Sunday, May 26, 2013

Hope

   I know it's been a while since this blog has seen any new writings. And I'd like to take a moment to apologize and explain...yours truly fell off his trailer around the end of October. Yep even the charismatic, reflexes like a cat (yeah right) Gypsy has his moments of oops once in a while. The effects of this fall have made if difficult to concentrate and read let alone stare at a computer screen and type for the time it takes to write an entertaining and informative blog such as i try to create on these pages. So if y'all can find it in your hearts to forgive me I'd be greatly obliged. With the new deal i have cooking job wise and some new material i hope to bring this blog up to the standard i promised in my first post. I apologize that this particular blog has taken so long to actually put together, but i wanted to make sure i did this one right. Before i start i want to thank the people involved for their patience and understanding in the delays leading up to this particular piece.

  That being said, I'd like to take a few moments to write about an organization that make it their Mission?/goal? to provide a positive image for this industry i so dearly love and live for. Does that sound too kiss assish? (Yeah it's not a word, i just made it up) Allow me a second to explain where I'm coming from. I was born in 1979, back when trucking was trucking. My father started driving in 1983 when drivers didn't have cell phones or computers with chat or instant message. If he wanted to call home he had to stop at the truck stop and put a quarter in the payphone and those few minutes were all he had. If he stopped for dinner most truck stops back then had a phone there at the table u could use to call dispatch or home. I remember growing up and looking forward to that call from the old man, almost as much as mom did. On the flip side of that i also looked forward to making that phone call with dad when i was out on the road with him during my summer breaks from school. Going to school i was made fun of because my dad wasn't home he was gone all the time. But i can tell you it gave me a feeling of pride every time school started for the year and all the other kids had stayed home and done nothing for the summer vacation, and i was out touring around the country with my dad.Seeing stuff that to this day most of the people i grew up with still have not laid their eyes upon. Yes i grew up in a truck, and have the love of trucking in my blood and have no regrets. When i look around today at most drivers it makes me sad to think of how far this industry on the whole has slid downhill. U can walk into a truck stop today and not hear one conversation between the drivers sitting in the restaurant, no everybody is too busy playing on their phones and laptop computers. Now i myself can admit to a certain amount of guilt in this as well. But in my defense, if i come across a conversation in the truck stop i take the time to put my computer and phone aside and participate in what is going on. Well for the most part. I had come to the conclusion that for the most part the old school mentality and camaraderie is gone from the trucking industry. Now some of u may ask what is this old school mentality that u speak of? I'll give u and example, when i was growing up if we saw another truck broke down on the side of the highway my father would stop and offer assistance. 9 times out of 10 the driver was happy for the help and use of my dads tools, and by the time the driver was back on the road there would have been at least one or two other trucks stop and pitch in. Now fast forward to modern times ,so to speak, I can remember running with a group of trucks that all ran for the same broker as my father and I and breaking down about halfway between the Utah state line and Denver CO. I remember this instance particularly well cuz when i was pulling off the road all 5 guys i was running with said good luck maybe you will catch up in Denver in the morning. It made me sad, we had all been running together from L.A. and to that point when one had to stop we all stopped whether it was for fuel, someones chain had come loose, or to adjust a tarp on one of the loads. I have to admit i was slightly disappointed by this scenario and from that day on tried like hell to avoid running with any of the other owner operators in that particular organization. And i had kept this opinion and mentality for many years after the fact.

     But then i came across and organization that, from what i could tell, still held on to the "old school" ways of trucking. It is a club out of Chicago called Chi-Town Large Cars (or ctlc for short) and i have to tell y'all that after researching this club and talking to various members both in person and via chats on the face book i am filled with a sense of pride to know this club and what they do not only for the industry but for their communities as well. I have had the privilege to interact with ctlc's president Kut both via text message and conversations over the phone on, not numerous, but a few occasions. And i got to say each conversation and text message leave me with a sense of hope for what like minded individuals like me stand for and believe in. This man and his friend started ctlc with, from what i can tell, one thought in mind. To create somewhere/something for truck drivers that still care about the industry and what it means to drive up and down the road with a sense of pride in what they do for a living. They believed that truck driving is more than a job, it is a lifestyle. Driving is just part of this folks, it's taking pride in the truck you drive down the road, it's being proud of getting the job done and the load where it needs to be on time. Hell it's even about the sense of pride you feel when you pull in somewhere and every head in the lot turns your way cuz you got a cleaned up shiny ride that catches the eye of every one around you. Now please keep in mind ctlc started with just two guys who went out and invited a small group of friends to join them in their cause and has blossomed into an organization that has 104+ members, including members in Canada and one in Australia. Now just take a moment to let that last statement sink in folks....something started by two people in Chicago who from what i can tell really didn't expect it to blow up as big as it has. To something that has come to span three countries.  Now i know i put in here that they are helping to put forth a positive image for the industry, but they also do many benefits for their communities.  From my interactions with Kut I've found out they also do benefits for special Olympics, cystic fibrosis, and from what i understand they plan on doing some stuff for autism this year. I mention this because I find it to be awesome that this club takes the time for something besides trucking related stuff and helps out others in need. And they do it not because it will get them publicity, or a mention on the local news. But because it is the right thing to do!!!

    Actually, rather than mentioning benefits that ctlc has done maybe it would mean more to mention some more recent events and how a few of the club members stepped up to do their part. Do you folks remember the shooting at the school in Sandy Hook CT? I do, I remember wondering how could this happen and i can't imagine what those parents were going thru, wondering what happened to their child and if they would be coming home. But it made my heart swell with pride when i read a post by ctlc member K.W. Moore on face book that he and his fiance Faith Piatt along with i believe K.W.'s boss were all headed to a car show to benefit the victims families who had suffered from the tragic events. Now the only thing i saw after this post was a picture on his page with his tuck, the bosses truck and a simple banner that said Chi-Town Large Cars on the bumper of his truck. I personally applaud K.W. and his fiance Faith not only for taking the time out of their weekend to do the show, but for stepping up for a community that needed any help they could offer even if it was just standing next to a pretty truck and lookin good for a few hrs. Also because they did it because it was the rite thing to do. Give me a minute and i will explain the reasoning behind that statement. More recent than the shooting in CT would be the tornado in Oklahoma. Something like a 2 mile wide twister that basically wiped out the town of Moore OK. At the time of writing this blog i know of 2 members of ctlc that are on their way with a trailer load of relief supplies. As of last nite (May 25th) they had made it as far as Arkansas but ran into trailer problems. It is my understanding that all the people involved in repairing the trailer donated their time and parts to get them back on the road. Again because it was the rite thing to do. Are these people expecting notoriety for doing this, are they expecting their name and pictures on the front page of the local paper when they show up with these trailers to help out the victims of mother natures rag riding outburst of destruction?!?!?!?!?!?!? In a word, no...now it may be unfair of me to make my next statement, but it has been my experience that any large carrier would have been allover the publicity side of this. I personally can say that i had my fill of driving for a large carrier and can say first hand that the check ins along the way for something like this weren't filled with "we're proud of you for doing this for us, or hold your head up with pride cuz ur doing the rite thing." It was more along the lines of "make sure your company shirt is clean, wash the truck and trailer before you arrive, and if your interviewed make sure you stand next to the logo on the trailer just in case they take ur picture."  Now it wasn't for any major disasters or tragedies, if i remember correctly i was just taking a load of food to a new food bank location. But rather than feeling proud of the job i was doing i was sick with disgust because i was basically left to feel that i was suppose to concern myself more with the companies image instead of the good work i was doing. It is my hope that the club members taking the time out of their lives to do this good work for Moore OK read this particular blog so they know that I state on these pages how DAMN PROUD I personally am of the work they are doing to help those in need. Along with K.W. and his fiance Faith, going to do the benefit for Sandy Hook was a damn good thing to do.

    Sorry folks, the above paragraph kinda turned into a soapbox rant there at the end. But i like to think that the point I'm trying to make is even in this time of uncertainty in this industry that i love so deeply there is still hope for the little guy. The independent owner operator, or the 1%er who still takes pride in what we do and how we look along with our rides. I personally feel that the major companies out here are dead set on taking the professional truck driver out of the industry and replace us with mindless, don't give a shit, machines that drive from point A to point B. I look around me and most of the time i find myself surrounded by people who don't give a shit about their truck or themselves. We have gone from a time when if you saw a truck driver you saw someone who was proud to do this job and help do their part to contribute to the prosperity of America, or whatever country they may be from, to a time where in my opinion most out here look at it as just a job, a paycheck, and poor poor me I'm away from my family and hate my life. Folks from the time i was just a kid growing up in the truck with my father til the modern times of me driving now, i have always felt a sense of pride in what i do and what i drive. whether that be a company truck that was totally abused by the previous driver and took up to 4 months to make it shine inside and out like new. Only to have it taken away by the company shortly there after to be traded in on another cookie cutter truck that was just alike the 100's of others the company owned. To the truck i drive now, not neccesarily a "show truck", but a truck that i can do whatever i want to dress it up and make it mine. Not all of you who read this blog will know how it feels to turn the key and feel the power of 500+ horses at ur fingertips. Not all of you will know the feeling of pride when you pull into a customer and get the compliments of how good ur ride looks, or the swelling in ur heart when u get a phone call from the boss saying "i just got off the phone with the customer, and wanted to say thank you for your professionalism toward them it means a lot to us". But i hope that those that do will understand where I'm coming from on here. I can honestly say that my sense of hope for this industry has been rekindled since i have come to be associated with CTLC and it's members. And would like to state with pride that I am DAMN PROUD to be a member and be able to see and be a part of the growth of "this little thing of theirs".

   I don't know if this blog made any sense or not, i like to hope it was a little less "all over the road" than most of my writings (probably not so i hope y'all was able to keep up). I want to take a moment to thank Kut, K.W. Moore and his fiance Faith, and the various members of CTLC who answered my questions and took the time to visit with me, helping me understand what this club is all about and what it means to the brotherhood of members who proudly place the Chi-Town Large Cars stickers on their rides and hold their heads up with pride knowing they are part of something honorable and good. And again i apologize for the lack of attention i have given to this page and the material i hope to put upon here. It is my hope that i can once again focus on making something decent of "The wandering gypsy chronicles". And provide something decent for the folks who take the time to read it.







                                                                                I remain as always your humble servant,
                         
                                                                                             The wandering Gypsy