The Good Old Days.....Or Were They?

Last week I dropped in Topeka with 1 1/2 hours to spare and headed toward Tulsa for my next pickup. I couldn't pick up in Tulsa until the next day and I figured that was a good thing since I was starting to run short on hours. Only 16 left for that day and the next so I decided to cut the day short and pulled off into an old, familiar haunt, the BETO Junction truck stop. It's been many years since I spent any time here so I decided to just walk around and check things out. Like most places the old mom and pop truck stop has been bought out and transformed into a chain truck stop. T/A has it now and the old ambiance is gone.

I spent many a night in here grabbing a piece of homemade apple pie and some good old fashioned ice cream. Back in those days in the middle of the night there would always be 5 or 6 tired truckers like me doing the same thing. We'd talk about where we were headed, coming from, going to, or any of a dozen topics. Anything just for conversation. Mostly what you'd see in here back then were bull haulers or meat haulers and everybody had to be somewhere yesterday. I had probably picked up a load of beef out of Liberal or Dodge City, Kansas and headed east. Wasn't anything back then to pick up a load at about 8:00 PM Tuesday night and have to be in Boston, New York, or Rhode Island by 5 or 6 AM on Friday. I'd come out of the truck stop and set the alarm for about 2 hours, get up and roll. You'd pull out of here and kick it up between 80 and a 100 mph and let her roll til you got near Kansas City. The only traffic you'd see on the roads at that time of night were other truckers and they were doing the same thing you were. If you passed the Highway Patrol he'd usually just flash the lights at you to warn you and keep right on going. If you did get stopped you'd just give him one of the "few" driver's licenses you had and keep on rockin'. Once daylight came around you'd keep your speed down to around 75 to 80. Logbooks were just a nightmare and very seldom were they right. I was stopped at the scales 6 times in a period of 5 weeks for them to check my books. I finally asked the scale master in

Truckers Chapel at Beto Junction T/A truck stop

Missouri why did I keep getting checked? He told me the company I was with had the best tractors and trailers on the road and never was there a safety defect found on them, but you could bet 2 out of 3 drivers logbooks were way behind. They knew the companies that had to really roll, mostly because of time sensitive product you were carrying. When you did sleep it was usually about 2 or 3 hours over the wheel. You normally didn't get in the sleeper until they were unloading you. That was good for 4 or 5 hours. Then do it again in the other direction.

Sounds dangerous, huh? Not really. Traffic was virtually non-existent after about 11:00 PM. Weren't nearly as many deer and other animals getting onto the roadways. And the drivers were a different breed back then. They would crash themselves to keep from hitting another vehicle, even if the other vehicle was at fault. We also knew our limits. We knew the roads we were traveling on and could tell you every bump, dip and rock. We knew when we had finally had enough and it was time to shut it down. Dispatchers also knew that we knew and would very seldom argue if you told them, "Enough." The trucks running like this were extremely well maintained. Brakes, tires, springs, shocks everything was top of the line as were the trucks. Back then the freight rates were about the same as they are today. Only then you had fuel prices below a dollar a gallon which left a lot of profit to maintain your equipment or purchase new equipment. New trucks were a fraction of what they cost today. Most people I knew very seldom kept a truck more than 3 years. They could afford to trade.

How does this compare to today. Well for starters we do get a fuel surcharge today. It's in no way enough to keep up with the cost of fuel. Also some shippers, since they are required in their contracts to pay surcharges, will reduce the freight rates so that you don't see a lot of difference in the total rates. You hear drivers hollering about, "Don't pull cheap freight." I do have a limit I won't go under but I also have a family and bills to pay. A lot of owner operators give me a hard time about deadheading 200 miles to pick up a load. If that load is paying good rates and including the deadhead miles and I'm well over my bottom line, yeah I'll go get it.

We also don't drive nearly as fast today. Too much traffic and too many idiots on the road. Also too many truck drivers that don't have the common sense and/or experience to get out of the rain. Back in those days cars respected trucks. It seems back then everyone knew what it took to control and stop a truck. Today that respect is gone. I run quite a few short runs through the back roads and at least two to three times a day I have people run stop signs, pull out of driveways, pass on yellow lines on hills and curves, anything you can imagine just to get ahead of the truck. Most of the time just to go a half mile and turn left. People don't have a clue what it takes to get this truck stopped, not to mention what it can do to the product you're hauling when you have to brake hard. I put a dash cam in my truck just for these idiots. If I ruin a load to keep from running over you, expect to get a piece of paper delivered where I'm suing you to recoup damages. My insurance deductible is $1000 and I will not take that hit alone. Remember I now have your vehicle description and usually your license plate, along with the time and date the incident occurred. A lot of drivers are going to these systems now. You want to sue me because a rock came up off the road and hit your windshield? Pay back is hell. Keep in mind that about 10% of the trucks on the road are now installing cameras for their protection. This number is rising quickly as the costs associated with the cameras has come down. It is a small price to pay for our peace of mind. Trucks were easy pickins' for ambulance chasing lawyers who knew it was cheaper for the truck to settle without going into court and fighting, even when the driver was in the right.

Now days I keep my cruise control set at about 63 mph. I do this mainly because that is where the "sweet spot" is and my engine is most efficient. I'm saving fuel. Some companies have speed limiters where their trucks are limited to 60 with the cruise on and 63 standing on the accelerator to override it. Most over the road trucks also run electronic logging devices which makes sure we are running our legal hours. Some people (mostly old timers) don't like it. Sure there are times when I wish I could throw it out the window but, for the most part I have no problem with it. Some companies are using it to harass their drivers by knowing exactly when they can come back on duty after their 10 hour break and call them with loads that have to be "picked up right now." It doesn't matter that the driver had nothing scheduled so he sat around the truck stop bs'ing til the wee hours of the morning and has only been asleep a couple of hours. Your log says you can go, so go.

Drivers are also shoved through schools so fast now just so the company can put a butt in the seat they're not really getting the over the road training they need. Most "at fault" crashes drivers are involved in happen within the first two years of driving. It takes years to get comfortable with the differences in a truck and a car. Just because you think you're Earnheart Jr behind the wheel of your 4 wheeler doesn't even begin to translate into safely hauling 80,000 pounds down the highway. There is too much time in the classroom and not enough time behind the wheel at these schools. Yeah we all had to learn someway but, the schools are there taking good money from these kids to teach them, so teach them what the road is all about. Most companies have over a 100% turnover each year. A lot of this is because these people just don't realize what it is like to live as a rambler with little home time.

I've never been one to sit in an office all day or work in a factory somewhere. Sure I could have probably made more money elsewhere but this country is wide open and I enjoy seeing it. Yes I do miss my wife and now that the truck is mine I do get to spend a lot more time at home with her.

So which were the better days, yesterday or today. I guess it's really a trade off. There are a lot of things I miss about the old days on the road, mostly the camaraderie with others that you don't have today. But today I enjoy the easier lifestyle. Not having to always be somewhere yesterday. Not having to be wide open everywhere you go. I mostly enjoy the fact I do get my rest these days. Maybe that's from old age catching up to me. I don't know. I just know that things seem a lot easier these days.