One of the blessings of this truck driving job that I find myself in is the chance meeting with people I’ve had the chance to run with in the past. The first time out you strike up a conversation with another truck nearby you on the road and sooner or later other truck within a few miles of you and going the same direction are going to join into the conversation and before long you’ve got a pack of truck drivers enjoying each others company.
In the last several weeks I have run into three different drivers who recognized me, and called for me. Wanted to know where I was going, how I was doing etc. Had a meal with two of them.
As pleasant as the chance meeting of friends is, there’s something far more important, something foundational in all of this. We watch out for each other. That’s the way it’s supposed to work out here, and so seldom does anymore. But I make it a point to work that way when I can.
And, it is the reason that I spent as much money as I did on the radio that I carry. And why I will not drive 5 feet without a good CB in the truck, and running channel 19.
Keeping in touch with the good people that I found on the road is only one aspect of this however. The fact is this radio has saved my backside more times than I care to count. On one occasion my trailer lights failed, and I didn’t realize it. On another there was an accident in front of me and somebody’s call saved me a lot of grief. And so on and so on.
You can understand the attraction. It is that important to me. I have never understood how anybody can drive something this big and this heavy, with a bunch of other similar sized vehicles around you, without being able to communicate with each other. From a safety standpoint that makes no sense whatsoever.
Of course, there are a few idiots out there who also have radios, but I refuse to let them drive me off the band that I have occupied since the late sixties. Especially given all the benefits that it gives me now.
It’s true… technology has added the Internet, the cell phone, the GPS and all kinds of other electronics. But none of them can replace the party line aspect of the CB.
Now I’m hearing this the government is trying to step in and eliminate CB radio from commercial trucks. To me this is completely idiotic, just what you’d expect from the government. To me,having a CB is safer than not having one.
Yes, I still speak CB. Fluently.
Stomper just got quiet.
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Addendum: Eric