MILE MARKER #59
The Citizen's Band radio was born in 1945 when the U.S. government decreed that ordinary citizens should have a short-distance radio band for personal communications. C.B radios started to really take off in the 1970's with the C.B's. exposure in movies. Popularity exploded with the help of The Dukes of Hazard, the Convoy song, Smokey and the Bandit, and Movin' On. Since then, the channels became more crowded, and the original 23 channels were expanded to 40 channels.
My Cobra C.B. radio has been in storage for the last 14 years. I was a city driver, so I never really used it. It was a good radio when I was an over-the road driver for 9 years, before I got the city job. Things change and mergers happen. Since the Roadway and Yellow merger, a lot of new bids were created and some were eliminated. A night time Line Haul Chicago bid was wide-open when my name was called upon, and I jumped on it. I guess they call it a Utility driver. The two Cleveland Line Haul bids were removed from my terminal, so Chicago was the next big thing to getting me out of the city. Now, I needed a C.B. radio. I located my Cobra in the basement and blew the dust off of it, and low and behold, it worked like it always has in the past. Old reliable. My first trip last Monday to Chicago seemed different from 14 years ago. The thing I noticed though was how rude drivers were and the vulgar vocabulary that they used on a daily basis. Don't get me wrong, back when I was on the road that stuff also happened around the big cities, but it seemed only on occasion. Now, I was like, wow. Things change. It went from mostly everybody ... stopping to help people, to cussing and yelling at fellow drivers. I think truckers are taking their anger out over the air waves due to the bad economy and the changes that have been made in trucking.
My first week went smoothly. I knew it was going to pay more than running in the city, but it turns out that it is quite lucrative. Some of you might have seen me. I'm one of the many that run the stretch from Madison to Chicago every night. I drive a newer Roadway blue day cab, sometimes with a Yellow 53 footer, sometimes with a Roadway 53 footer, sometimes with a set of doubles with a Yellow lead and a Roadway tail, sometime visa-versa...OK you get the picture. The combinations each night are endless, but it is all a YRC thing.
There is a stretch from the Illinois line to Belvidere that is under construction with a 45 mph speed limit. Every morning on my way back to Madison, I go through there at the same time that another particular driver does. I heard him on Monday and heard him again two other mornings last week also. Now here is a guy that just waits for somebody to say something on the C.B. and can't wait to aggravate another driver. It didn't matter what the topic was or what the driver's opinion was, he chimes in to the point were it results into a full fledged argument. The first time I heard him I thought it was hilarious. Then I noticed him the two other times and thought, this jag-off does this every morning. It must be his way of staying awake between the rough hours of 4 and 6 in the morning. Trash talking at its finest. Unbelievable. Oh, it kept me awake also, on the expense of the driver that got caught up in the punishment. This guy is good at what he does. I think he drives a tanker, but I'm not sure yet.
I will be out on the Super Slab again tonight, still flashing guys in when they pass, and still waiting for them to flick their marker lights to thank me. They don't, but I still will drive like I always have.
I tried that once. If I don't flash them in, then they will will flick their marker lights at me like to say $%^# you. Unbelievable.
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