Old Skewl Truckin'

Yeah, I think most truckers nowadays are a bunch of cry babies and posers. Back in the day, when I learned, these guys were real. They didn't need, nor have, a/c, cd players, AUTO-frigging-matic transmissions, power steering, etc. Hell, we drove CABOVERS (they sucked BTW!)

Back when, we didn't have the standardized trannies we have now... there were multi-sticks like a 4x4 and that stuff was hard to learn. 13 speeds were common. Now, it's all 9's and 10's. You give some of these pussies a super 10 or a double-over tranny and they just can't do it. "But ah done been me to truckin' school..."

I sometimes look at trucker forums and just have to burst out into laughter. And they have special forums to bitch about big companies like J.B. Hunt, Swift, etc. And INVARIABLY, you will see some Billy-Bob's wife going on about how her wonderful other half got fired by this meanie company -- of course, when it comes out, he had 3 accidents right out of trucking school, but two wern't his fault... Spare me, dumbasses! These big companies go through some drivers now. And they Do fire people because they are self-insured. They get to work them hard and stuff because THEY (the big company) train them and take on the onus of putting some doofus who JUST GOT HIS LICENSE into a $85,000 tractor hauling expensive loads. Guess what, do you really think they're safe? Do you really?? I've been driving a tractor trailer for 24 years now and know that I learn something EACH day I go out. You don't know that when you start... you think you got it. You don't.

And BTW, don't think the CDL program is making things safer. It ain't. These companies just teach the billies how to get a license, not how to drive--you can't teach it in a classroom, you have to go out and DRIVE. And yes, that's true. It's all a buch of crap... like America has become, all form and no substance.

Did you know that the DOT has intentionally made it more unsafe? Oh yeah! It used to be teams could drive 5 hours, sleep 5 hours. NOW, w/ the new rules, oh no, you have to drive 10-11 hours before you then MUST take 10 hours off. And once you start "
on duty," 14 hours later, that's it, you MUST go off duty and cannot drive over the 14th hour and have to be off duty for 10 more hours. Totally unsafe, but it appears good tot he suits and ignoramuses in Congress, so let's keep it.

Why am I ranting, I dunno, probably because I talked to a friend I knew back when I started trucking and remembered his Dad (now passed away) ; he was a real trucker, from back in the day. I mean it. An owner operator when that meant something. I learned some things from him. Actually, I learned from a few good drivers back then. Things like you NEVER use the clutch except to start and stop. You certainly don't shift with it. You stop and help other drivers out. If there's a car (or truck or cop) on the shoulder, you get over in the other lane. You ALWAYS do this; ALWAYS!!! The modern inbreds we have driving today don't do this shit nowadays.

You waved at the other drivers you passed (or when they passed you). You cleared them w/ your lights day and night when passing and you'd NEVER do something so frigging retarded as to pull behind someone backing up at a truck stop (union drivers like those at Roadway and Yellow Freight are famous for this).

I learned how to back up from Mr. Coley at the Washington DC post office. I have NEVER seen a better person for backing up. I saw him blind-side a trailer into a hole INSIDE a tunnel inside the North Cap Post Office under Union Station in almost pitch black conditions!?! :-o The thought of ME trying that still makes my asshole pucker TO THIS DAY.

Just know this: It isn't better. It's not close to better and no matter what the DOT idiots and Congress (and the ATA dipshits) will tell you, it's not. It's still easy for some dumbshit to get a license and these dipshits still drive waaaay too fast and aren't really in control of their rigs. No, I'm not making it up and I'm not paranoid. I'm a truck driver -- I damn well know of what I speak. Be careful on the road and give these Billies (especially from the big companies) a WIDE berth.

We arent even going to talk about all the inbred, rude scumbags on the CB radio nowdays :-( I am disgusted with them--they make me EMBARRASSED to be a truck driver :'-( The only good thing is the CB is kinda dying off as most have cell phones and satellite radios. I could go on about states that think talking on a cell phone (and I mean w/ a hand-free) is bad... what stupidity! MANY the times my cell phone and me yapping to someone on it, has kept me awake and not hitting a bridge abutment. Oh, but holding a CB mic is okay... dumbasses.

I should take a second to mention another disturbing trend: truck stacks on pickups... I'll just print the really cool bumper sticker my friend Kenny saw:

"Stacks are for semis...DUMB ASS!"

Nowadays, drivers are just a bunch of whiners and pussies. Oh, wait, this is where we came in.
Ende

This is about the vintage truck I started hauling Mail in--a 1964 White Freightliner cabover (COE) w/ a 180 Cummins engine. The crybabies of today would NOT be able to deal w/ this. It WAS a 10 speed, but had a double over and NO power steering or a/c. The radio worked sometimes and the wipers were AIR powered--this meant they sucked (and didn't work well). Spring suspension you wimps!