September 9, 1989, 2009

FIRST 5 YEARS: (Saturday-Laredo, Texas)
Hopefully getting out of Laredo today so woke and looked at my project yesterday-fiberglass rose pizza-and padded myself on the back. Got ready for the day and went to the company terminal. Dispatch said I was assigned a load of toys, going to Forth Worth(Texas), that is suppose to come over the border tomorrow. An old friend of mine-a fellow driver-was in the trucker room so we talked for awhile. He-Sundance(his handle-nickname) had just got there so he was going to be there a couple days. We went back to the motel I had been for two nights and got a room together(cheaper for us as the company doubles the motel allowance of $20/day if we share). We went to the Chinese Restaurant and had lunch. Went to Radio Shack(real name) and just looked around. Saw a 5 Watt walkie talkie I really liked but not in my budget right now. Went to Wal-Mart(real name). Sundance bought some chrome things for his tractor. Went back to motel room, watched TV and told each other "Trucker Tales" until we fell asleep.

A Trucker's Tale: (caught with my pants down????)
I had a meat load to deliver in Jersey City, New Jersey. I got to destination about 8 hours too early. Since I was unloading the meat, I put on a flannel shirt and my overalls and laid down. Around 4 AM I was woken up and told to back into door three. Their enclosed deck was as expected; cold at about 35 degrees. After unloading, I called dispatch and was told to pick up a load of paper going to Wichita, Kansas. The instructions to this customer toward me to first move my trailer wheels all the way forward. That only means small streets. They were small but I got there. The shipping guy came to my truck and told me he would direct my backing my 68 ft long truck into the deck. The street was only 27 feet wide-I measured it. There was an older lady living across the street from the customer's and if trucks drove onto the curb, she would call the police. I was backed into the dock, which slid sideways, and got my load. After I had my paperwork, I pulled out to the left and down to the end of the street. I parked there to finish my paperwork. Adjacent to me at the intersection was a little commotion. A police car had stopped and a police person was talking to about three or four guys. As I continued, two more police cars showed up and a crowd was forming. I got gone with my paperwork and I was really hot. It was a hot day and I had a flannel shirt on. I decided to change it with a tee shirt. I decided to get out of the truck, put my chest against the stairs of my tractor, drop my overall straps and swap shirts. I was outside my tractor and the crowd had really growing. I got up and leaned against the stairs and dropped my straps. OH NO!!! I didn't have my overall side buttons buttoned; my overall back fall all the way down to my lower knees and left me standing there in my underwear. I looked at the crowd, about 30 feet from me, and no one was looking at me. I swapped shirts and pulled my straps back up. Got back in my tractor, started it and made a right turn and was gone...