The seed of the idea started when we visited my wife's brother and her best friend from college in Durham. It was just after New Year's when we looked at some properties and realized that we could afford to live in the beautiful neighborhood of Treyburn. In the past before I became the wonderful sensitive caring man I am now I'd have shut down the idea of moving before my beloved wife could get past "What do you think about . . . .", but for some reason I remained noncommittal about the idea of retiring to Durham, I positioned myself firmly on the fence.
If I was water boarded I'd be forced to confess that I kind of hoped that my wife's granddaughter in Atlanta would be the anchor that kept us living in Atlanta but I was shocked when the librarian continued to push the idea of retiring to Durham.
Fast forward a couple of months and you find me in the Budget Rental Truck office being given the keys to a 26 foot truck. I didn't give it a moment's thought when I booked the truck online, I saw that it was cost effective to rent a larger truck and make fewer trips from Marietta to Durham.
It was only when I looked at the various lengths of trucks parked in the Budget lot that I started to panic. Some of the trucks were ginormous and it didn't take me long to realize that I'd booked the longest truck they rent to a man with a basic driving license. Believe me in the truck rental world size does matter and when I climbed into the cab I started to understand that I'd booked myself a "character building experience". When the Budget representative told me that I must use the various weigh stations on my journey I knew I was joining the big boys of the road.
My first drive was on roads I was familiar with but even then changing lanes and turning corners required lots of thought and preplanning. Somehow I managed to drive home and reverse the truck into my drive. While driving I thought I was shaking from the vibration of the 8.5L diesel engine throbbing away, but when I hit the ground after rappelling down from the cab I continued to shake. I knew that for the first time in my driving life I was scared to death.
We hired some young flexible muscles to load the truck that evening and planned to depart for a storage locker in Durham after the rush hour in the morning. This plan fell apart when I couldn't sleep because various nightmare truck driving scenarios that kept playing in my mind. Around 3 A.M. I decided to get up and hit the road. I managed to throw a few more things into the truck before I fired up the engine and made my tentative way out of the neighborhood to the interstate.
It's always been my experience that the roads around Atlanta are never completely empty but I was taken by surprise by the number of vehicles driving around in the middle of the night. I played some soothing music on the radio and tried to think positive thoughts as I drove around I285 and eventually headed north on the I85.
In less than 20 miles of driving I'd learned so many new things, some should have been obvious but there were lots of challenges that I'd never thought about. Just the act of braking takes far longer than you could ever imagine; it also takes a while to accelerate to a cruising speed of 70 MPH. Drivers in cars are dangerous: they cut you up by overtaking and then joining your lane and braking. Meanwhile, in the cab you're holding on for your life.
Often cars join the interstate at a nice sedate speed, you can't imagine that they will cause you problems. Then they pull over into your lane, dawdling about as if they're running through some kind of preflight check to drive at 75 MPH. These drivers study their phones, adjust the sat nav, tighten seat belts, play with the radio, eat a sandwich, brew some tea and then run out of space in the on ramp and take an immediate left into my lane. This means I have to try to decelerate from 70 MPH to their crawl speed.
My well toned leg muscles pump away on the brake pedal in desperation, no time for the horn or to flash my lights but strangely enough to view an entire replay of my life. Then just as I'm about to collide with the trunk of the car in front of me, the driver puts his foot down and speeds away into the distance having absolutely no idea what went on behind them.
Meanwhile, I'm still sweating from having to brake for my life and now I have to concentrate on speeding up to avoid the wrath of the trucks behind me. As I bounce around in my truck the big rigs blow their horn as they pass me, causing my truck to be buffeted by the wind and turbulence, demanding emergency steering input to keep me in the driving lane.
From near death because I couldn't brake in time I have to find the guts to press down the accelerator pedal and try to return to 70 MPH. All this using a right leg that has just lost all feeling due to exhaustion and absolute fear.
The problem is you can't take a quick look in your mirrors, signal, accelerate and pull out into the overtaking lane. Checking for vehicles in the adjacent lane is quite a process because there are so many blind spots. Changing speed instantly isn't an option; changing lanes involves small precise movement of the steering wheel to avoid major wobbles and loss of control.
After enduring the 5th mental movie review of my life I changed strategy and followed a truck that seemed to be able to maintain the same speeds as me, however this wasn't perfect because cars would jump in the gap I left and my natural reaction was to hit the brakes.
I'd been on the road about 180 minutes when I decided to take a break. I'd lost feeling in my right hand due to gripping the steering wheel so hard. I tried every distraction technique I could think of, but I couldn't remove the feeling that I wasn't going to reach Durham in one piece. Fortunately I found a place in the "big boy truck" area of the rest stop that I could drive in and out of. The idea of having to reverse the truck was too frightening to imagine.
My problem was similar to situations I'd faced when skiing. I'd get halfway down a run and then get scared to death, but the only way to escape was to continue skiing down the hill. This trip to Durham was the same kind of challenge, I was about a third of the way to my destination and it would be impossible to extract myself without driving to the end.
I managed to stretch out on the bench seat and sleep for just over an hour, then I gave myself a huge pep talk and turned on the ignition, put the truck in drive and bravely entered the interstate again. After the power nap I did feel better, perhaps even a bit more confident because logic told me that the worst part of the journey was behind me.
However, that wasn't the case; further up the road I encountered my first "road under repair" with "narrow lanes". When you are seated high in the cab of a strange vehicle it's difficult to see where you are in relation to the lanes in the road. I tried to keep to the edge nearest the hard shoulder but when other trucks passed me at speed only inches away, it was obvious that I was the problem. I also imagined that the professional truckers would be on their CB radios warning their fellow scanners about the idiot in the Budget Rental Truck on the road.
Perhaps driving a big truck is like steering a huge cruise ship: any input on the steering doesn't take effect for quite some time. I'd try to make any change in my direction as smoothly as possible but that would increase the time I was getting in other drivers' way. I knew that because of the horns blaring and headlights flashing as I drove along like a modern day Mr McGoo.
After another two hours I was ready for a break. I pulled into a truck stop for gas and some food. Stupidly I followed a truck to some diesel pumps but it turned out that real trucks have their own gas lines; rental trucks such as the one I was driving must to use the normal diesel. Once I understood this I became aware that I wasn't a real truck driver but just an interloper.
Once out on the road again I passed my first open weigh station. You have to get to the right lane and join the line of trucks that are mandated to go through the weighing process. I learned that some weigh stations have a rolling weight check device implanted in the road surface and if you pass that test you receive an indication that you can continue on your journey. I guess it's almost impossible for an amateur like me to load a rental truck to the point where it's above the capacity of the truck design, so I was able to pass all rolling weigh stations without a problem.
Three more hours down the road and I arrived at my accommodation in Durham. I was going to spend the night at my brother-in-law's and then meet some local muscles at the storage facility the next morning. Although I was only 10 miles away from unloading the truck I had a lot of anxiety about maneuvering into the storage facility.
Fortunately my sister-in-law had lots of experience directing trucks in and out of warehouses and she was able to give the most professional instructions that made the final part of the trip much easier than expected. She really came into her own when I visited three gas stations before I discovered one with a diesel pump. While it's often easy to drive into a gas station I know from experience that getting out in a 26' rental truck is never straightforward.
I gassed up the truck and drove four miles to the Budget depot where I dropped off the truck. When climbing down from the cab with my paperwork, gas receipt and recorded mileage I found myself shaking with relief. While I was proud that I'd managed to complete a run without major incidents I was ashamed that I did it with so little courage.
When I handed in the paperwork and signed off on the rental I was so happy that it was over. We all went out for lunch to celebrate and I was able to declare that I was never, ever going to do that again. Less that two weeks later I had to repeat the exact same process but by this time I was a seasoned profession 26' truck driver.
So what did I learn from the experience? Pay more attention to trucks, give them plenty of space, never move in front of them and apply the brakes, let them move into the overtaking lane when they have momentum because if they have to ease off the gas it can take minutes for them to build up the required overtaking speed again. Take care when merging on to an interstate using the on ramp. Also move to the right lane well in advance of using an exit ramp.
Truck driving is a real skill. These drivers aren't your enemies, they are just trying to do a job. You never know - one day you might need them to transport your things around the country. It's a difficult job, they see idiots like me on the road all the time and their life is on the line!
That's my trucking reality,
Jobsonian
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