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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

A Message For All We Share The Highway With..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH4slcy9Clg

Friday, May 27, 2011

Chapter One ,,,, Little Girl

Chapter One – Little Girl
It was just another basic run.   I had picked up in Seattle, Washington and was headed down to Florida.  It was one of my favorite routes, taking me through the mountains of Oregon, then into the valleys of Idaho, then into Utah and Wyoming, and over the Rockies. Next were the wide-open plains of Nebraska and into Missouri.  Then I would go on to cross the Mississippi River into the South.   It takes me five or six days, depending on my mood.   Listening to the sound of my four hundred and seventy horse power Detroit Series Sixty engine, I enjoy the scenery that makes America beautiful.
I had spent the night at one of my favorite truck stops just west of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  They have great food there and, of course, the casino.  I timed my start the next morning to go through the city just after rush hour.  I was in no big hurry, as the big bridge over the Mississippi River would be backed up if I left too early.  After that it would be smooth sailing the rest of the day, on into Mississippi, then Alabama into Florida.  Everything pointed toward a beautiful day.  The sun was shining, it was warm, and I had plenty of time to make my run.
I made the river bridge ok, then to the split onto Interstate Twelve and into a construction zone.  The speed drops to sixty mph, so as usual I back out of it.  The truck behind me does not.  It jumps into the left lane and blows by me, right on the ass of a four wheeler (car).  They pass the truck in front of me, and I'm watching.   I decide to back out of it some more because people are starting to act stupid.    It's a good thing I did, because another four-wheeler gets wild and passes the truck and car that passed me, in the right lane.  Then it tries to go between the car, with the truck on its ass and another truck, back into the left lane so it can pass that truck, too.  But there is not enough room. 
The car that passed everyone hits the front truck on the left rear side, pushing its ICC bumper into the duals and the tires explode. The first car being pushed by the truck runs into the second car that just hit the front truck, and the truck doing the pushing pushes both cars down the highway.  By this time, I'm in the smoke and debris and locking it up.  I stop about thirty feet behind the truck in front of me.  The other driver hit the ground running.   Before I can get out of my truck, people from both sides of the interstate are all over the wreck.  
But I do go up to see what can be done.  As I get there, one of the drivers is pulling out this little girl and handing her out to another driver. The rest of the scene I think I'll pass on. But I will say this. I drove my first truck in 1980.  Over the years I have held a dying man in my arms with his skull crushed.  I've stood and listened to a man scream for two hours after he pulled out in front of a big truck.  I've seen what was left after an air-born body met the sharp end of a guard rail.  Saw some people that came out one windshield and went into another.  I’ve seen four-wheelers that met big trucks the wrong way on the interstate, and on and on.  I've seen bloody sheets so many times over the years that, well, you kind of learn to deal with what you see and move on.
But today, Yes, today would be different. And it really did not hit me hard until I was halfway across Mississippi. You see, that little girl was about five years old. A stranger pulled her out. A stranger that, without fear of his own life, climbing through the wreckage just seconds after it happened, past the crushed bodies of what used to be her family, and handed her out to those that were standing outside.   Then, everyone gathered around to make sure she was okay. She was, by the grace of God, seemingly uninjured.  The two cars had just been pushed down the interstate, crushed and ripped apart, unrecognizable, and she came through it without a scratch, so far as anyone on the scene could tell.

A few minutes later she started to regain her composure, wondering who all these strange people were.  She started crying for her mom.  No one had thought to move her away; they were so concerned that she was not hurt.   She started crying and turned and saw what was left of her mom, lying there halfway under her minivan.  Trying to pull away from the strangers, she was screaming for the mangled body that used to be her mom.

I walked away.  Hours later, coming into another construction zone, again I backed down and again they came out from behind me and to gas on it.  My thoughts went to that little girl, and I cried.   That was something I had never seen before.   I hope it's a long time before I hear another child cry.

A week later found me at the house, just north of Atlanta, Georgia, in a little town on the shores of Lake Lanier.  I had delivered my load in Tampa, Florida.  Being that I have my own truck and trailer and have to answer to no one, I just shut the doors on my trailer and dead-headed to the house.   My mind, well, it was not on trucking.   It was on that little girl and all the events of my trucking career that had brought me to her that day.  One thing I have learned over the years is that if you cannot separate your work from your problems,   it's best not to try and drive an eighty thousand pound truck out in public.  You need to be able to concentrate on what you're doing and where you're going.  One mistake and people die.  So I decided to sit the next week or two out.

At the house, I tried to busy myself with chores, occupying my mind with the normal problems of everyday life.  My wife Janet and I were working on painting walls, and my son had just broken his foot.  But no matter how hard I tried, my mind just kept falling back to that day. I just could not stop thinking about it.  I think the worst thing that kept coming to me was the fact that some of the arguments and discussions over the years with people had left me to blame for the accident; that because I slowed down to the speed limit, others got impatient and that led to the accident.  Could they have been right?

A few weeks earlier I had promised myself to stop doing what I was doing, to just mind my own business and let the world do its own thing. You see, the last few years of my career, I had decided to run my truck as legal as I possibly could.  Every chance possible, I would run a legal log book. I would not skimp on repairs. I would only run freight that paid enough to keep my truck and me on the right side of the law,  to be  a truck and  a driver that I would be proud not only to have next to my family on the highway,  but your family, too.
It's a funny thing (I think anyway) that the person responsible for me coming to the conclusion to stop promoting running legal was a cop.  I found that, no matter to whom I turned my attention to, I was the bad guy.  Dispatchers, other drivers, shippers and receivers alike had no time to deal with me.  After  the events that brought me to meet that little girl on the  highway that day, for my own sanity, and more importantly, for all the other little girls in the world,  I needed to do at least one thing to try to bring a little sanity to this world.  So I decided to write this book and dedicate it to that little girl I met on the side of the highway that terrible day.


Thursday, May 26, 2011

Damned truck Drivers

Today's Thoughts 5/26/11 Damned Truck Drivers
How many times have I heard that before over the years? "Damned truck driver". I cannot count the number of faces I've seen over the road that showed just that expression. You know it. Are maybe you’re the one that had it. Well today I'm going to speak to the ones that have it or are liable to get it sometime real soon. Somewhere I read that on today's highways there are about three million truck drivers out there. Not all in a big truck like mine I don't think, but in trucks of all shapes and sizes doing all kinds of different jobs all over America. I'm going to take a guess at this but I'm fairly sure that if you get out on the road and do any driving at all, you're going to come across one of those trucks. I bet I'm the smartest person in the world because I thought that one up all by myself.
The thing about all those trucks is lots of people like to do all kinds of funny things with them. The media as I'm sure you have seen in the past just love to make big news out of a truck wreck. Long before they have a clue as to what happened, they are spouting that some truck has run over some car and the public gets all up in an uproar over the incident. I like these stories most of all because if you follow them for a day or so, you learn that the truck involved was a pickup truck. Not all the time mind you, but they never seem to put that information out there with the same enthusiasm as they did when they had everyone thinking it as a big truck of some kind.
Politicians like to jump up on their stump and get their licks in too. I remember one sheriff back long ago that was trying to get reelected in his county around Atlanta. He was on the biggest radio station in town claiming he was going to bust every big truck going over the speed limit so he could save the world from all us dastardly truck drivers. And he was doing it to. All us truck drivers were spreading the word about this guy over the CB radio and we was running as close to the speed limit as we could. That really did not matter much because they were pulling us over anyway. Funny thing about that was all the cars were scooting past us about twenty miles an hour over the speed limit and no one was touching them. But all the locals elected him anyway if I remember right. Guess they felt safe and secure knowing the sheriff had their back and those damned truck drivers were getting what they deserved anyway.
So what do we get out of stories like this? Nothing good I think. What it does is promote lack of understanding and respect for trucks and the people that drive them. They become in peoples mind the lowest form of life and nobody respects them out on the highway. Now if you're trying to sell news papers or get yourself elected, this is a wonderful thing. But if you're a truck driver trying to miss all the people that no longer have any respect for you because of the way others keep using your image as a stepping stone, it not so much a good thing at all. Some drivers show that lack of respect in the way they drive around the trucks. People will cut them off or in one way or another leaving the truck with nowhere to go if something were to happen while they are so close to them.
Now I can personally tell you as a truck driver, that there are some folks out here that have absolutely no business behind the wheel of a truck. But I'll save that for another day. The point I want to make today is a simple one. Just a normal eighteen wheeler on an average day can weigh up to eighty thousand pounds. Throw in some permits and extra axles, and weights can exceed one hundred thousand pounds plus. That’s a lot of weight and all that weight with the safest professional driver out there just will not stop as fast as someone with no respect for damned truck drivers thinks it will. So, if you cannot find respect for that truck driver, it might just be a thing to find respect for the size and weight of that truck. It doesn't take much more then grammar school physics to figure that one out.
Well that’s it for today. It's time for me to go find my way around downtown Portland, OR. Big cities are always so much fun in a big truck. Be Safe folks.
Jeff Head.
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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Who's To Blame?

Today's Thoughts 5/25/11 Who's To Blame?
It always amazes me how people look at things. I guess if truth be known I probably amaze the heck out of a few people with the way I look at things sometimes myself. But thats just the nature of being human like we are I guess. There are as you know two sides at least to every subject and the subject for today is of a recent letter sent in to the powers that be about bringing shippers and receivers under the control of the FMCSA. If I understand the argument for this, it's supposed to force them to be more concerned about such things as driver detention and forced free labor for unloading and I guess a whole host of other things as well.
I get this. I really do. What I don't get is why we would want the government to step in and fix things that we can fix ourselves. When that company orders a truck and we agree to go in and pick up that load. We as an owner/operator or a driver agree to do it for a certain amount of pay. If that pay does not cover your cost then the next time raise your rates or demand higher pay before you go back to that dock. OK. OK. I can see a whole bunch of jumping and screaming going on and I'm real sorry if I got your heart rate up. It's just the way I see it. It's simple. If I as a business owner have an unending supply of people willing to make me rich at their expense, then I would like to offer you my gratitude. Thanks for the free service.
And thats the way it's been done for as long as I can remember in this business. Companies doing as they please and if you do not like it, next driver please. There is an unending supply of drivers and trucks willing to do what it takes to keep their freight rolling. Right into bankruptcy or a fatal wreck some times, but the fact is that these companies know it. So go ahead and make your stand. Learn to love cat food.
So being that I have already brought up the subjects of cats, there is in my opinion more than one way to skin them. Government has way to much control over our lives now and the last thing I want is for them to get involved in even more of our lives especially when it pertains to trucking. So I fall on the side of this issue like this.
It's a fact that the decisions they make on those docks directly dictate how it is we operate our trucks. From the dispatchers at our own company to anyone along the line that has anything to do with how and when we finally move. That they be made just as legally responsible for what happens out on that highway trying to deliver a load that we, as drivers, were forced to run in an unsafe fashion to make that delivery. Let's face it, if we wont do it, the next driver will and they know it. Why should we be the only ones held responsible when we had the least to do with the decision making part of it.
Look at it this way. They set the pickup times. They set the delivery times. They take into consideration nothing about weather or traffic conditions. No concern for parking issues. If we are able to eat, get a shower, or proper rest. They have complete control over our lives but none of the responsibilities for what happen out on that highway because they screwed around and left us in a bind. They use the cheapest truck possible making it imposable to haul freight that pays what it needs to pay so we can keep our trucks in safe repair. They in my opinion have more control over what happens to my truck then I do. Yet they shoulder none of the responsibility when something happens along the way because we cannot take the time to be safe.
I've often said that what we have now is the government forcing us the privates of the trucking industry, through laws and regulations to tell the generals of our industry, or the shippers and receivers, how it is that they are going to do business. I'd like to see some driver walk in and explain to old Donald Trump just how it is he is going to run his show. It just is not going to happen.
Now, you make that guy on the dock just as liable as you are for that death out on the highway. They were the ones that put you to where you were forced to run in an unsafe and illegal fashion. My guess would be that those trucks would move just a little bit faster. I think it would surprise you just how nifty they would become when their butts are one the line just like yours. And just how much all of the sudden that they really do know about the rules and regulations that we as truck drivers have to follow. And if I understand this right, there are already a few countries out there that go by this policy. So it's nothing new.
Well, that's it for me today. I've been sitting in this truck for way to long and the rain has finally stopped.  Thinking it will be a good time to take a long walk before it gets hot again. Everyone be safe out there.

Jeff Head.
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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

My Job

3/19/11
Today's Thoughts
My Job
What a rainy morning. Left Eugene, OR and headed out across Highway 58 on my way to Reno, NV today. Talk about raining. Pitch black and the wind was howling shaking my truck all over the road. Raining so hard at times that the windshield wipers could barely keep up. But I know the highway. I've run across it many times over the years. So making my way in the dark and the rain was just another morning in the wide world of trucking.
It was not long though, before I come up on a car that was doing much slower than I was. Every time traffic would come at us on that dark rainy highway, the car in front of me would hit their brakes and slow down. Same when the road would start getting curvy. It was very clear to me that whoever was driving that car was defiantly having a hard time handling those conditions. I'm not sure exactly why though. Could have been and elderly person with failing eye sight due to age. Or was it a young in-experienced teenager with just a few months behind the wheel. Maybe just tired. I do like to start early and it might have been late for their day.
Over the years I've seen this many times. I've also seen how some other drivers will handle it. Cars and trucks alike. Not going to pick on just one group on this point. But we as truck drivers, what is our job here? The times when we run up on slower traffic, less experienced drivers, or the elderly. Drivers that for whatever reason, on purpose or totally have no clue as to what they are doing, totally get in our way. What is our job in these situations?
As you know, you can get as many answers to the question as you ask different people. And we all know what we see the answer is all too often out on the highway. Some think our job is to push this driver down the road. To pass un-safely and to teach them how to drive. But for me the answer can only be one thing. My job is to make sure that the people I share the highway with make it home to their families. It's just that simple.
So I laid back so my head lights did not glare in their rear view mirror. Stayed back so that my big truck did not cause them to be more concerned with how close I was pushing them then keeping their mind where it needed to be, on the road. I did my job making sure that they had plenty of room to do as they needed to do. That they did not have to worry that a big arse trucker was about the run all over them if they did not go faster down that road then they could safely handle. That was my job as I see it and that's what I did. it's what I always do.
Did this hold me up? Sure it did. But that was not the important thing here. Besides keeping them as safe as I could with my limited interaction into the situation. I also helped our image as truck drivers by not shoving them down the road two feet off their rear bumper. It's the little things that add up to the big things. And now that they are safely at home. Maybe the things they relate about their experience on the highway that dark morning will be a good thing for truckers. Who Knows? Now go do your job.
Jeff Head

My Detractors

Today's Thoughts 5/24/11 My Detractors

Everyone has them I guess. Detractors that is. A detractor could be a person or maybe it's a thing. Whatever it is, it's there to take away from you in some sort of manner. I came across another one yesterday lucky me. As usual he was very fun to deal with. But thats ok because after awhile you come to understand that no matter what you do in life, someone is sure to come along and try to put you down for doing it.
The problem yesterday was the fact that I mentioned my book during a discussion. Straight off I'm accused of being there to sell my book instead of being interested in the topic at hand. Now I'm not here to complain about this today but I do want to talk about if for a moment if you would be so kind as too listens for a second. Maybe I can get a few things straight in my head so that the next time this happens I can deal with it a little better. Not that I got upset over it yesterday, but it always causes a little concern to me when this happens.

For years I've been preaching the virtues of driving a truck in a safe and legal fashion. Thats nothing new for me. Anyone that knows me knows that about me. The problem I am finding though is now that I have written a book on the subject, some people seem to think that anything I say past this point is only my attempt to sell that book. That I'm only interested in making a profit so therefore I should no longer be considered a person that has any actual interest in highway safety. Somehow I find this point of view just a bit interesting.

For one thing, if I was out purely for profit, I sure would not have set along the path of running legal. Lord only knows just how much I have lost over the years staying legal. My wife and I decided a long time ago that we would never become rich by doing this and have accepted the fact that we were more interested in doing that which is right then we were in getting rich. So we understand the consequences of our choice, and we live with those consequences every day
.
So if before the book I was preaching running safe and legal, why is it that after the book I would be doing anything different? To some it will always seem that there is a difference. I just don't understand their line of thinking on it though. What I do understand is the last time I let someone make me think I was a jerk for promoting my ideas; I had the unpleasant opportunity to watch a young lady loose her whole family out on the highway. Mostly because of a truck driver that decided that running safe and legal was not for him.
Anyway, this guy yesterday was not the first and I do not expect him to be the last. Drivers that want to continue with the old ways are always sure to huff and puff and kick at the ground when I speak up with my unwanted point of view. This I can count on. And from discussion groups that I have participated in along the way I know that I am not the only author that has this problem. How to sell your book without people thinking it's just you trying to be somebody. That little problem has existed I think for as long as there have been writers. I'm thinking it not going to go away any time soon.

So here's the deal the way I see it. Maybe meeting that little girl on the highway that day was God's way of telling me that I still had work to do. Quit worrying about what your detractors are saying and get off your butt and back to doing what you have always done, preach the safe and legal driving of big trucks out on our nation's highways. That's is what I am going to continue to do. And for those detractors out there that think I'm only in it for the cash. Well here's a word for you. "Capitalism". That's just a little thing we do here in America. Get used to it.

Jeff Head.
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Monday, May 23, 2011

Perception verses Image

Perception verses Image

As I was riding along today, thinking about the events of the last few days. My thoughts turned into the events of, well just about as long ago as I can remember. Basically, all my thoughts boiled down to what others perceive my image to be. I cannot remember a time where anyone had a clue as to what it was I was actually trying to do. The memory that stood out the most as a young kid was walking home from a friend's house and being told by my probation officer, (never smooch on your friends sister if he don't want you to),  is the memory of him telling me that I would either be dead or in jail by the time I was twenty one. What I was actually doing at my friends house was giving his mom my paycheck so she could feed her kids that week.

Fast forward a few years and I remembered being at a person's house that I thought I was supposed to be like family too. Anyhow, as I walked un-noticed into the room where he and a friend were chatting, I catch part of the conversation. "We need to go down to the truck stops and clean them up by spreading the word of God" Just then he notices me and of course, It not about me at all. He knows I'm a good guy, and let's not forget, that I'm a Christian too. I was happy for him thinking about my well being. But the fact was as I told him, it's hard to walk into a truck stop and not trip over the other guy that is trying to clean us up because we need all the Christian help we can get, being truckers and all.

I guess the final point I came to, after eleven hours of driving today is this. If we as truckers were to actually achieve a perfect image, would the perception of those that think they know what we are thinking just not kick all our efforts to the curb? I've understood for years that if all the people that thought they knew what it was that I was doing were so wrong, how could I as a human just like them be any closer to right when I thought I knew what they were up to.

Personally, I've learned to give a guy a chance. I'm pretty sure that if we as truckers will never get that chance. But that’s ok. I like a good challenge. No matter what they think I'm doing, no matter what they perceive me to be. I know what I am as a trucker, as a person. As long as I live my life so that I believe my image to be top notch, that’s the best I can do. I'll leave others to their perception. I'm sure that I will never be able to convince certain people that sometimes, they might just be wrong. But that's just a human thing.

Jeff Head

Big Rig Dodge Ball

Big Rig Dodge Ball
Seems like that some days. A big olé game of Big Rig Dodge Ball played out on our nation's highways. Just yesterday I had to dodge a big truck sitting at a dead stop in the right lane while I was doing seventy plus over in Arizona. When I finally made it to Flagstaff, I puppy dog decided it wanted to cross the interstate in front of me. I guess we just have days like that. The longer we drive, the more we end up dodging.
Looking back over the years it seems like I've dodged just about everything you can think of. About four different times I can remember I've missed vehicles sitting in the middle of the highway. People just standing there waiting to be hit. It's like if you cannot move your car out of the way, don't stand there and wait to get run over. Balls, bikes ladders I've managed to dodge. One morning I dodged a full sized refrigerator. You can just about bet on a mattress once a month. Just has to be.
Of course let's not leave out the critters. Eventuality something is going to wander out in the road at the most inopportune time. Once when I was hauling radioactive waste out in Nevada's open range after dark a cow decided it wanted to stand in the middle of that two lane highway. The fact that I was at a high rate of fuel consumption didn't seem to bother her much. You know lots of skid marks and not all were on the highway that night. But we can add that cow to a long list of cows that I've met over the years out on the open road.
And then there are the things that went for a bounce. Like the cooler that flew off the back of a pickup that passed me and bounced off my brand new Texas bumper. The deer that took out my front right tire, bumper and mirrors just as I hit the blinker to go into a Georgia scale house. One day in an old Astro I used to drive, I rear ended a turkey buzzard at seventy miles an hour. He turned and looked at me just before I took him out. Oh yea, the turkey up in Wyoming that dented the crap out of my driver's side air breather. Hawks, owl's, sea gulls, birds are just suicidal if you ask me.
Once a wheel of a mobile home sliced the inside of my front right steer and another time a piece of metal off a passing pickup pulling a trailer actually blew my front right steer out. All these things you have to be ready to come at you and with absolutely no warning what so ever.
But the ones I love most are the ones like I come across today. Coming to the end of a passing lane on a two lane highway, the feller pulling a twenty foot trailer with a dually is dead set on getting in front of me. To dodge this guy I end up chucking gravel and grass on the right and oncoming traffic is doing the same on the left while he splits the yellow lines proud as hell he's done it again.
Once again today I was lucky. I dodged yet another object out on the highway with half a brain. We as truckers bust our butts to keep the highways safe and along come heroes like this.  It shakes your confidence I guess. I physically start shaking about ten minutes down the road. That's about how long it takes for me. Once I dodge whatever it is I have to dodge, five to ten minutes later come the shakes.
It's done. It's over. Tomorrow is another day. Out on the highways for yet another death defying game of Big Rig Dodge Ball. If Lady Luck is with me, hopefully I'll win again tomorrow. Be safe folks.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

5/22/11 The Quiet Man

Today's Thoughts 5/22/11 The Quiet Man
Ugg! I really hate this. Here I lay me down to sleep and all I do is look at the ceiling of my truck. You just have to love trying to live your life by what the log book says you are. Right now it's telling me that I'm tired and I just cannot figure out why it is that although the government says I'm sleepy, I'm lying here wide awake. I know what's going to happen. By the time I do fall asleep, it will not be long before the alarm clock goes off and then the government mandated log book will be telling this sleepy driver that he is wide awake and it’s time to go to work. Life would be so much easier I think if they would just go ahead and install a switch in back of our heads so we could turn on and off as easy as they think we can.
Oh well. So what to do about this situation? Figuring in the morning I was going to get up and go take a shower. Once done with that I would probably do breakfast before I did my pre trip inspection, and then head out. Might as well get some of that done now being I'm not getting any sleep anyway. This way in the morning I can sleep in a little later so I head in and grab that shower and then I head for the restaurant for a way early breakfast.
As I walk in I look around and see where everyone is sitting. A couple of drivers are up at the counter with the normal chat about life in a big truck going on. Along the booths near the windows there are three young ladies lost in their conversation. To the far right about four booths behind them is where I find myself sitting down. It's far away from the drivers at the counters and just out of earshot of the girls. Now this is my kind of place, all alone where I can not bother a soul. Here is where I can not cause any trouble. I won't bother anyone or make them mad. I won't end up being the reason they have a bad day. None of this will end up being blamed on me. Or at least I hope anyway. Most of all the fact is that when I'm out in public around other people, I'm just a quiet man. I've always found it hard to be part of the crowd and I kind like it that way.
A little bit shy I guess might be the reason. Some might think I'm stuck up I guess. Maybe I think I'm too good to hang around with them I suppose. Could be some of these reasons perhaps or it could be none of the above too. Either which way no one ever bothers to ask me. They just start thinking what they are going to think and it goes on from there.
I've seen this before though.  With other drivers I mean. They sit quietly in their trucks minding their own business and before long; everything that goes wrong with the group ends up somehow the fault of the person staying off to themselves. I've never understood this type of group mentality. But it is what it is and it's been that way for as long as man has been around I suppose.
What I cannot figure out about this quiet thing is this. Why can a person not be just a quiet person without the group thinking they are a person to be feared? I don't know that there is an answer to that question. I know I cannot answer it even though I've lived with it all my life. Yup, that’s me, a quiet man. Who would have known? But it's true. I guess that’s why I write so much and I have way too much time to think about things. But I like it that way. Cuts down on the drama for one thing and come Christmas time I guess I save a lot on Christmas cards.
The thing is though, just because someone is sitting quietly off to themselves is no reason to believe that they believe they are too good to hang around with you. They are just simply the type of person that does not feel comfortable in large groups. They're not off doing you harm and their not contemplating the end of the world. Fact is if you take a closer look, you will probably see one of the nicest people that you will ever meet. It's just that they will never feel comfortable having a normal conversation with most people. They don't feel they have to be in the "A" crowd just to be somebody. That makes them just one thing though, just a quiet person, that’s all.
Enough for today I guess. Ya'll quit picking on that quiet guy. He needs all that time alone working on his dastardly plan to take over the world. Oh, for all you girls out there, if he's cute like me, give him a hug, I'm sure he will appreciate it. Just don't tell my….  his wife, Ok. Hey wait a minute here. If I'm so shy and quiet, how the heck did I end up married? mmm. Now I really got something to think about.

Define To Fast

Today I was heading on up to Washington State for a Monday morning delivery. My route took me west across Interstate 80 in Nebraska. My day started out with sunny skies but soon that gave way to some pretty dark clouds and it was not long before I found myself in some off than on again rain showers. I've been a bit lazy here lately and figured I could use that high speed truck wash anyway so I just slowed down due to the weather and enjoyed my ride across the state.

After I slowed down, the normal happens. Cars and trucks riding on those super stick tires that I've never been able to find in stores just kept coming around me. I'm talking with a friend and the conversation turns to the subject, "What is too fast for conditions?" I mean I'm in a rain storm so hard that I can hardly see over my hood. I'm doing about sixty and a car with a big truck two feet off its butt passes me at seventy five miles an hour. Now I know the speed limit is seventy five in Nebraska, but is that not meant for in perfect clear conditions?

So my question for today is what exactly is the speed limit? Most Highways I know of have a maximum speed limit posted. Nearby if not on the same sign usually you will find a minimum speed limit posted. But does that mean you can always legally run the maximum speed limit? Most drivers I see seem to think yes. Regardless of what the road conditions are, they figure the speed limit says seventy five, they are going to do seventy five come hell or high water.

But for those of us that know better. Could be they found out the hard way by getting a ticket after an accident or just knew by plain common sense; The speed limit on any highway is never more then what is safe for vehicles to drive on. So in today's situation traveling across Nebraska in a all out down poor, in my opinion the safe speed was about sixty. Now I know that I could be wrong. You could get as many different opinions on this as people you ask. Some would think higher and there would be those that would consider a lower speed to be appropriate. But this is my point. With so many different opinions and different driving abilities of the different drivers out there, how could anyone believe that seventy five miles an hour in a blinding rain in a big truck two feet off the butt of a four wheeler is safe for conditions?

So I stopped for a break and jumped on the net for a minute and I asked some of my Law Enforcement friends the question "What is too fast for conditions and when they would write a ticket?" I gave the example that I gave above which is what I observed today. My good friend LC replied and you just got to love this guy. He is always straight forward with a great sense of humor. He has lots of years as a State Patrol officer and in my opinion, one of my best friends. (Enough butt kissing already). here is his reply as he gave it to me.

LC says "Actually Jeff I would probably charge the guy with "reckless operation of a motor vehicle" ......under those conditions it is warranted. Highway speeds, in the rain, two feet off his bumper....yep "reckless operation", and "felonious stupidity""

Thanks for the input LC. So you see that just because the speed limit signs are out there. That in no way should leave you thinking that that is always the maximum speed you are allowed to travel. You must always take into consideration as to what the road conditions are. Keep in mind that any officer at any time if they so determine can write you a ticket for lots of different things if they believe you are traveling to fast for conditions.

Ok Folks, end of today's lesson. Remember to keep it safe out there. It's our job to make sure the get there alive. Thinking about it, I really would not mind getting there in one piece myself.

Jeff Head