Van Confessions

Again found ourselves waiting around for four days with no miles, no load, and no driving. Our truck was due for a PM (preventative maintenance) service which includes an oil change and comprehensive maintenance inspections. We were in Tunnel Hill, GA at one of our company's terminals in queue for our turn among the fifty or more trucks also needing service.

Since we weren't making any money just waiting around we decided to drive the company van (voluntary work for a nominal wage). The responsibilities are that of a livery cab, to take drivers to nearby hotels, Walmart, and nearby restaurants since we're all stuck at the terminal. We met countless drivers driving for two days back and forth to and from the same local destinations.

Deborah hopped into the van and wanted to know if we can drop her off at the company's preferred nearby motel. Of course we asked what she was doing at the terminal as we do with most drivers. New truck, broken down, pm, waiting for load, training, could really be a multitude of reasons. We soon learn that she drove team with her husband when that same morning he decided he wanted to end their marriage. With no forewarning or indicative signs that their marriage of two years was in trouble, she was of course taken aback also learning he was already married. He dropped her off in the middle of nowhere (the hood of GA) with no cell phone, just her bags and a new puppy for her daughter. She somehow managed to make it to the terminal (after several buses and cabs later) with hopes of our company putting her in her own truck as soon as possible. As hopeful as she could be and as shocked as she was at the same time, the tears just fell as she told her story.

We heard an abundance of untold stories, each harboring and therapeutically revealing their own personal dramas. We find a lot of men have gone through several marriages as life on the road keeps you away more often than you're allowed to be home, the time apart adverse to a successful and fortuitous marriage. Women drivers carry the responsibility of providing for their children and/or husbands with an added strain of safety and harassment for being a woman in a male-dominated occupation. The epitome of blue collar working Americans, these hard-working men and women all have their beautifully harsh realities to tell.