36 Days On The Road…

Reporting this evening from the Ft. Pierce service plaza on the FL Turnpike. I had two drops today and tomorrow AM I have another in Riviera Beach and a final out in Naples – and then home. It 80 degrees and the mosquitoes are hovering around me. Unfortunately I do not have a can of insect repellant. I didn’t think to pick one up last week in Colorado when it was 16 degrees and snowing. It’s good to be in shorts and I think tonight I’ll leave the APU set to air conditioning.

On Howard Stern today, he interviewed Clarence Clemons aka “The Big Man” of the E-Street Band. Can you believe his boss, Bruce Springsteen is 60 years old! Wow. Anyhoo, Clemons not too long ago had a pacemaker “installed” and replaced both his knees. To perform on stage, stipulated in his contract, he has someone backstage assist him put on a brace for his back as well as both knees. He is given Botox injections to reduce the swelling in his back and cortisone injections for his knees. Before the pacemaker operation he would smoke a joint to relieve the intense pain. He no longer smokes weed and does not drink alcohol. But that’s what he needs to be able to play the sax on stage when he tours around the world.

So with that in mind, look at the picture I took of these stairs. That was taken at the T/A in Carterville GA. After 36 days on the road, I am beat up. Every part of me hurts. I need quiet and to wake up anywhere but in “the” truck. I stopped taking my knee pain medicine about a week ago. It has made no difference. I actually “less worse.” Perhaps the rest of me hurts so bad, my knee pain has decided to take some time off. I do know that I’ve gained about five pounds, as I’ve gone back to eating more later, but call me crazy, but the added weight seems to have lessened the knee pain. So, unlike Clemons, without marijuana, Botox, cortisone or braces, I got up those stairs just fine. Never mind that I barely made it across the parking lot back to the truck – I got up those stairs. I might add that 99% of the drivers going to or coming from the main T/A building went out of the their way to avoid the steps and walked further down and then up the gentle incline up/down to the “2nd floor” parking lot.

Something else Clemons told Stern. He was driving a Buick and due to a mechanical failure, hit a tree. He claims he died. We’ve got to read his new book for the details. But, also says he had an out of body experience, which he claims was magical and incredibly calming. He experienced no worries, no pain – just joy. A man (God? – angel?) said to him to keep coming – as he drew closer there even more intense positive feelings – but Clemons said he had to stop. He could not continue. He felt he just had to come back. He had things he had to do. He just needed to finish things. Clemons said he felt a hand on his brain. He opened his eyes and he was alive in the hospital.

Stern said that he would have continued on – following the path and the light. There have been a few days this past 36, that I would have just not turned back and proceeded toward the light. I felt I had no more strength to turn around – no more desire to keep on hearing about the bills, the IRS, the student loan folks, the up and down paychecks, my writing career going nowhere, the weather, the loneliness, etc., etc. I was so tired of every single little thing bothering me. I, unlike Clemons, did not feel that I had things left to take care of. The thought of escape and rest, albeit permanent, really appealed to me. There were times that I wish I could just go to sleep and never wake up – to go to that place of no pressure, no worries and no pain. Just me and Howard Stern in Heaven. OMG!

But, no to get religious on you, but I believe God has a special thing for OTR truck drivers. Despite all the crap of being on the road for so long, he (she?) gets us home every once in a while. And that happens because there are loved ones home that need us. And despite all the pain and misery and depression we drivers experience being OTR so damn long, it’s not about us, it about them – the wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends, significant others, pets that count on us to come home and take care of them. I tested my son and said I needed some face time. He replied, I have to work, what’s up. I answered, I miss ya. He said, well, I guess I can fit the old man into the schedule. And that’s why I’m gonna be real glad to finally get home after 36 days OTR. Thanks God.

Hey, if you’re on the road this weekend and have satellite radio, tune in and hear the replay of the Stern-Clemons interview.