Through An 'Old Timer's' Eyes
Mac writes about Macks
By Howard 'Mac' McDonald

Truck drivers are a different breed. Over time, they have taken over where the railroads left off.

Truckers come from all walks of life, with so many personalities. The majority of them are courteous and conscientious, but there are still those who drive too many hours without resting and they are the ones who make the mistakes.

Take a trip on the interstate and you'll realize how many trucks there are. If you'll listen in on the CB radio you will hear how they have a language of their own. Each of them has his own name, or "handle."

They are apt to discuss just about any topic on the CB, from jokes, to road conditions, to the situation in Iraq.

The truckers are on the lookout for the cops, or "Smokey Bear," or if the trooper is female, she is "Honey Bear."

Your 10-20, or "20," is your location. A four-wheeler is an automobile. Some of the other references are a little too crude for a family newspaper.

Sometimes we hear on the news about the Mexican trucks that can go anywhere in the United States. Their safety standards are far below ours. Sometimes I wonder what they are bringing in besides their legitimate loads.

I remember when the Mack truck was the workhorse of the industry. Its hood ornament is the bulldog. At one time, the Mack was only built in eastern Pennsylvania, but I saw a Mack factory just outside Toronto.

Some of the names of these rigs remind me

of the old west. There is the General, the

Western Star, Volvo,

Freightliner,

Kenworth, Peterbilt

and I know that International still

makes trucks.

When I worked in the strip mines, I

remember a guy

who hauled coal in an old Sterling. It was so old that it had a chain drive instead of a drive shaft. The emergency brake lever was about four feet tall. You had to have three arms to shift gears.

I remember a funny story about this driver who went for a job interview. The interviewer told this driver he was going to give him a hypothetical problem:

"You are hauling ten tons of big explosives and you are going down this steep mountain road. You lose your brakes and when you get to the bottom of the hill there is a railroad crossing with a train going by, what are you going to do?"

The driver answered, "I am going to wake up Leroy."

"Who is Leroy?" the interviewer asked.

"Leroy is my swamper and I don't want him to miss the biggest damned wreck he ever saw!"

I was watching "Jeopardy" the other night and they had a category about the Nautilus, the first submarine to pass under the North Pole. None of the contestants got it right.

The Nautilus was the first nuclear sub. Emporium's Harry Thomas was a radio operator on that boat. He is the father of Jim Thomas, Butch Thomas and Becky Fritzell.

Alan Greenspan is worried about the future of Medicare and Social Security as the Baby Boomers start to retire. I wonder what his thoughts are about the billions of dollars we are pouring down into Iraq? That war has put a strain on this country that will never be resolved.

It would be sour grapes if I said that this President will go down in history as the one who destroyed America. That is the opinion of the Old Timer who is not always right.