Trucks
I hate trucks. Funny hearing myself say that, considering I used to be an over-the-road truck driver. Yup, that was me - BillyBob Big Rigger. Running my semi up and down the interstate, grabbing gears and scaring little old blue-haired ladies on their way to church. To be fair and honest, there are days when I miss it. I enjoyed the solitude you got from driving around the country, hours on end lost in thought on contemplation. I was pretty good it at too. I don't miss driving at 3AM through some mountain pass or another covered in snow in a blinding storm. Once again, I digress.
The point of this story is what happened on my way to work Thursday morning. The Squirt was securely fastened in her car seat as I made the 40 minute trek to my brother & sister-in-laws house to drop her off before heading to the station. 2 semis were going down the road in front of me - side by side. I hate that. You have two big-ass, slow-moving rigs belching smoke and mucking up traffic. One was a regular 53' van trailer being pulled by an over-the-road tractor, while the other was a set of doubles pulled by a day cab. I don't mind if one pulls out from behind the other to pass, but when you don't have the guff to make the pass, tuck back in behind and let the cars pass you by! Oh, no - not these two knuckleheads. Imagine that! These two idiots ran side by side for about 7 miles..... neither speeding up or slowing down to let the other pass or tuck in behind. I was already running a few minutes late and this did not help matters. To make matters worse, they were only chugging along at around 42 MPH while the posted limit is 50... and everyone usually does at least 60 on this stretch of road.
Finally, there was a break! One was slower getting up a hill than the other and I had a break between them in the lanes! I made my move and slid over and began to pass. WoooHooo! Away I went. Right up until I got to the traffic light. I didn't have the room to pass the rig, thanks to the line of cars in front. Now I was boxed in. As my usual good luck would have it, the other lane, with the truck next to me had a faster shot out of the gate, and he managed to get ahead of me in his lane. Just as there was a slight break in my lane and the cars began to accelerate - this idiot slides over right in front of me! DAMNIT!!!!!! Of course, there was a steady stream of cars behind him that immediately jumped on the gas and kept me blocked in. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr! It wasn't until a few miles more down the road that I turned off, with him in front of me, but it was another 4 lane road, and I was able to zip around him - with a few colorful words yelled at my window that he would never hear and one nicely obscene finger gesture. Road rage is an ugly thing!
The point of this story is what happened on my way to work Thursday morning. The Squirt was securely fastened in her car seat as I made the 40 minute trek to my brother & sister-in-laws house to drop her off before heading to the station. 2 semis were going down the road in front of me - side by side. I hate that. You have two big-ass, slow-moving rigs belching smoke and mucking up traffic. One was a regular 53' van trailer being pulled by an over-the-road tractor, while the other was a set of doubles pulled by a day cab. I don't mind if one pulls out from behind the other to pass, but when you don't have the guff to make the pass, tuck back in behind and let the cars pass you by! Oh, no - not these two knuckleheads. Imagine that! These two idiots ran side by side for about 7 miles..... neither speeding up or slowing down to let the other pass or tuck in behind. I was already running a few minutes late and this did not help matters. To make matters worse, they were only chugging along at around 42 MPH while the posted limit is 50... and everyone usually does at least 60 on this stretch of road.
Finally, there was a break! One was slower getting up a hill than the other and I had a break between them in the lanes! I made my move and slid over and began to pass. WoooHooo! Away I went. Right up until I got to the traffic light. I didn't have the room to pass the rig, thanks to the line of cars in front. Now I was boxed in. As my usual good luck would have it, the other lane, with the truck next to me had a faster shot out of the gate, and he managed to get ahead of me in his lane. Just as there was a slight break in my lane and the cars began to accelerate - this idiot slides over right in front of me! DAMNIT!!!!!! Of course, there was a steady stream of cars behind him that immediately jumped on the gas and kept me blocked in. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr! It wasn't until a few miles more down the road that I turned off, with him in front of me, but it was another 4 lane road, and I was able to zip around him - with a few colorful words yelled at my window that he would never hear and one nicely obscene finger gesture. Road rage is an ugly thing!
posted by FireResQGuru | 10/23/2004 01:50:00 PM
1 Comments:
There's a writer named Pat MacManus (you may be able to find his collections on Amazon, or even at your local Barnes&Noble) who writes a number of humorous short stories. In some of them, he describes logging trucks as a life-form in their own right. He's a riot, amigo, and you'd probably like his antics. He also (I don't know if he still does this) wrote the final article in the back of every Outdoor Life issue, which was where I came to know his writing some twenty-five years ago.
Outtahere,
--Patrick--
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