truckinbutch
Silver Member
My buddie,Cunningham,and I live 25 miles apart.Tractor-trailer trucked together more than 2 million miles as owner-operators hauling machinery.Many an adventure together and pranks that went in both directions.
Home for a Christmas/New Year holiday we were scheduled to load machinery in Cincinatti,OH destined for LA,CA Jan 3.
Company we were leased to had a trainee for me that they were flying to Indianapolis,IN for me to pick up on the way and carry in my truck for 6 weeks teaching him how to haul machinery.Our living/sleeping quarters would be the cab-sleeper berth of my road tractor for the entire time.
A major snowstorm was building and blowing worse as it came east.
Cunningham got loaded first and offered to go ahead to Indy and find my trainee in the truckstop to have him ready to roll so we could run as hard as posssible to pass through the storm before it acheived it's worst.
That part of the plan worked.
Mike hopped in my truck with his bag when I rolled into the truckstop and we headed west with Cunningham following with this cat ate the canary grin on his face I saw as I pulled past him out of the truckstop.
That's never a good thing to see on Cunningham if it's directed toward you.And this new trainee was weird.Sat in the jump seat with his travel bag hugged to his chest like a teddy bear giving me timid sidelong glances from time to time.
My suggestions that since we were going to be sharing these cramped living quarters for 6 weeks he might as well stow his gear in the shared bunk and get comfortable were met with muttered responses of 'S'ok' and more occasional nervous glances my way from the corner of his eye while he keeps hugging his 'teddy bag'.
From time to time Cunningham will pull even with me,grin at us and drop back to trail position.
700 or so miles nonstop of this and I was getting nervous too.Who have I taken into my truck for the next 6 weeks.
Rolling into Okie City I told him we were going to fuel,shower,and get a quick meal and head on for Kingman,AZ. Got a nervous 'ok'.End of conversation.
Fueled,showered,and sitting in a resturant booth without Cunningham;he was still showering;I said "Out with it ,Mike, we got 6 weeks to share a truck and get you trained as a trucker.What is your problem so far?"
" Cunningham found me in the truckstop in Indy and invited me for coffee in a booth just like this while we were waiting on you.Being nervous about this I asked him what kind of guy you were I was going to be spending the next 6 weeks with and he pulled a dress from inside his shirt and told me to go try it on.Said you told him if it wouldn't fit to buy me a new outfit before you got there and have me ready to go".
As Mike finished I looked up and there was Cunningham standing at the booth with his 'Gotcha' grin on his face and his shower bag on his shoulder.
........And that's when Mike and I hit him...
Home for a Christmas/New Year holiday we were scheduled to load machinery in Cincinatti,OH destined for LA,CA Jan 3.
Company we were leased to had a trainee for me that they were flying to Indianapolis,IN for me to pick up on the way and carry in my truck for 6 weeks teaching him how to haul machinery.Our living/sleeping quarters would be the cab-sleeper berth of my road tractor for the entire time.
A major snowstorm was building and blowing worse as it came east.
Cunningham got loaded first and offered to go ahead to Indy and find my trainee in the truckstop to have him ready to roll so we could run as hard as posssible to pass through the storm before it acheived it's worst.
That part of the plan worked.
Mike hopped in my truck with his bag when I rolled into the truckstop and we headed west with Cunningham following with this cat ate the canary grin on his face I saw as I pulled past him out of the truckstop.
That's never a good thing to see on Cunningham if it's directed toward you.And this new trainee was weird.Sat in the jump seat with his travel bag hugged to his chest like a teddy bear giving me timid sidelong glances from time to time.
My suggestions that since we were going to be sharing these cramped living quarters for 6 weeks he might as well stow his gear in the shared bunk and get comfortable were met with muttered responses of 'S'ok' and more occasional nervous glances my way from the corner of his eye while he keeps hugging his 'teddy bag'.
From time to time Cunningham will pull even with me,grin at us and drop back to trail position.
700 or so miles nonstop of this and I was getting nervous too.Who have I taken into my truck for the next 6 weeks.
Rolling into Okie City I told him we were going to fuel,shower,and get a quick meal and head on for Kingman,AZ. Got a nervous 'ok'.End of conversation.
Fueled,showered,and sitting in a resturant booth without Cunningham;he was still showering;I said "Out with it ,Mike, we got 6 weeks to share a truck and get you trained as a trucker.What is your problem so far?"
" Cunningham found me in the truckstop in Indy and invited me for coffee in a booth just like this while we were waiting on you.Being nervous about this I asked him what kind of guy you were I was going to be spending the next 6 weeks with and he pulled a dress from inside his shirt and told me to go try it on.Said you told him if it wouldn't fit to buy me a new outfit before you got there and have me ready to go".
As Mike finished I looked up and there was Cunningham standing at the booth with his 'Gotcha' grin on his face and his shower bag on his shoulder.
........And that's when Mike and I hit him...
