for when they marry a driver or he starts driving after they are married. It is a very lonely life for the women at home raising the children, paying the bills, and sometime having to work to make ends meet. It is not a life for the weak of spirit or those that can't stand up to all the challenges alone. Some of the most independent and strong willed women I know are truckers' wives, and they are all very special to me, I love them all.

There is a saying out here "If you bought it, a trucker brought it." That is true but the women at home made it all possible, and suffered for it. When I say suffered I don't mean in a tragic sense but more of a stoic sense. In this wonderful family that I have been honored to be a member of for the last 22 years, it is just the way things are, and you have to learn to deal with it. Which is a positive trait to pass on to our children, makes them stronger more independent individuals, than most of the other young people that I know.

Next time you go to the store, just consider all the people that are involved in bringing those things to you, and give one a friendly wave on the way home. It will make our day!

Californios y Chapperell

I guess that I never thought of California as a “cowboy” state, when ever I thought about California I think surfers, hippies and used car salesmen, but not a place where one would find genuine cowboys. I do know that California was a farm and ranch area long before the other types moved in but that is just not the image I had of this state.

Today we loaded at Exeter CA in the heart of the San Joquine Valley, home of the United Farm Workers Union, with it's citrus groves and strawberry fields. But there is another side to the San Joquine, in the foothills there some of the prettiest chapperel country ranches. I was surprised to find that there were still places in California that are not crowded with people and that wide open spaces still do exist.

After we loaded we took off for Eastern Colorado, or Kersey, CO to be exact. Back to our old stomping grounds. Happy Jack and I lived in Eastern Colorado for 12 years before the move to Idaho, fun how some things just stick with you even after years away, like the smell of feedlots, dust and wind. I thought it would bother me, the wind and feedlots, but they don't. They are what they are and they always will be.

We unloaded at one of the biggest feedlots in Weld County, CO, it literally goes on for miles, both along the highway and off to the north.

After we unloaded we had to get the trailer washed out again because we had to be back in Idaho by morning. So we went to Greeley Washout, the unique thing about Greeley washout is that they lost their water, or rather the City of Greeley took them away, just depends on who you talk to. Anyhow, they don't have a supply of clean water for the washout, they use recycled water. As a matter of fact it is hard to distinguish the difference between the water coming out of the fire hose and that running down the drain at the back of the trailer, that “Dirty Jobs” episode would be a whole lot dirtier at the Greeley Washout.

After the washout we headed it north and stopped in Laramie, WY for a shower and a meal. Then back in the truck, I have driven many times in a car on I-80 across Wyoming, that this was about the fastest I have ever traveled that distance.

We took I-84 into Ogden UT and then on north to Idaho, I had to get back in the sleeper bunk when Happy Jack was driving through the construction on I-15, I was just sure there wasn't enough room for the truck between the barriers, I just had to trust Happy Jack and not look.

Happy Jack took a few short naps and we were back in Melba, ID by 10 am local time. Loaded some more dairy cows for California and started the whole process over again.

Aprilloper

April 26, 2007

YES, she's fast! NO! You can't try her.

Happy Jack has three things that are red and fast. One is his 1800 VTX Honda motorcycle, two is a 500+ HP Peterbilt that may not look like much on the outside but under the hood is all GO, the third is only red with a little help from Revlon and I will let you figure that one out on your own ;-).

Our first Load Out:

We left Payette ID at 6 am, got to the Hwy 95 crossroad truck stop, put on some fuel, choked down a breakfast burrito gut bomb, and were at Dan's Ferry Service near Melba, ID before 8am.

I recently watched a Discovery Science Channel show about Super Volcanoes that talked about the Bruno Ridge event super volcano, 100,000 years ago. When we stopped to wait for the rest of the trucks to show up I jumped out of the truck and broke a piece off a big boulder that was sitting beside the road and showed it to Happy Jack, I showed him how the rock was made up of both pumas and pryoclastic flow material. It was so cool to share what I knew with him about someplace he has been many times and didn't know what he was seeing.

Once everyone showed up we went out to the farm where we loaded 36 head of dairy cows, the old girls where on their way to California, where the “Happy Cows” are or so says the California Dairy Council. These old ladies I think would have preferred to stay in Idaho, but didn't have much say in the matter.

Saw everything between southern Idaho and Reno, not much to report or see for that matter, there were some pretty snow covered mountains off in the distance but other than that not much else.

Reno, WHY? I don't get it. I guess I am to much of an anti-consumer to understand the attraction to Reno, Las Vegas, or any of the other Nevada “Hot Spots”.

Went over Donner Pass for the first time. I didn't have to eat the carcass of a loved one on my adventure. However I sure wanted to chew the ass of Mr. Govenator, about the condition of that road. I swear on all that is holy, that I have driven down county roads that double as creek beds when it rains and they are smoother that the interstate over Donner Pass.

We dropped down into the Golden State. Dropped is about as actuate of description as I can come up with. Happy Jack has been driving over Donner for 15 years and has become really accustom to the conditions, traffic, and grade that he knows just how fast he can travel down it. I on the other hand with less than 12 hours in the truck under my belt, and uneasy with the perspective that you get when you are sitting 8 feet above the road, was trying really hard not to have a panic attack, or at least not let it show.

After the drop down Donner, then I had 6 hours of central California traffic to experience, I just don't know how Happy Jack does it, he drives a 75-foot, 80,000-pound tractor-trailer in traffic that would make me an agoraphobic, and he just does it like it was normal, well I guess it is normal for him, he is out here in California at least twice a month and sometimes more.

We delivered our Idaho cows to the sale barn in Hanford, CA. Then went over to the trailer wash-out. For those that are not familiar with trucking/livestock/trailer wash-outs here is a brief description: One puts on a yellow rubber overalls, coat with a hood, and rubber boots, you end up looking like a crusty old lobster fisherman, than you get in to a two story trailer with a upstairs and a downstairs, that 36 cows have just spent the last 17 hours, take a fire-hose and start washing out the manure. It take about 45 minutes to an hour to accomplish the task, and when you are done, you are covered with fine mist of cow shit. That is the “Dirty Jobs” episode I want to see.

Actually, it can be a very photogenic situation; at the wash-out we went to, they have two wash-bays side by side and lots of lights so it can be used 24 hours. Happy Jack was washing out his trailer in one bay and his friend Paul was washing out his red peterbilt in the other bay, at one point when they were washing the outside of the trailers there would every once and a while be these big jets of water shooting over both trailers that was all back lit and really quite pretty if one didn't think too hard about the fact that you were looking at a shit fountain. I really wanted to take a picture but I wasn't going anywhere near the truck as long as those hoses were turned on.

After some very needed showers we went to Exeter, CA and parked by a local fruit stand to sleep for the night. My first load was complete and now it was time for bed, 2 am pacific time.

Aprilloper

April 25, 2007

On the Road With Big Red Pete

I think that it is high time something gets posted on this blog and since Big Red Pete hasn't any major political issues he wishes to post I thought I could add something that maybe of interest to anyone that finds their way to this site.

Big Red Pete is my better half or rather I am is better half no matter how you want to look at it we have been married for over 22 years now and have been in the trucking business for over 15. My role and experience has mostly been for the point of view of a truck widow and office manager. Big Red Pete has been on the road by himself all this time.

As of this morning I had never gone “on the truck” with him for more than an occasional overnight trip because of needing to stay home with our three children and keeping the wolves beaten back from the doorstep (inside joke about debt collectors). However things have changed the kids are all young adults now, so I didn't have anymore excuses for not going.

So for the first time in 15 years I will be seeing how we make our living from the passenger seat of our big red peterbilt, right beside Happy Jack, (my husband's handle out here). I will be out here for the next three weeks, and will keep a travel log of sorts as I go and get to see a different side of this country and my life that I have never directly experience before.

Aprilloper

April 24, 2007

Insanity of "Stay the Course"

When it becomes so glaringly obvious that our acts are not making things better for anyone then it is imperative that we change what we are doing. There is a saying about insanity; insanity is doing the same thing over and over and hoping that you will eventually have a different out come.

I am in total agreement with Congressman John Murtha on the situation in Iraq. We need to step back, pull our military men and women out of harms way, while we have this important debate about how this country is going to correct the problems and destruction caused by not have a plan when we went in. Neither Congressman Murtha or I are advocating pull out and forget about it. We the American people have a big IOU to the Iraqi people, and we need to help them recover from the trauma we inflicted on them. We the American people also have a big IOU to thousands of veterans and their families to help them overcome the trauma that they themselves have suffered through while serving in Iraq, and to help our veterans get back to some kind of stable life.

Then there are the Fox News brainwashed ditto-heads that repeat over and over – stay the course – stay the course -- like a pack of zombies. “Staying the course???” WHAT COURSE, this county is a ship with a broken rudder, leaky hull, an insane deck crew, cruising full steam right in to an iceberg field!!!

If we have a course or a plan then I haven't heard it, and I don't think that Congressman Murtha or any other member of Congress has heard it. All that Congress and the American people have is a grocery list of failures that this administration has involved US in and no intentions to change the course.

So how does this gang of thugs and bullies that are in charge of the administration react to decent and criticism, they fire up the Republican Spin machine and set it on overdrive, slandering the service and personal character of John Murtha, a 37 year veteran Marine Drill Sergeant. Shame on them, any American that supports the likes of Dick Cheney, George Bush and Dennis Haster.

The comment made by Senator John Kerry today should be heard by every American in full, and not edited down to some kind of sound bite. I agree with Senator Kerry that these chickenhawks in leadership roles of the Republican Party in Washington D.C. Need to come out and face the reality of their actions – explain themselves to the American People, and take criticism like adults!

Yes I am mad, I am also angry, sad, distressed, overwhelmed, enraged, foaming, fuming, furious, incensed, indignant, inflamed, infuriated, irate, outraged, rabid, riled, roiled, sore, steaming, and wrathful. I wish I could sit down each and every congressman and senator for a good old-fashioned ass-chewing for allowing this gang of thugs that have taken over this county.

I am not only mad at the Republicans, but also at the Democrats for being complicit with their silence and cowering in the corner frightened of the Republican attack dogs in the media. What is really needed is more like John Murtha and John Kerry that know how to fight back and do. The American people also need to step up and be heard and say in one loud voice, WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF LIARS AND BULLIES – CHANGE THE COURSE!!!

Happy Jack