Ken's Korner

When I was driving over-the-road, every once in a while, I would hear people on the CB talking about a girl named Lucille. At first I thought it was some kind of a joke. But I soon learned that she is very real and everything that I heard about her was true.

I first heard of her about ten years ago in West Memphis, Arkansas. I was laying down in my sleeper at the Petro. My CB was turned off and I was being lulled to sleep between two reefer trailers that played a nice harmony. But, despite the noise of the two reefers next door and my truck running too, I could still hear my neighbor talking on his CB. He had his CB turned up very loud for some reason and he was talking very loud too. He seemed to be having a lot of fun asking where Lucille was, over and over. He was getting a lot of different answers as to where she was and he believed every one. He would get out of his truck and go see if it was really her, every time someone said they saw her. Ten minutes later, he would get back in his truck, get on the CB and talk about her some more. Sometimes, he would say that he found her. But then immediately after that, he would ask if anyone saw her. I listened to this for an hour or two before I finally fell asleep, at about 11PM.

I woke up at five o’clock like I do every morning and he was still there! Still looking for Lucille too. Once again, someone said they saw her and he got out of his truck to see. I went inside, took a shower and got a cup of coffee. When I got back in my truck, I could still hear him asking if anyone saw Lucille! He was up all night looking for her. I wondered if he would ever give it up. As I pulled out of the truck stop, I turned my CB on and he was still doing it. He said Lucille could keep him awake if only she were here. He said he saw her yesterday in Dallas and he would see her again tomorrow in Knoxville.

At first, I thought he had lost his mind (and maybe he had) and was beating a bad joke into the ground all night, just to aggravate people. Sometimes you’ll hear someone on the CB repeating the same line over and over, trying to be funny and /or trying to aggravate drivers. You’ll laugh the first time or two that you hear it, but after about twenty times, you just have to turn your CB off.

The way I hear it, Lucille is everywhere and nowhere. She can often be in two places at the same time. A lot of people are looking for her but not many ever seem to find her. But, when they do find her, for some reason, they still look for her. She is very mysterious and illusive, this Lucille. Those that do find her, usually have to pay for her in more ways than one. She can kill you, she can get you fired and she can have you thrown in jail. But, they still want her. Who is she? A lot of people seem to know her. But many who do, won't say anything about her. Everybody knows her and nobody knows her. She’s everywhere and nowhere, if you believe what you hear on the CB.

It took me a while to figure it out, but Lucille is not really a human being at all. It’s a drug. Actually, Lucille is a code name for a drug. I’m not sure what the real name is for this drug, but it is some kind of speed. The drivers who use it are trying to stay awake for long periods of time. It can take all night to find Lucille. They need to find it so that they can stay up all night, looking for it, so that they can stay awake all day driving, so that they can make some money to buy some more, so that they can stay up all night looking for it. It’s a vicious circle and it has to stop.

Even though all trucking companies are required by law to drug test their drivers, there are still a few small companies and brokers that don’t. And drivers who do drugs can sometimes find ways around the drug test. They buy this body cleansing juice and, after they drink it, they can pass a drug test. Others use someone else's urine they carry in a small bottle. When it is time to give a urine sample, they just pour the bottle into the cup. More and more drug testing facilities are getting wise to these tactics and it is getting harder for the dope addicts to find a way to cheat the system. But, somehow, they still do.

Of course most truckers do not use drugs, nor will they tolerate a drug user. But like every walk of life, there are a few who do. I’d say that a community policing effort is needed here. More drivers need to speak up and tell these idiots to get out of a truck and into a detox center, where they belong. Many drivers just look the other way, even though they know exactly what’s going on. They don’t want to tell on another driver, because that wouldn’t be "cool". In other words, they give in to peer pressure. To them, I would ask if it was "cool" to put a dope addict behind the wheel of a big rig? Because, when you turn your back, that’s what you do. You let it happen. If you owned a truck and you found out that your driver was staying awake for days at a time and using drugs to do it and doing drug deals inside your truck, risking impoundment, you’d fire him for sure, wouldn’t you?

I’ve even heard people on the CB looking for Mary and Juan (which is obviously marijuana). So, with that in mind, I urge you to keep your eyes and ears peeled for these drug deals. And when you hear one happening, if you can figure out which truck is doing it, get the company name and truck number off the side of the truck and call them. Or, report it to the police. Tell a dope addict off or cuss them out on the CB. Peer pressure can work that way too. Help keep irresponsible people out of trucks (cars too, for that matter). Truck drivers need to have all of their senses working when they drive and there just isn’t any room for people who don’t take it seriously.

It used to be much worse, back in the old days, before drug tests. But I believe there is still room for improvement. Keep the shiny side up and the greasy side down. See you next month. One more shameless plug - check out www.bigcitydriver.com and see all the new stories and articles I recently added. I also put a link you can click on and go to 10-4 Magazine's website. Thanks for listening.