“Welcome
to Oklahoma!”
read
the billboard at the side of the freeway. Another 500 yards and the following
sign appeared, “Hitchhikers may be escaped inmates.” I couldn’t help but
wonder what had made such a sign necessary. Are the prisons and asylums
overly lax in Oklahoma?
Did some government lawyer
think the state would be prime picking for
a lawsuit
if they didn’t warn of this possibility? Or worst of all, had
somebody
already won a lawsuit against the state for such a thing. I
guess
I will never know. I sure feel sorry for hitchhikers here though.
They
have about as good a chance of getting picked up as Janet Reno at a singles
bar before closing time.
Well, so far the trucking
life is great! After piddling around the West
Coast
with a few loads, we are finally hauling butt across the country.
We
are dragging about half-a-million dollars worth of electronics from
Los
Angeles to a small town in Ohio. We are in the third day of a
four-day
trip.
Although we have only been
on the road for 7 days now, we have
already
witnessed some pretty interesting things. The world’s tallest
flagpole
is the claim to fame of a small town in California called Dorris.
The
largest McDonalds on the planet is on Hwy. 44 in Oklahoma (or
was
it Missouri… it all runs together).
We have spotted deer, elk,
armadillos, coyotes, skunks and various other wildlife from the road. Not
talking road-kill here either, although there were quite a few of the above
that fall into that category also. We have crossed the Mighty Mississipi,
driven by the St. Louis arch and witnessed some beautiful sunsets across
the Midwest. All in all, it has been a very nice week.
[Oklahoma Sunset]
It is not all gravy though.
The hours are LONG, and we are currently
only
driving about two-thirds of what we will be expected to in a couple
more
weeks. Also, backing is MUCH harder than I imagined! It is not a
problem
at the truck stops. They usually have ample room for
maneuvering.
The trouble comes at the shippers and drop yards. It is
ludicrous
how they shoehorn trailers in there. It is going to be
nerve-wracking
the first time I have to attempt to put a trailer in one of
those
things. Well, at least I have three more weeks of practice before I
have
to worry about that.
STAY
TUNED!
Rick
