Tuesday, November 15, 2011: TWOfer Tuesday - The "Roll On Eighteen Wheeler" Edition

Mercy sakes alive.

When I was growing I wanted to be a truck driver. Some kids wanted to be firemen, or astronauts, or race car drivers. Me? Truck driver. I knew I didn't want to work in an office. I wanted a new challenge every day. And I wanted to see the world. Or, at least, America. I figured, if those were my goals, then it'll be either the military or truck driver. And, with driving a truck, there is only slightly less chance of people shooting at you.

Now, of course, I had no idea about the ins and outs of what it actually meant to drive a truck, the hard road of constant struggle of being an owner-operator of your own Big Rig. All I knew, growing up watching shows like Movin' On and movies like White Line Fever, I just knew adventure awaited around every bend. Long hours, skyrocketing fuel prices, outrageous insurance costs, the dead boredom of endless hours of driving soulless freeways - those problems never came into it.

Of course, it didn't pan out. I took a different road, so to speak.

I have managed to see far more of the world than I ever dreamed I would, with a whole lot more left. I guess I still crave that sense of adventure.

But, I know these men and women, the ones who did chose this road. So, here's to you, big rig drivers. Here's to keeping the world on the go, and keeping on the road. Here's to the myth, the mystery and the magic of the open road. Here's to the challenges no one else will know about, and the sights no one else will see.

God bless you, and all eighteen of your wheels.

Keep doin' what they say can't be done.