Pros & Cons of Truck Driving

In the Fall of 2005 I was in desperate need of a career change. I was 40 years old with two children and a wife to support and all my education was in a career that I no longer wanted to do. My education was in ministry. I had several years experience as a youth minister and a pulpit minister within Churches of Christ. However when I was fired from my pulpit position for no real clear reasons in 2002 I felt traumatized and bewildered. I couldn’t bring myself to search for another position with a church.

I worked with children’s homes for a while, but this too didn’t workout well for me or my family. So in 2005, I was at an impasse. I didn’t know how to provide enough money to support a family, we were deeply in debt, we were living with my mom and step-dad, and I was so depressed that I could hardly function. There was no time or money to go back school to train for another career. We needed money now and quite a bit of money. Working for minimum wage wasn’t going to do it, nor was working for any of the factories in my area. They simply didn’t pay enough.

This brings me to my first pro:

Pro 1: Small Amount of Training is Required

Most careers require years of training to earn the type of money I needed. Truck drivers just need a license. No degree is really required, but you do need a way of getting the license and that usually requires some schooling. Most CDL schools were costing about 5000-6000 dollars and take several months of training. I took a shortcut which I would not recommend for anybody. I just happened upon a man who was trying to start a CDL school. I told him I could take the written test and on my own if he could teach me to drive. It cost me about 2000 dollars. The man leased a truck and a trailer took me to a parking lot and taught me to back up and drive. It took about two or three days and I took my driver’s test and passed.

I should probably point out that what I did is not the best plan because just because you have a license doesn’t mean you will be able to find work. Most companies want a minimum of 2 years experience before they will hire you. Which is why several companies will offer the training themselves. With this option there is usually a contract that you will work for that company for several years and usually at a lower amount of pay. Though this way has it’s drawbacks, I recommend it because they provide more training with an experienced driver.

Pro 2: Truck Drivers are in Demand

Almost every trucking company has more trucks than they have drivers and drivers are hard to hold onto. Therefore, finding a job is usually not difficult in any area of the country. That is if you have experience. In my case the man who trained me knew of a company that would hire me. They had such a high turnover rate that they were desperate. They were the worst company I worked for and I left after 6 months of experience to work for J.B. Hunt.

Pro 3: The Money

The money is not great when you consider the amount of hours you put in, but it is enough money to support a family which is better than any other option I had the time. Most truck drivers will be earning a minimum of 40,000 a year and the sky is the limit for earning potential. You may buy your own truck, and they buy other trucks and have people drive them for you. Seriously, the sky is the limit if you’re able to go into business.

Pro 4: You Work Alone

I personally don’t like to work around other people. Therefore, I drive solo. I would never want to be a team driver, nor would I want the part of several trucks going to a similar destination. I like being able to call the shots. I choose my route, I eat when I want, when I’m tired I can usually stop, and I can choose when I go to the bathroom. I really have nobody to answer to and nobody breathing down my neck and I like that.

Pro 5: Travel

If you’re a person like me, who really doesn’t like to stay in one place then truck driving can fulfill this need. Even though I have to see most of the through a windshield, I still get to see a lot of the world and once in a while I have time to stop and check things out. I’ve been able to see friends that live far away. I’ve gone to museums and other places that I probably would never have seen if it wasn’t for driving a truck. There is also something enjoyable about just heading down the road just listening to a book or music, and sometimes just thinking about things that is quite fulfilling.

Trucking has always been a love/hate relationship for me. When I entered the career, I didn’t feel like I had any other options. At least any that would allow me to support a family right away. Several times I tried to do something else. I returned to preaching a for a while, and I also even tried working for a children’s home, but I ended up returning to the road. Sometimes I was miserable on the road just hoping I could do anything else. I would be super depressed and sometimes very angry, but to no avail. Now I’ve kind of accepted my fate and it’s been a whole lot better. For anyone considering driving as a career, some of the cons should be considered.

Con 1: Sitting

Driving a truck rarely goes smoothly. Some warehouses are awful and you usually spend large amounts of time sitting at a dock or waiting in a parking lot. Depending on your company, most of time you are sitting, you are earning nothing. After several hours you may qualify for detention time, but it is usually a pain in the ass to get and it’s only a fraction of the money you could be making going down the road. You can plan on doing a lot of sitting as a truck driver wither at the docks or at the truck stop waiting for somebody to find you a load, or waiting for an appointment time. There is a lot of sitting.

Con 2: It’s Hell on the Family

If your an over the road driver like myself, you will be on the road at least a week at a time, usually more, and then your only home a couple days before you repeat the whole process. When you get home you are usually in desperate need of some down time since you have more than likely been working 14 hour days for quite a while. But when you get home there is usually a lot to attend to. Your spouse and children have needs too that are neglected since you are gone on the road and lots of fights can break out. It’s not easy making things work when you are gone most of the time.

Con 3; Lonlines

I may like to work alone. I am largely an introvert by nature, but there a times when the loneliness can be overwhelming.

Con 4: Physical health

Driving a truck makes it very difficult to find time to exercise. I have found a few who do it. There are even a great deal of video’s on-line that show creative ways of exercising, but I find it very difficult to exercise in my truck. But the time I get stopped driving, I am usually not in the mood to exercise and walking or running in the neighborhoods around truck stops has lead me into some dangerous areas. For those who can do it, my hats off to you, but for the most part, trucking will lead to obesity along with other health ailments such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and even heart problems. To make things worse is you have to pass a physical every two years or you are out of a job.

Con 5: Parking

Parking is a real problem for truck drivers. It may seem that there are a whole lot of truck stops, but many of them fill up quickly especially around major cities where you have to deliver. If I have to deliver in the evening to a warehouse of a major city, I will usually run of hours I am legal to drive and there is no parking spots to be found. Parking is also a problem because that is when most of the accidents happen. Everybody talks about the shortage of drivers, but the real problem is a shortage of where to put all the trucks.

Con 6: It’s Dangerous

You can count on truck driving being on any of the list of the most dangerous careers. American highways are responsible for a great deal of deaths and that is where truck drivers earn their money. No matter how careful you are as a driver, there are great risk. Road conditions may be so bad that even at slow speeds major accidents can happen. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t see an accident and most of them somebody gets hurt or killed.

Shit Happens

It’s time to end this post, but I am sure there are many other things I could list. Truck driving is definitely bitter/sweet. Sometimes you can love it; most of the time you hate it. This is just a short list off the top of my head. There are probably others who would like to add to the list and you are welcome to.

Me and Frank

You may remember a show from a number of years ago called the odd couple. They were two friends who lived together but they were complete opposites. I think that would pretty well describe my and Frank: complete opposites.

I met Frank back in the eighties. Frank says we met in boot camp because he remembers choking me during hand to hand combat training. However, I didn’t remember meeting Frank until we were in Infantry Training School (ITS). We were on a run one day and I was wore out and just trying desperately to keep up. Frank was making a game out the whole thing. He came up to me as an action news reporter and before the run was over, I wasn’t wore out anymore, I was having fun.

How we first met is a matter of some speculation, but there is no disputing the fact that we were best friends by the time we graduated ITS. After ITS, Frank and I were assigned to the same unit: Charlie company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, weapons platoon. We were both machine gunners and this was a source of some pride among us.

As machine gunners, Frank and I took our jobs seriously. Machine guns would become pretty heavy on the long humps and Frank and I would pride ourselves on our ability to hump up the hills carrying our weapons without needing any help. Well, Frank did anyway. There were times I couldn’t hang, or somebody else couldn’t hang, and Frank would be the one carrying the gun for him. Several times Frank would be seen humping up the hill with two matching guns resting across his shoulders. He was like some sort of machine.

But when work was over, Frank and I knew how to party. I don’t remember all the individual things we’d do while drunk out of our minds or stoned out of comprehension. Frank says I used to bring alcohol to field and get drunk while we were in the field. Now that sounds like me, but truthfully I have no recollection of much of my drinking days.

We soon went over seas together and learned a whole new level of partying. We’d get into port and party all night. We’d get back to base all hung over and have to go on a large run or hump to the field. Even then I remember Frank being quite the joker. Once he was messing around and looking behind him only to turn around and smash his face right into a stop sign. At the speed we were going that would have knocked most me out, but not Frank. He would just laugh it off and keep going.

Frank and I had another friend who would hang with us most of the time named Bob. Together the three of us drank enough beer to float a battle ship.

Bob and Frank in my room after coming back from overseas.

Frank pouring a beer on me while I was obviously too drunk to do anything about it.

I could go on and on about the exploits of Bob, Frank, and I but I don’t want this post to be too long. But in so many ways the three of us grew up together in the Marines.

Bob and I ended up switching units to F-2-1 after we got back from overseas so that we could go on another overseas trip. Frank stayed in C-1-9 and has held a grudge against me and Bob to this very day for leaving him behind friendless and alone.

Frank would end up going to State Platoon as me and Bob headed back to many of the same places we had just come from. But by and large, we didn’t see much of Frank after we left 1/9.

Bob and I returned from oversees in December of 1986. It wasn’t long after that that we heard about Frank being in an awful car accident. All we knew is that he was in some hospital up in San Francisco, over 500 miles away, and Frank had broken his neck and was now a quadriplegic.

Meanwhile, I was coming to grips with my own alcoholism and drug addiction. After returning to the United States, I bought a car. I was quite serious when I claimed nobody would be drinking in my car. That didn’t last long. I had my first DUI in February. I was on drugs at the time, so when they wanted to do a blood test instead of a breath test, I refused. That being the case, I lost my license for 2 years instead of just one.

I applied for level 3 treatment and was scheduled to go to rehab, but not until May. In the meantime, I got another DUI during the first week in April. Because of all the incidents I had while drunk, I was certain I was going to be kicked out of the Marines and I had no idea what the future held. But there was one thing I had to do before leaving California, I had to make the road trip out to see Frank in the hospital.

I was feeling suicidal during this point in my life and I had no idea what I would say to Frank when I saw him. I mean what do you say to a man who has lost all control of his body below his neck? How do you comfort that? How do you encourage that? But I needed to see him.

Once again, it wasn’t me who comforted Frank; it was Frank who comforted me. Frank wasn’t the bummed out person I was expecting. Instead he was very glad to see us and welcomed us with a grateful smile. We talked for a while about old times (ha ha) and then we took him out in the car for a ride. While we visited we shared a bottle of Jack Daniels and before we got back to the hospital Frank had pissed in my car. But by the time I left Frank to the care of the hospital not realizing if we would ever meet or see each other again, I left with a whole new attitude. If Frank could laugh and enjoy life in his condition, WHAT THE HELL WAS WROMG WITH ME. I knew I had to quit drinking at that point and I did. I left with a whole new attitude.

Frank and I would have some contact with each other of the following decades, bud not really all that much. I went to school and became a preacher for a while. Eventually, that lifestyle didn’t work for me and I ended up on the road as a truck driver. Fast forward to around 2016 when Frank and I would renew our friendship as it currently is.

Frank

Driving a truck has got to be one of the most tedious occupations in the world. I like to travel, but seeing the world through a windshield is not what I have in mind. The hours can crawl by. Considering how prone I am to depression and how I failed miserably at my chosen profession giving up all my education and so forth. I once again find myself at times in the depths of despair. Once again Frank helps me deal with life like nobody else possibly could.

Like the odd couple mentioned earlier, Frank and I do not agree on much of anything. Most of our conversations are arguments where we end up angry and questioning each other’s intelligence. There not minor disagreements. Frank and I are passionate about politics and religion in many ways, but we are completely opposite sides of the fence. I mean Frank voted for Donald Trump, when I wouldn’t vote for that scum bag if he was the last person on earth. Frank is adamantly pro birth while I remain pro choice.

Religion and politics go together which has been one of many reasons I find myself walking away from much in the religious world. Frank is a Catholic and I have spent much of my adult years as a Protestant. Over the years I have become less and less Protestant and more and more agnostic. Frank has been their through my journey. I can’t talk to most of my friends about my doubts concerning the Christian faith because they simply won’t listen. Frank doesn’t always listen either, but I can talk to him. I can say what I really think instead of trying to be something I’m not.

Overall, I think Frank and I both get lonely. I’m not in his condition, nor do I have his strength. But both of us spend long hours sitting in a chair without much to do but talk. Frank and I keep each other company. Even though we may argue back and forth untill both of us are pissed off and ready to hang up, there is a mutual respect that can’t be denied. That is what it means to be Old Friends. It takes years to understand each other as we do and just because we don’t like everything about the other there is a common love that flourishes.

Starting Over: Thirty-Six Years of Sobriety Gone

I was quite the drunk in my younger years. I started young and I quit when I was young. By the time I turned 22, I had two DUI’s, I had lost my license for two years, I was on the verge of losing my job, and I was about to be homeless. I was in a really sad situation, but I’m not going to go into all the details of my younger years right now.

I started taking steps to quit drinking when I became convinced that I was incapable of controlling my drinking. Does this mean that I couldn’t go a few days without drinking? NO. What it does mean is that I began doing things I never thought I’d do and I would get massively drunk without meaning to. I was in the Marine Corps at the time. We had just returned from overseas which was just one big party after another. I decided to buy a car, but I was determined that neither I nor my friends would ever drink in the car or drive drunk. I meant it.

However, it wasn’t even a couple weeks before I would be behind the wheel when I really wasn’t too capable of walking let alone driving. I eventually got a DUI and asked the Marines to place my in the most intensive program for addicts available. It involved 6 weeks in the hospital, but they didn’t send me right away.

They put me on a pill called Antabuse which would make a person very sick if they did drink. I took the pill, but I would end up drinking anyway, so I started just keeping the pill in my mouth and spitting it out when nobody was looking. Then at times I would go back on the pill, but still find myself out drinking. My second DUI took place after I just wanted to have a beer with my meal. I was on the Antabuse at the time. No harm in one beer, right? Only it wasn’t just one beer. I got drunk. Sick, drunk, and looked in jail. Because I wanted a beer with my meal, and I meant it.

I did get sober. I quit drinking, smoking and doing any recreational drugs on April 7, 1987. For all intents and purposes, I didn’t ever think I would ever drink again. That was until about June 10, 2022 when I talked my family into doing a little experiment.

Once again, I just wanted a drink with my meal and after 36 years of sobriety I figured I could do this without losing control. My wife was very skeptical, but she was out numbered. I figured I was very young when I quit drinking. I had known some of my old drinking buddies who were capable of drinking without losing control maybe I could too.

I agreed some rules and I really had no intention of breaking them.
I agreed to only have one drink.
This drink was only to be had with family members.
I would not drink on the road.
I would never drive if I had even one drink.
I would not drink alone, etc.

Well I got my drink. That was it. I just had one drink. It was a margarita at a restaurant. Nothing happened. I’m cured!!! Next time we went out I had one drink, but I wanted the strongest one I could think of. I ordered a Long Island Ice Tea. Still nothing. I’m fine. Soon we all went to the liquor store and bought several bottles of Liquor that we intended to use to make mixed drinks. I wanted to make something called Mojo I remembered from my days in the Philippians. Surprisingly they allowed this.

From that point on, I started having shots when nobody was looking to go along with my one drink. People noticed that I was drunk from time to time and I would get busted. I started drinking on the road when I was a away from home. I wasn’t driving. Eventually, I had broken every rule that I committed myself to. My wife was getting more and more angry. On New Year’s Eve, I was a little more than just drunk and my family removed all the liquor from the house.

The experiment was over. I seem to be incapable of controlled drinking. This meant that I had to stop again. Now the whole thing seems kind of foolish. How could I be lured in after 36 years. But I was lured in. So it’s back on the wagon for me with a new Sobriety date of January 1, 2023. I hope this will help anybody that struggles with alcoholism so that they don’t make the same mistake I did.

Millie Lou

Millie Lou

Last Saturday we added another member to our family. My wife and I have been wanting a dog that doesn’t shed so we’ve been looking at Goldendoodles and AussieDoodles. We decided on a 7month old AussieDoodles that was just 250 bucks. The picture above was the one posted on Facebook, but it must not have been real recent because her hair had grown out quit a bit by the time we picked her up.

When we met she treated us just she had known us for years. She was happy to see us right away. Her owners were looking for a new home for her because they were getting divorced and the woman had to move to an apartment which she felt was too small for a puppy to get proper exercise. She had bought the dog to be a service dog for her autistic son, but the divorce changed their living conditions. So we got their dog

When we got Millie Lou

When we met to pick her up, we were greeted by a big bundle of hair on four legs. She was clean, but in desperate need of some grooming. As I said she greeted us enthusiastically until her previous owners drove away, and she didn’t like that. We thought we might be dealing with a depressed dog for a while, but she went in the car and seemed quite happy. The picture above was one of the first of her lying down in the car for the 3 hour ride back to our house.

Surprisingly, she was quite docile and mildly mannered. She didn’t bark at all and when she played she was quite genial. The next order of business was introducing her to my sons dog since we live with him until we move into our own place in near future. Our sons dog is a very affectionate and high strung mutt that resembles a Whippet. She’s supper fast and highly playful. After meeting with the normal apprehensions, the two greeted each other face to face and have done well getting along sense then.

Artemis meets Millie Lou

It took Millie a little while to feel at home. In fact, I think she is still adjusting. We were a little surprised that she was so docile and laid back for an AussieDoodle. I still have yet to hear her bark, and she didn’t take to any of the toys we offered her. Even the treats I offered her were taken hesitantly. She did eat the food in the bowl and would eat most of the treats, but she wasn’t as enthusiastic as most dogs.

Millie and Caleb

As time goes by she has started to play a bit more with toys. She even played fetch with our three year old grandchild. We are super excited to have her and we have high hopes for the future. We’ll be moving into our new home sometime in the next couple weeks, so that will be another change for her, but hopefully it won’t be too big of a problem. We scheduled her with groomer, but it’s going to be a couple weeks before we can get her in. But we are looking forward to when she can get a hair cut.

For right now she is lovable, fun to play with, and quite cute. We love her already.

Grace and Minnie

On the Road with Covid 19

Last week I wrote about starting my diet and some of the difficulties with dieting as a truck driver. This past week presented its own set of problems. This year for Christmas, my family was given a gift that we didn’t ask for, nor did any of us want it. Even though the whole family has been vaccinated, and most of us had already had it. We managed to share the Covid virus between, and this time it hit me pretty hard.

My son wasn’t feeling well on Christmas day, but for whatever reason nobody really paid it any attention. My son was the only one in the family who had never tested positive for the virus, so I think the rest of us were not too worried about getting it. Besides, when I did have it, I never really got that sick.

Monday by son went into be tested and he found out he was positive on Tuesday. This was the same day that my daughter was sent home from work and ordered to be tested. Her husband was sick too by this time. I started feeling sick as well Tuesday but nothing real bad. I came on gradually with a head ache and body aches along with feeling tired. Be Wednesday I was several miles away from home and I was getting very sick. My throat felt like it was on fire and I was exhausted. I had to stop several times to rest because I couldn’t stay awake. This is a real problem when your driving a big truck.

I called my company Wednesday not sure what I should do. I was given a load delivering in Florida and plans were made to to get me home after that. By now my voice was being effective and I was no longer eating because it hurt too bad to swallow.

Wednesday and Thursday my biggest complain was my thought and just feeling exhausted. I was given a load that picked up Irvington, AL that would deliver back home. But is sure was a long trip. I had to stop several times to rest, but I made it home by Thursday afternoon. Good thing because that is when I started having diarrhea ah. I was in a lot of pain and misery for the rest of Thursday, but I didn’t feel as exhausted. I was just very glad to be home.

Friday I was feeling much better. My throat started getting better, but that lead to the coughing fits that I am still experiencing. Today is New Years. I still haven’t received my test results, but I am much better. I just have a very bad cough

The nice thing about the whole week is that I did manage to loose some weight. I weighed in at 208.2 Thursday. Down from 211 the week before and that was down from the 225 when I was weighed before that I’m only my way.

The Trucker and His Health

This is my first post in quite a while. I just haven’t felt much like writing nor could I think of anything to write about. I’ve now been working as a truck driver for 3 years and 10 months. One of the things about truck driving is that you really don’t have time to do much else. Your hours are long and somewhat stressful, and when your done, it’s late and you don’t feel like doing anything but grabbing something to eat, watch some TV, and go to sleep.

Another thing that I really don’t like about trucking is what it does to your body. I would be hard pressed to come up with another occupation which is so detrimental to a person’s health as truck driving, especially over the road driving where you basically live in the truck for several days at a time. For a good portion of my adult life I have been a runner. Fitness has always been important to me and I am naturally a fairly thin person. Since I’ve been fairly active I really haven’t needed to worry about what I ate. That is until I started trucking.

Normally my weight would stay between 170 and 180 pounds. However both times I worked as an over the road driver, my weight shoots up to around 225 before I do something about it. Years ago I worked over the road for 3 years before switching to an LTL company where I was home every night and largely had weekends off. Once I switched jobs, I started exercising again, lost about 50 pounds, and my health returned to normal.

Well, I’m at that point again. I weigh 225, I have problems with high blood pressure, and I couldn’t run to the end of the block if my life depended on it. However, I can’t just switch jobs this time. I’ve got to get the weight off by dieting and I’ve got to find a way of getting some exercise on a regular basis. Sounds easy, but it’s not.

Eating on the road is tough. You either have to prepare your meals ahead of time or stick with a very limited menu at various restaurants. Eating out all the time is really not an option as far as losing weight. Exercising is tough too. I live in an area less than 4 ft across by 3 ft. I usually drive during the day which means going for a walk or a run will have to be done at night. Plus the areas I stop are high traffic and really not the safest of neighborhoods. Plus, there are skunks at night. Can you just imagine getting sprayed while on the road? No place is going to let you in to clean off. What a nightmare that would be.

But I have to figure something out. For now, I’m dieting much like I did before. I’m eat less portions more often to limit hunger. I also switched to leaner meats and lower carbs. I will try to work in exercise as I go.

So this is a new start for me and I plan on posting my progress as I go. For now I have set a goal of losing 2 pounds per week. I will set other goals as I go. I’d love to hear from others and what has worked for them. I’m really not interested in any commercial dieting plans. I’ve done it before, I’m convinced I can do it again on my own.

Riding

We arrived home last night from vacation, and I couldn’t wait to go for a ride on my bike. Unfortunately, it was dead on arrival. I tried to start it, but didn’t get much more than a click. The battery was dead. Undeterred, I got my wife to help me get it going down a hill enough to pop the clutch and we got it started.

I rode around for a little over an hour before stopping for fuel. It started up which gives me hope. Today, I woke up early and took off for about an 90 mile ride to Pettit Jean State Park. Even though I’ve been to Pettit Jean many times, this is my first time on the motorcycle. It was a nice trip; a little cold which is surprising for Arkansas this time of the year, but still nice.

I’m still trying to getting used to riding, and I don’t know much about motorcycles other than I like the thrill of riding. I bought an older bike so I am not sure yet what mechanical issues I will face. As I’m eating my breakfast, I am wondering if it is even going to start fearing the battery may be going. But it is a good bike to get used to things on. It cost me less than 2000 so I can run it till it drops dead and no big loss. I’m already making plans for the next one which will be much newer and more reliable.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying just riding around and seeing all the interesting spots in my own state. I probably won’t venture more than a couple hundred miles away from home, but there is lots to see within the couple hundred mile range. Arkansas is a very popular state for motorcyclist. Several rally’s each year with great rides through the mountains.

For me, I have to travel about 100 miles reaching the ideal places, but that’s not two bad. I was going to check out a couple of the roads today, but I really don’t have much time since I have to return to work tomorrow. Petit Jean is a great ride itself, but I have been to this park so much that it’s a bit too familiar. I want to explore some of the routes that I have not yet been. But that will have to wait another week or so and perhaps for a new battery so I don’t have to worry so much if the bike will start.

Today, I have to start heading back and getting ready to hit the road with work. My life seems to be travel. It’s just a matter of how long I get to stay and what I can find to do.

Vacation Aug. 2020

Smoky Mountains

Finally earned some time off from driving a truck all over the country. So what do I do for vacation? You got it. . .I drive some more. That’s okay though. Traveling seems to be in my blood. I can hardly stand to stay in one place very long, and now I get to spend some time exploring places I normally just get to drive through.

This vacation we mainly went to places that we went to before, but decided they were worth going to again. The first night we spend in Franklin, TN. We had the bicycles with us so we took a little ride once we got into town. Then we went to eat at the Mellow Mushroom which has some of the best pizza I think I’ve ever had. Paula and I have been dieting for the past couple weeks. Paula has been at it longer and she has done much better than me at eating well. The pizza is when I first blew it, but the next day there was ice cream. It’s really hard to have the will power to resist ice cream.

Outside the Mellow Mushroom

The next morning we went to a little place to eat called Marley Joe’s. It’s kind of a hole in the wall type place, but I really liked Joey and Rory Feek’s music and they had all sorts of memorabilia all over the resturant. Not bad food either, but I mainly went because I’ve followed the writings of Rory just before his wife passed away till now. I wish I could meet him and get to know him personally, but that’s unlikely.

From there we made our way to Pigeon Forge through Knoxville. We stopped at a couple of bookstores (my wife’s thing). She spent some time asking her book-nut buddies where the best bookstores are in the region. One was the biggest used bookstore I had seen: McKay’s. It really was an awesome store. One in which a book lover could spent all day and never get bored. I found a couple motorcycle books that I wished I would of bought, but I didn’t.

The first day in Pigeon Forge we split up. My wife went to the Crime Museum and my son and I went to play on the go carts. Paula is always watching all these crime shows and reading crime books. Not sure why. She brags about knowing all sorts of ways to kill me and dispose of the body, so if I ever come up missing. . .

My son and I went to a park with several go cart tracks and some mini golf. Each of the tracks had the rules no aggressive driving or bumping into one another, which of course we ignored. When we had comparable go carts, we fought for the lead with everything we had usually ramming into each other and the curves. Once we spun out and had to be helped to straighten out. I thought if we don’t get kicked out for this, they aren’t kicking anyone out. We didn’t get kicked out nor even gripped at. Too bad. It would have been a better story if two grown adults get kicked out of the go cart park.

We had a nice little bike trail not far from the hotel which I went to each morning while I was waiting for the rest of the lazy ones to climb out of bed. It was only about 3 miles, but it made it’s way to the island and over to some of the best shopping areas most of which were closed at the time I was riding.

I haven’t had a drink in over 33 years because of my alcoholic youth, but it is getting harder and harder for me to resist trying to drink moderately. One of the biggest temptations is the free samples of moonshine all over the place.

There was even one point I walked into one of the places determined to try a little moonshine. It wouldn’t have been much. Just a little thimble size glass really. Not much more alcohol than what I’ve taken with a dose of NyQuil I figured. My son and wife stood by wondering if I would take some and I wanted to really bad. But as I approached the bar and ill feeling came over me. I can’t explain it. But something inside of me was shouting, “DON’T DO IT.” So I walked away. I want so bad to have a drink, but I can’t seem to do it. Weird huh?

Caleb, my son, on the other hand had a Margarita at Margaritaville when we stopped to eat there while I sat there giving little puppy dog eyes wishing I could have some. To his credit, he wasn’t going to have one because I was a long and he didn’t want to be responsible for me drinking, but I insisted he could. How do you go to Margaritasville and not have a Margarita? Well I did. Still wonder if I could drink moderately, but it’s just to scary for to take the chance right now. Could I stop at one or just a little thimble of moonshine? I don’t know, but my willpower didn’t do so good on the ice cream. So the 33 years of no drinking continues.

One of the reasons I wanted to come to the area is to see the Skyline Bridge which is supposed to be the longest swinging bridge in Tennessee. Nobody else would join me. It was kind of expensive (right at 27 bucks) but I could go as much as I wanted during the day.

There’s a lift that takes you up to the bridge and a little store at the top. In the middle of the bridge there is a couple panels that are see through that you have to walk across. Very intimidating for anyone scared of heights. I watched as several people struggled to walk across. Pretty funny to me, but some were just plain scared.

The view was really nice. You could look down on the whole city of Gatlinburg.

We spend the rest of the day shopping around. We also drove to the Smokey Mountains which was a lot of fun. I was still envisioning being in a little go cart taking some of the curves. I was having fun. The rest of the car was a bit nervous. We stopped at a place at about 5000 feet and took some pictures.

The next day we drove up to the highest point in the state of Tennessee: Clingman’s Dome. At least I think that’s the name. It was a pretty strenuous half mile walk up to the dome, but well worth it. Back when I was in shape, it wouldn’t have required much effort, but this time I got a little bit tired.

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After spending a couple days in Pigeon Forge we moved on the Asheville, NC for a couple of days. My son and I found a park with a bike path and went for a little ride. There was a track there where my son could work on his speed work. I’ve sort of given up on doing much working out since I can’t do it consistently, so I just took my time as he pushed himself.

The track made him wish we had one where we live so he could work on his speed. He got up the next morning and road for about twenty some miles on that track. He was very happy with it.

We did some shopping in Asheville, but what we really enjoyed was a trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway all the way to Brevard. Even though it was overcast sky which made it foggy in the mountains, we really enjoyed the scenery as much as we could see.

We didn’t do much trail walking, but we did stop and do some walking down to a waterfall. It was absolutely beautiful and my son even ventured out a bit on the river.

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After driving, my son wanted to ride his bicycle down the mountain. Which he did through the dark tunnels and winding curves on the narrow road. My wife and I took the lazy route and went shopping. My son ended up riding all the way back to the hotel. Along the way, he had to go up a vicious hill that was more than he could handle. Must have been quite some hill. But we all ended up safe back at the hotel.

From Asheville, we started making our way home. We spent another night in Franklin, but didn’t do much there this time. It was mainly a stopping place before waking up and driving to Hurricane Mills, TN to see the plantation home of Loretta Lynn. I have been a fan of Loretta Lynn since the 70’s. I’ve read a couple of her books and love her rags to riches story.

Even though her childhood home still exist in Kentucky, a replica was build on the grounds and I was able to go inside to see the place where several scenes of the movie “Coal Miner’s Daughter” were taken.

I took several pictures of the grounds and the museum before starting a guided tour of the big house.

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The house of beautiful and the tour guide did a good job at keeping us entertained as well as passing on information. We even got to hear some ghosts stories about the house. We really enjoyed the tour even though I did think it was a bit expensive at 30 bucks a piece to see the museum and the home.

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And this completes my story of my vacation. It was a good time for the three of us. Next year I am going to try and venture to the northeast or the northwest. I’ve already started my research and I hope there won’t be any surprises that wreck my plans.

As we finished our vacation, I also finished the book I was reading by Neal Peart called “Ghost Rider.” Neal criss-crossed the continent and wrote about his ventures in this book. It got me wanting to much the same thing. As soon as I get home, I’ll take my stuff inside and then I’m warming up the bike and heading out for a ride.

Riding Again

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything, but lately I’ve been feeling the urge again. I’ve written quite a bit about my struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts, but I’m happy to say it’s been quite a while since any episodes. I finally got on some antidepressant medicine. I figured I might lose my my wife if I didn’t. Anyway, it seems to have worked. Something worked anyway. I feel much better.

A couple of months ago I bought a used motorcycle. A 2005 Yamaha V-Star Classic 1100.

I’m not new to motorcycles. I learned to drive while I was a child. I bought a new Kawasaki Vulcan back in 2005, but I had an accident that did some damage to the bike and broke my shoulder. After that, I was pretty gun shy. I still rode, but I was pretty nervous and rarely rode just for the enjoyment of riding. So when we moved away from Illinois in 2013, I left the motorcycle behind with my brother.

I’m not sure what revived the urge to own a motorcycle or it I just had a couple thousand dollars burning a hole in my pocket, but this summer I started into looking at getting another bike. My son was wanting to learn how to drive one back when I owned the other bike. In fact, that was one of the reasons I got rid of it. The thought of him wrecking on a motorcycle as I have filled me with fear. But lately I started thinking that maybe that could be something we do together. After all we enjoy riding bicycles together. This shouldn’t be much different.

My son, however, did not grow up learning to drive things with manual transmissions. But I did try to teach him, unfortunately right as he was starting to get it, he decided it just wasn’t for him. He wasn’t enjoying it. I told him he has to get used to it before he can enjoy it, but to no avail. That was the last of his efforts.

So it’s just me. I have no friends who live close with bikes, but that doesn’t stop me. I’m still a little nervous, but the enjoyment is back. It’s a much bigger bike than I’ve had before so it’s taking a little getting used to, but while I’m away working during the week, I am anticipating when I will be home again and able to ride. I’m still getting my confidence on the curves. I couple times I took a couple too fast not realizing how sharp they were, and that always sets me back a bit, but I’m making progress.

It turns out that Arkansas, where I live, is a great state for motorcycles. I have to drive quite a ways (about 100 miles) before I get into the really scenic places, but the Ozark Mountains and Ouachita Mountains are fairly close and lately I’ve been planning out little road trips that I plan on making as soon as I get the chance. I picked up a motorcycle guide from one of the visitor centers and I’ve been studying it with a great deal of interest. There are several major motorcycle rally’s each year around the state in key areas. People travel from all over the country to attend, but I don’t live all that far. Everything is within 3 hours.

This week I’m on vacation with my wife and son. I couldn’t take the bike. But I am seriously longing for our return hoping for a chance to go riding before I have to hit the road for work again. I considered renting a motorcycle, but they are simply wanting way too much by the time insurance and everything is figured in, plus I don’t have a helmet with me and I don’t want to ride without one.

Lately, I’ve been Neal Pearth’s book: Ghost Rider. After losing his wife and daughter Neal sought a way to deal with his grief and headed out across North America on his motorcycle recording his travel in journals along the way. I don’t have the money to do something like that, but the thought sure does appeal to me.

I may not criss cross the continent, but I can certainly try to hit some of the states I haven’t yet been too. I mean there are only 5, three in the northeast (Maine, New Hampture, Vermont) and two out west (Montana and North Dakota). I can go east one year and west another. I would need a newer bike before setting out hundreds of miles from home though.

I’ve got a nice Mustang seat on my bike now. It is so comfortable that I can ride for hours with no discomfort at all, but the passenger seat isn’t so nice. My wife has started going with me once in a while on some short rides. She’s still fearful, but it’s getting better all the time.

Life is good right now and things are fun again. Hopefully I can gain some new friends along the way and have some riding partners. Unfortunately, I usually keep to myself which doesn’t give making friends much of a chance, but who knows what the future holds. I’m still content to ride by myself and maybe I’ll stop sometimes to write about my adventures.

Vacation 2020

It seems like forever since I have had any time off of work and I really needed it this year. Last year I only had one week, which my son and I used to travel to Washington DC. This year I get a whole two weeks. This first week didn’t line up with anybody else’s so I was on my own and I decided that I would take my 4 year granddaughter on a trip up to Illinois to visit my mother.

My mother has been in a memory unit in a retirement home now for several years and I hardly ever get to see her since she is so far away. So instead of going by myself I asked if my granddaughter wanted to go with me figuring we could spend a couple days in St. Louis and just have some fun together.

I was actually very excited about the little trip because my granddaughter can usually be a lot of fun. Both of us like like to sing and even make up our own little songs which just seem to annoy others. Anyway, it was going to a couple of days on the road just me and her.

The first part of the trip went fairly well. We had a wonderful hotel with an inside pool. Out of all that we did Grace seemed to love playing in the pool the best. Me not so much. I don’t mind spending time in the pool, but it just isn’t easy getting a four year old to leave the pool.

There was really only two sites in St. Louis that we had time to see: The zoo and the magic house and I thought both were pretty amazing. I’ve been to several zoo’s, but the one in St. Louis was quite impressive even if I didn’t get to see most of it.

Now I was figuring it’s a zoo so we’d spend our time mainly watching the animals: wrong! Turns out Grace wasn’t all that interested in the animals, but she found all sorts of other things to play with.

Turns out that she really loves playing in sand

She played for a long time in a little farmer’s section planting flowers.

There was actually a lot to do. Much more to do than there was time to do.

My favorite animal was the cute and cuddly looking Grizzly Bear that strolled right up to the window and sat down like a big overgrown dog that wanted somebody to pet him.

Grace like the Polar Bear exhibit the best.

The next day we went to the magic house which I through was a great place for a 4 year to explore. This place had all sorts of sections where kids could explore different careers. They could work in a veterinary office, a maternity ward, resturants, library, etc. I believe they covered just about every career. It was incredible.

Grace seems to like being a school teacher more than anything. She loves to hold class every chance she gets.

One of her favorite spots was serving ice cream.

The website for the magic house said to plan on spending a couple hours, but we were there much longer than that. Then it was back to the hotel to play in the pool. This is where I learned when a 4 year old says she has to poop, you stop everything IMMEDIATELY and you get her to the bathroom. NEVER WAIT.

The next day I started out early so I could be able to meet up with a few of my relatives to visit my mother which was still a couple hundred miles away. Unfortunately, the rest of the trip came to a halt when Grace started getting sick and throwing up. She became very upset and naturally wanted her own momma, so my momma would have miss seeing her son. I couldn’t take a sick child to an elderly home. Turns out she was just car sick and after she rested for a while she was better but then the trip was over.