SHARING THE ROAD
By Writers and Owner Operators Rod & Kim Grimm

School’s out for the summer, meaning we’ll be sharing the road with more young people, vacationing families and campers. We need to be even more alert for the kids out playing, chasing a bouncing ball into traffic or riding their bikes, not paying attention or obeying traffic laws that apply to them. Summer also brings out more motorcycles that can be lost in a blind spot even easier than a car. Be extra careful in California, where motorcycles can legally ride between the lanes of traffic. Now, let’s talk about what this article is really about - sharing the road this summer - but in a different way.

Let me start by saying NEVER take an unauthorized passenger with you on the road. I’ve heard horror stories of things that have gone terribly wrong with an unauthorized rider along. But if your company allows authorized passengers and will give you a proper authorization, taking along your spouse, kids, niece, nephew and friends can be a GREAT thing for them, as well as you. Sharing what you do and the places you go can be very rewarding. We’ve been taking people along with us for years and always enjoy the company.

Starting with our daughter, Beth, I remember once when she was younger and Rod was creeping under an overpass that was really close. When he got to the other side, Beth said, “Well, must’ve been alright Dad, nothin’ ripped.” She’s been to Toronto twice and Las Vegas (back when the Excalibur Hotel was new and seemed so huge with nothing else around it). Falling in love with the rugged mountains out west, she said the mountains in Tennessee “look like they have broccoli stuck all over them.” We had a pizza picnic on Vero Beach in Florida. While in Florida, she also got to see an alligator along alligator alley and see a spectacular sunset into the Gulf.

Once, while she was bored, she made the bunk resemble a chicken coop by plucking feathers out of a feather pillow and letting them drop from the top bunk down to the floor. What a mess! When taking kids along, I advise trying to take things to occupy their time - like books, games, a laptop, movies, etc.

After riding with us, it was nice when calling home from the Giant in New Mexico or picking up produce in Salinas, making drops in L.A., because she knew where we were. She had been there before and could now picture it in her mind. One Sunday, while stuck in Atlanta, GA we went to Six Flags Over Georgia. It was really fun and we could see the truck in the parking lot from the lift that took you across the park.

The next one to ride with me (we left Rod home) was Bette Garber. She went along to get stock pictures and story ideas. She’s ridden with us several times since that trip. Bette has truly walked the walk of drivers - people have no idea of the extremes she sometimes goes through to get her great pictures.

During one of Bette’s rides, we got to know her sister Mikie, who was going through an awful time in her life. Mikie has shared so much with so many and has done some wonderful things very humbly - we are happy to call her our friend. On another trip with Bette along, we had the good fortune to stop in Baton Rouge, LA and have lunch and a wonderful visit with her Uncle Bennie, Aunt Doris and cousin Jon, whom she hadn’t see for years.

Anna (I forget her last name), a reporter with the Wall Street Journal, flew from New York to L.A. to meet up with us and see what hauling a load from California to Maine was really like. She was a real trooper, trying to stay awake as much as possible so she didn’t miss anything. Her story of the trip made the front page. That was COOL!

Our nephew Garrett went with us to Seattle between Christmas and New Years in 1998, when Illusion was only a couple of months old. His story of that trip is on the Kid’s Page this month. I really recommend summer trips. The roads in Montana got pretty ugly a couple of times, but we were able to get Garrett home safe and sound - and he had a trip to remember for the rest of his life.

Diana McCord from England wanted to ride across America with a trucker. At the truck show in Bordentown, NJ, hosted at the Petro, it was decided she would go with us. While people back home thought she was “absolutely mad” wanting to do this, Diana looked at it as a great adventure while she was on “holiday”.

First we went up to New York and loaded for L.A. Trying to show her as much country as possible in a short time, we were really moving. When calling home, people couldn’t believe how quickly we went so many miles. She thought crossing Nebraska should be like old Route 66 pictures, but wasn’t disappointed when it wasn’t. Going across I-70 west of Denver in the daytime provided awesome scenery and it set us up to fall into Vegas down I-15 at night overlooking that ocean of lights.

We loaded comforters in Los Angeles and then met up with our friends Linwood Hunt and Delbert Poorman. We stopped in Barstow and Linwood let Diana pull his long, 312-inch wheelbase Pete and 48-foot spread axle trailer into the wash bay. She also got to drive our Kenworth the length of the parking lot - something to really brag about back home. Kenworths and Petes are “THE TRUCKS”. After stopping at a little truck show held by Tascosa Truck Sales in Amarillo, TX we went on to drop her off in Nashville, TN.

We’ve kept in touch with Diana and she has since married and is expecting their first child. Some day we hope to visit England and it’s nice to know we have a place to stay with someone who knows how to drive on the wrong side of the car and the wrong side of the road. Her “Mum” Pearl would love to come to the states and ride with us and we’d love to have her.

April got to ride with us for a week back east. Home looked pretty good after crossing the Ohio Turnpike too many times. Getting lost while walking around a small town in PA was the highlight of the trip.

Our niece Angie got to ride with us for three summers. One morning, while walking along Daytona Beach, we had breakfast in a Pier Café. She called her Mom and said, “Pack our bags, we need to move!” She was impressed with Vegas too, while spending a week there with us during the truck show. We had the truck inside on display, so we had to detail it. She helped us clean up the truck and I loved her reaction when I told her that we had to jack up every axle and “stage” the tires before tire foaming all the sidewalls and the tread. Her response to that was, “You’re going to do WHAT to the tires?” After all of the work, it was time for fun - riding roller coasters and going to the top of the Stratosphere to view the city at night. Seeing the city’s sights all aglow, made her really want to come back.

Stuck in Seattle, WA one weekend after delivering baseball programs for the All Star Game, we rented a room and a car. Angie and I visited the Titanic exhibit while Uncle Rod and Lizzie opted to stay in the room. It was awesome. At the beginning of the exhibit, we were each given a boarding pass with the name of someone who had actually been on the ship. There was a recreation of the grand staircase and artifacts brought up from the ship on display. At the end of the exhibit, you could find your name on the list. I’m happy to report, Angie and I were both in 3rd class and we both survived.

One day we got lost off the end of I-8 in San Diego. There is nothing like being lost with 53’ of trailer behind you. We did finally find our way back and made it to where we were going.

I made Angie and Garrett both keep a journal everyday while they were with us. You forget little things over time and this way, they can read it and relive it. I’ve left Rod at home and taken Betty, Rod’s Mom, on two occasions. Both were just short trips, but she really enjoyed them and I want to take her with me again soon. Even at 81, you’re never too old to go truckin’.

Our other niece Jessica never got to ride with us, but she has just returned from a road trip I can’t imagine. Having been sent to Kuwait with the 234th Signal Battalion, she didn’t see her daughters Nicole, Lily, Bailey and Kaitlin or her husband Tom for over a year. We’re so thankful that she’s now home and hope that the thousands of other soldiers serving everywhere get to come home to their families safe (and soon). Welcome home Jess!

If you can take an authorized passenger with you out on the road, I suggest that you do it. It might just be a trip that you make all of the time, but for them, it will be one that they’ll remember forever.