Halloween deadheading

Just in time for Spooky Day comes a story out of Dallas that puts a new twist on the term “deadheading.”The Dallas Morning News reported on Oct. 30 that a Royse City, TX, police had pulled a trucker over for speeding on I-30 around 2:30 a.m. and, since the driver seemed a bit shifty, they checked the trailer.In a scene that must have reminded them of some horror flick sequel, their flashlight

Continued learning is a privilege

It’s nice to work for people who value continuing education.I had the distinct pleasure recently of sitting in on a three-day business seminar conducted by the OOIDA Foundation.Land Line sent me to write a story and I am following through with that in the magazine, but I also got to participate, listen to the speakers, meet people and learn the course material.Instructor Tom Weakley, the OOIDA

Ten years: casting an ever-wider Net

Ten years ago, OOIDA had 39,000 dues-paying members, and our surveys told us way less than half had access to a computer and a few still thought a mouse was something you caught in a trap. But in the fall of 1997, OOIDA and Land Line Magazine made a major leap into the electronic communications era by launching two new sites on the World Wide Web.We saw it as an investment in our future and

If you build it, they will go

Truckers are used to seeing just about everything happen in passing cars, having the high ground from which to look down on smaller vehicles. Now comes word of a cardboard-and-plastic potty built for cars.Created in Japan – somehow this is not surprising – the transportable throne has a curtain that can be drawn around the user, and a plastic waste collector bag. The toilet folds up when not in

Surviving acronym boot camp

Three weeks ago I came to work at Land Line as a copy editor. Having spent the past two years as a medical editor, grappling with acronyms and technical copy, I was relieved to enter the world of trucking. It would be so much easier to read and understand. Oh, how wrong I was.My first clue was the staff meeting where my new colleagues were talking all about CARB regs. Of course, I thought,

Spy-Eyes

Late last week, there were several hours of concern after a diesel fuel tank truck went missing in the Baltimore area. The tanker was found a few hours after it was hijacked, and simple theft, not terrorism, was given as the reason for the crime.Diesel fuel and a few other fairly common ingredients are used every day to make deadly vehicle bombs in various parts of the world. So the disappearance

Pete would’ve liked these poems

Truckers lost a champion this weekend and Land Line staff lost a pal. Peter “The Silver Fox” Rigney died Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007.I never met Pete face-to-face, but I knew his voice well. For the past couple of years I have been Pete’s contact editor at Land Line Magazine – no, I didn’t coach him on his corrective lenses; I communicated with him about deadlines, column topics, etc. Every few weeks

How does a jetway get to the airport?

By truck, of course.I was on my way to work the other day and saw an oversize with escort car merging from I-24 south onto I-65. I got on the CB and asked if he needed to pull in ahead of me.He didn’t, and was going my way, so we rode along a few miles together. I thought it looked like a jetway and asked, and he confirmed it. I think he said it was bound for Memphis.

Where’s Mimi?

One of the latest videos making its way across the Web is called “Gridlock: Hell on Wheels,” produced by reason.tv and hosted by comedian Drew Carey.Reason.tv is affiliated with the Reason Foundation, a nonprofit group notorious for wholeheartedly supporting privatization and tolling of infrastructure throughout the U.S.On the video, Carey – famous for being the funny guy from Cleveland – talks

There’s no $#%$ in “team”

I was fascinated to read this week that a couple of British researchers have found evidence that cussing at work should be not only allowed, but also encouraged – within moderation, after all, they are Brits – as a way to boost morale and build team spirit.As my Marine buddies would say, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Are these guys just getting to the party?I’m sure there are cuss-free workplaces –

One of the oldest tricks in the book

I’m really getting sick and tired of this dog and pony show staged by the Department of Transportation supposedly to show us how safe “all” Mexican trucks are.Cherry-picking a handful of trucks to operate in the cross-border program no more proves the overall fitness of the Mexican trucking industry than watching the All-Star Game in baseball proves the overall talent of all of the players in

For want of a bungee cord ...

I love those Nationwide Insurance TV ads with the tagline “Life Comes at You Fast,” because the writers are so darned creative in coming up with semi-absurd chains of events, things a previous generation called Rube Goldbergs.Yet, I know all of you have seen things equally absurd and improbable. And unfortunately, you’ve probably been on the receiving end of that chain of cause and effect a few

Security, please

When you hear the word security in the title of a government agency – for example, the Transportation Security Administration – you get the impression they must be experts in the area of security. In this case, you would be wrong.Yesterday, Land Line reported on the theft of two laptops that were stolen from a contractor who was working for TSA. That is a concern in itself, but the fact that

By Jove, I think they’ve got it

As you drive today, know that you are appreciated.The good folks at the Chicago Skyway have been trying to find the best way to thank you, the toll-paying customer, for enduring two years of construction, delays and lane restrictions as they fixed up the road on your dime. And, by Jove, I think they’ve got it.Make sure to stop on your way through the Windy City and get yourself a free coffee or

The nameless

It seems like anytime there is a horrific wreck in the news you read about the young couple with small children who died. You read how their family and friends are devastated. Their lives and accomplishments are recounted.You read all of this, unless, it is a trucker who is killed.Mainstream media coverage often falls short of telling the story consistently. Reporters forget fathers, sons,

Has Bethany McLean spotted another naked emperor?

The Australian bank that is buying up U.S. toll roads continues to be the hot topic of conversation after a recent report in Fortune magazine. Bethany McLean, the award-winning journalist who is credited with being the first to write about the fraud at Enron, chose Macquarie Bank for her subject in Fortune’s Oct. 8 issue.Although there is no suggestion that the Australian giant familiar to

On a sad note

We got the word Thursday morning, Oct. 11, that OOIDA member David “Rusty Nail” Broyles had passed away after a long battle with cancer. It had rapidly spread throughout his body in the past year.Donna “Saddles” Baggett, David’s friend, had let us know and had kept tabs with us in recent months, and had even helped write a poem with David and his girlfriend, Pat.We faced an interesting dilemma

Home – virtually – every weekend

Some trends you just know should be nipped in the bud. That may be the case with the new “Virtual Visiting Robot” from iRobot, the folks who make the Roomba, as well as other domestic cleaning robots and also some nifty automatons for the military.The “Virtual Visiting Robot,” (VVR) also called iRobot ConnectR is described as “a fun new way to see, talk to and interact with your loved ones,

Shades of gray

It’s not winter, so it couldn’t have been a whiteout. It was daytime, so it obviously wasn’t a blackout.I’m not sure if the term “grayout” has a definition that refers to driving, but if it doesn’t, I’m about to give it one.We’ve all driven in the rain and through the mist churned up by other vehicles on the highways.But the best way to describe my trip to work on Monday is by using the term “

Your CARB-O loading diet

I’ve been prolonging this blog entry for some time now.For the past five months, Land Liner Aaron Ladage and I have been training for the Kansas City Marathon on Oct. 20, because if you can’t tempt fate and put yourself one step closer to meeting Jim Fixx, are you really challenging yourself?To the surprise of my family, friends, co-workers, and especially myself, I’ve actually made it to the

Massachusetts governor: Hero or heel?

As we worked through the mid-afternoon of Tuesday, Oct. 2, an exciting news story popped up on the Web by Boston Herald reporter Casey Ross.Insider e-mails indicate that Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has big plans to do away with the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority’s board, consolidate its operations with the Massachusetts Highway Department, and create an uber-transportation agency for all

Garbage is as garbage does

You’ve probably all heard the phrase, “Don’t mess with Texas!” and I’d bet you figured it was some tight-jeaned, high-heel-booted cowpokey country singer who coined the saying. It wasn’t – it was originally part of an anti-litter campaign. It caught on and has become something of a rallying cry for the state – although it’s open to debate whether it helped clean up the roadsides.My adopted home

Mama knows

Land Line’s 2007 Trucking Poetry contest was extraordinary.In a field of more than 500 poems, Elaine Rowley’s work earned an honorable mention from the judges. Elaine, a resident of Fillmore, UT, has been the wife of a trucker for 40 years. She submitted her original poem, “The Magic.”I first read the poem a month ago. The fun of reading poems is to try to crack the meaning or to figure out the

Sweetening the deal

Wearing your seat belt? Great idea. Obeying the speed limit? Even better.But when it comes to staying on the 5-0’s good side, there’s a new secret weapon every self-respecting road warrior needs to keep on hand at all times.Ladies and gentlemen, I present the ultimate in anti-ticket-getting devices. Click here to see for yourself.Be forewarned – this device not intended for use near a cop who

The grim reality of trucking in Mexico

The three bodies found recently about 200 miles south of the U.S. border in Mexico were believed to have been killed by a gang that targets truck drivers just trying to earn a living.The three fell victim to a gang that robs truckers and sometimes kills them. According to The Associated Press, female members of the group posed as prostitutes to get truckers to stop. The other members of the gang

One serious game of chicken

Flu season is approaching and, unless you are allergic to eggs, it’s time to get a flu shot. This makes me wonder whatever happened to bird flu, which if it didn’t kill most of humanity, would definitely imperil an important segment of the trucking industry.I mean, of course, chicken haulers.We eat a lot of chicken – legs, thighs, breasts (can I say that on this blog?) – even gizzards and livers.