In the 1970's, when I learned to drive a "big truck", there was no such thing as a CDL (Commercial Driver's License), or any way of determining whether someone should be allowed behind the wheel of a big truck. The Big Truck I drove had air-brakes and a big diesel engine, and that smell that I loved early in the morning. (Smelled like victory).
After having driven those beasts (non trailer trucks) for about a year, I felt confident that I could take a 40 foot trailer, attached to a tractor, loaded with shredded paper, to the printer that would regurgitate it into explicit adult magazines.
It's an old '70's Mack tractor with a MaxaDyne diesel and a 5 speed transmission. Unless you have driven one, you may not understand how a 5 speed tranny can move 40K lbs of freight plus the trailer and the tractor, and then you are blessed. It didn't do it well. But it got down the stretch of road I needed. And it's a 40 foot trailer, in marginal condition, with 40,000 lbs of scrap paper.
Let me tell you about the first time you drag a really big thing behind you. You focus on the end of the trailer, and the end of the dock where you were parked flows away very quickly. The owners of the company are there to watch your virgin flight, and suddenly you are in traffic. Every incursion into your precious space (you're carrying scrap paper in an old Mack) is the most offensive.
Then you arrive at your destination, after fear and trepidation. Well, hell, they have these docks here too. More fear and trepidation. Because, after all these years of driving "straight" trucks, you need to come up with a way to back your trailer into a space marked with yellow lines and a light that tells you when you've successfully backed in.
My next post will detail those horrifying moments.
Tune in again!
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