August 2, 1991, 2011

FIRST 5 YEARS:(Friday-Warrenton, Missouri)My son Bill is riding with me for awhile.
I woke a headed for Kansas City around 7 AM CST. Bill got up as we passed Columbia, Missouri. We got to I-435 on the east side of Kansas and went north to the terminal. I got to drop the trailer in the yard and was ready for another load at 10:45 AM.

I checked the TRB and there were few drivers on the screen. I told Bill that I was going to lay down in the terminal's bunk room for awhile. I told him to wake me up when my number on the TRB gets to number 2. He woke me up at 11:30 AM CST(big nap)and told me that they called my number. Dispatch had called several numbers up at the same time, mine being the last.

The terminal manager--Jack--was handling the dispatch window and he and I got along great. He offered me a choice of 3 loads: one to St. Paul, Minnesota or one of 2 Canadas.
I said a little prayer that I could get a Laredo loads. As I was explaining that I had my son with me and we had gone to Canada each of the two other years he had riden with me, Paul(the dispatcher behind Jack, looking at the load computer screen) got Jack's attention and told him that he had a load to Laredo and a load to Del Rio, Texas just come in. I took the Laredo, Texas load and had to deadhead to St. Joseph(Missouri) to get it.

I decided that since I would be going through our Joplin, Missouri terminal, I wouldn't fuel before leaving.

We had gone up I-29 to St Joseph and got to the company dropyard. The trailer I needed was there so I did a "drop & hook". I called dispatch and got the order to GO. At 1:45 PM CST we were heading down I-29 toward Kansas City. Down I-29 to I-70(east) to I-435 south. Coming to Hwy 71, we went south. What always seened like a long drive, we finally got to I-44 and went southwest to Joplin getting to the Joplin terminal at 5:30 PM CST.

The truck had to go through a fast inspection while in Joplin and got through it with no problem. We were at the terminal only about 45 minutes. After fueling(174 gallons) we headed into Oklahoma on I-44.

By the time we got to Big Cabin, Oklahoma, we had two other drivers from our company running with us. At Big Cabin, we three trucks went south on Hwy 69. We all three talked and told jokes for hours. We stopped in Stringtown(a speedtrap), Oklahoma for an half hour break and then down Hwy 69 again. Hwy 75 soon joins us and when Hwy 69 leaves us, we follow Hwy 75. We were all still talking on the CB radio--telling stories and jokes as we went over the Red River into Texas as our day ended...