Many years ago, I loved to drive truck. My dad drove truck, so when I grew up, I started driving as well, My dad always said, “If I knew you would grow up and drive a truck I would’ve cut your throat when you were born.”
When my dad was still driving, he almost hit two car loads of kids racing side by side, but he gave them the road. He went through a ditch and was thrown out of the truck only to be run over by it. But that’s another story.

This is the reason my mom and dad did not want to see me in a truck, but I got the driving bug at an early age. My first driving job was for a company called Sam Tanksley Transportation. They were out of Cape Girardeau Mo., but they had offices all over the U.S.

Back in 1979 if you had an Oregon Driver's License, all you had to do for a truck license was pass a written test. It was up to the employer to give you the behind the wheel test,
so I got my license, and never drove a truck before in my life. I drove little farm trucks, but never an eighteen wheeler. Then I went to Turlock, CA. Where I started looking for a driving job. That’s when I found the ad in the paper for Sam Tanksley, Long Haul Truck Driver Coast to Coast.

I went to the office in Santa Nella, and put in the application, which I lied like crazy on. Two days later they called me for an interview and road test. I got my Uncle Charles to tell me how to shift, drive, things to say, etc.
I got through the interview and went for the road test. I was doing pretty well when the right front tires dropped off the road. I knew enough not to jerk the wheel, so I eased it back on the road, and explained to the instructor that I was used to a conventional, and they drive a little different.

To my surprise, I got the job. In fact, with all the experience I put on the application, they made me the First Seat Driver. The next day I headed out with a guy named Ron. We were told to load oranges and go to Woodlawn, Ohio.
We got our load in Oxnard, CA. It was my turn to drive, so I got behind the wheel and we headed out. We were just coming into North Hollywood, when there were more cars than this country boy had ever seen. Everything was doing very well until all those cars decided to stop.

I stepped on the brake then I dropped a gear. I stepped on the brake, and then I stepped on the brake a little harder, and a little harder, until the tractor started to skip and chatter on the road. The cab was shaking and bouncing, when I finally got it stopped. In front of us was a 1960’s V.W. bug, and all you could see of it was the front turn signals and head lights.

Ron was pressed back in his seat when he asked, “Jim how long have you been driving trucks?” “How far is it from Oxnard to here?”, I asked in reply. He said, “about thirty minutes.” I said, “well that’s how long I’ve been driving.” “Well…”, he said, “In a situation like this, apply the brakes a little sooner.”

“I suppose you want to take the wheel,” I asked? “No, you were foolish enough to get this far. I guess I’m the fool that’s going to teach you how, and you are making more money than me," he replied. By the time I got to Ohio, and up and down the east coast then back home, I could drive pretty well. That was the start of my fourteen and a half years of my driving career, and many adventures.

By: James Grimes
4/11/09

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