During my post-high-school years one of the several jobs I had was as a delivery driver. I started in my senior year of high school driving a 1987 Ford box truck about 120 miles on highways every Saturday morning, but that truck isn’t noteworthy other than the fact that I hated it: 460 cubic inches of heat, noise and no power. No, the ones that left an impression were the ’94-’97 Chevy and GMC box vans that I drove following it, and put several hundred thousand miles on in the years to come.
At the end of the summer following graduation, the company I was driving for was about to move into a new warehouse facility sixty five miles away. I knew going into it that I’d be spending most of the weekend driving loads in the company trucks back and forth, but I was fearing spending a August weekend in Nebraska driving those @!#!@# Fords. Much to my surprise they had just bought a new leftover ’94 GMC 3500 box truck, and that would be my steed for the weekend. Fresh and new they decided it would carry the first and heaviest load – four pallets of solution. You know, water. My instructions were pretty simple: “don’t stop at the weigh station”.
First observations were mixed mainly due to the fact that it was insanely overloaded with a shifting load, and that it had a non-Vortec 350 to get me up the rolling hills to the offsite warehouse. While the drive there was a bit white knuckle, and I’m sure I left dents in the floorboard trying to coax it up the hills, it made it without scorching my legs or making me deaf like the Fords. On the drive back, and on subsequent trips that weekend with more reasonable loads I appreciated it more and more as it definitely drove much easier and quieter than the Fords with a much better ride.
A year later the shenanigans began, as they say. I’d started working more routes and at the same time one of the old Fords was sent to live at the new warehouse, and the other old Ford was retired in favor of a then brand new ’97 Chevy 3500 box truck. I picked up a route that involved a loop through Kansas on Fridays, and in turn given the ’97 Chevy. It was definitely a step up from the ’94 with the new Vortec 350, AC and.. a skylight roof in the box!
I admit it, I stopped and napped once back here.
I quickly learned some things about the Kansas route. It was all rural highways that had very little to no traffic, and as such you could… make rather good time on them. Where the old guy would take ten to eleven hours to do the route, I’d get it done in seven to eight as it was Friday, after all! Even with a large box truck full to the brim, the Chevy 350s had no problem maintaining just enough over the limit to avoid the rural pokey if the law was to appear; Kansas had a speed limit of sixty to sixty five on most of the roads I took at the time.
In the summers it was hot, dusty, and windy so the ’97 was my favorite – but it was the favorite of the local in-city driver too, so without the benefit of seniority more often than not I had the AC-less ’94. In the winter I vastly preferred the ’94 as the stock tires had been replaced with all-terrain ones and it always got me home even through the various freak snowstorms on rural highways.
During that time I also learned how to work hard. After three semesters at the age of nineteen I decided I knew it all, and quit college to work more. At twenty years old I was working three jobs – during the day as a delivery driver in the big GM’s, in the late afternoon as a courier in the mighty CRX, and then in the evenings as a bouncer at a local rock club that doubled as a “gentlemen’s club”. Suffice to say, during those years I put a LOT of miles on vehicles and spent a lot of hours in the driver seat mostly alone. Prior to smartphones, and not being able to afford many calls on my nineties-era Motorola, I had to find something to do to occupy my time.
Many of those hours in the seat of the big GM’s were spent daydreaming, or even talking out loud. With only an AM/FM radio that for most of the route got two stations – country and western – you had to do something to keep sane other than count corn rows. Those were going by way too fast anyway… only slightly above the legal limit, of course! I also mused about various differences between the two trucks, one most notably was the interior. In the ’94 it looked like someone at GM had literally used toothpicks for the gauge needles, and the doors had steel inner panels.
It was a crash course in really learning how to drive, too. To this day I get out of the left lane of the interstate as fast as I can, as I can’t tell you how many times my blood would boil on my Wednesday route – which took me out to Western Nebraska – stuck behind a RV going one or two MPH faster than the semi they were trying to pass… or maybe they just stayed there. I always felt a little bad for the semi drivers, where I generally had no problem in either truck holding seventy five(..ish) those guys seemed terminally stuck in the slow lane.
I learned to scan ahead for problems – stopping something that big full of cargo going seventy five miles per hour was much more challenging than getting it there in the first place – as well as being keenly aware of the vehicles around me. As a general rule I would, and even to this day, try to know the make and model of the two vehicles in front and behind me at all times.
While the Western Nebraska and North Nebraska routes went the fastest thanks to more lanes and/or Interstates – I always preferred the Kansas route in the old ’94. Over time I came to appreciate the solace of the route, and the simplicity of the truck I took. No navigation systems, smartphones, bluetooth, pandora, rdio, or text messages to distract me, and heck for most of the route not even a decent radio station. Just the wind whipping through the windows in the summer and the smells of rural America coupled with the stories in my own head to keep me busy.
On Fridays my days would start just before six A.M., and end sometime around one thirty A.M. Saturday with only a little dinner break in there somewhere. Somehow I still found the energy to go out after work on Saturday so it wasn’t uncommon for me to pull almost a twenty-four hour day. Work hard, play harder.. right?
Eventually all the hours and driving caught up to me so shortly before I turned twenty two I decided to find maybe just one full time job and work back towards getting into school again. Between driving the big GM’s, my courier route in the CRX, and then driving literally across town to the bar I figured I was driving easily over two to three thousand miles a week (six hundred of those on Friday alone between the three jobs) so I was ready to take a break from driving so much.
As luck would have, or so I thought, I stopped in to a local c-store on my way out to the Kansas route one morning and got talking to the guy behind the counter who mentioned he was quitting as the overnight shift person. A couple weeks later it would be the last time I ran “the Friday marathon” with a single full time job making up seventy percent of my previous income without all the stress of juggling three jobs. It really was bittersweet running that route and going to the bar for the last time. At the time I thought it would be relief as I jumped up and pulled the cargo door down the last time.
Yet it really wasn’t. What I’ve found since then is that I miss the freedom of the open road and what you find along it. Where my Galaxie started a hankering for the open road, this job made it a lifelong thing. Freedom was endless when I was on route, I didn’t ever have a boss looking over my shoulder or people to bother me as long as my route got done in a reasonable time without any customer complaints, they didn’t care what I did. Stopping for a long lunch on a day when I was running ahead of schedule in some little town cafe in rural Kansas was the norm, not the exception, and something I rapidly realized I had taken for granted.
I had gone from three of the best bosses I’ve ever had and the freedom of the open road to overnight solitary in a gas station three miles from my house. For a bit I held on to the courier job with the CRX, but soon I decided to just let go of both of them and move on completely. I missed the trucks, and honestly after driving them for so long it just felt weird driving the little Honda, not to mention the fact that I hated the thing. So with ideas in mind I moved on, but to this day I miss those days on the open road in the big GM’s that never once let me down or had anything so much as a hiccup despite the hundreds of thousands of hard miles they rapidly accumulated.
I drove for a courier service (cars and vans) when I was 19. It was in many ways the best job I ever had, for the reason you give: freedom. Sure, I had things to deliver. But as long as I got there about when expected, the rest was fully up to me. This was long enough ago that all of these vehicles had just AM radio, so I tuned it to the Great Big 89, WLS, which was still playing Top 40 then. I rolled down the windows and enjoyed the road. It was wonderful.
I always like to listen to AM580 Great Oldies in Detroit when drive my low specific Volare with AM only radio. And they play Frank Mills Music Box Dancer every few weeks, and Michael Jackson’s Ben
I agree completely. In the summers to this day I miss the open road when the wind starts blowing, and it gets hot outside. All I can remember at times are nothing but pavement in front of me, corn fields around me, and no phone constantly beeping with someone wanting something.
Man, that was the life.
It’s amazing how similar entirely different experiences can be. I left the law firm I worked for a couple years ago, and set up my own here in OK. I’m making 75% what I made previously, but I’m working maybe 1/3 the hours.
My absolute favorite part though, as you said, is setting your own schedule. I take a lot of cases in rural areas now to fill up business, so a “busy day” for me now is: Drive 90 minutes to a small town county seat, check out interesting old courthouse, go to court for 10 minutes to 1 hour maximum, have lunch at local diner, drive home. I take 2 lane roads everywhere to avoid tolls, load my phone up with humorous podcasts, and just enjoy my day.
Somewhat amusingly, that’s kind of where I’m at today. I could double my salary in a heartbeat, but it would require giving up one of the best jobs I’ve ever had working for one of the best bosses I’ve ever had. Sure, it’s nothing like the open road – but my current job does allow a great amount of freedom that I’ve come to appreciate.
I keep telling my friends, sometimes it’s about a LOT more than the money. Granted, there are days I wouldn’t mind the money.. but hey!
I’ve spent months loading tractor trailers full of snack food or other warehouse jobs for 40 hours a week, but I cannot imagine working the long hours you describe or working multiple jobs like you did. While not that comparable to box trucks I do agree that 15 passenger late model Chevy Expresses are more comfortable than similar vintage Econolines.
I honestly don’t know what I was thinking back then. Current me wants to smack old me upside the head and tell him to suck it up through college then actually get paid.
Then again, those jobs gave me a ton of life experience. And also made me not bitch so much when things do get rough nowadays 🙂
Thanks, truck CCs always got my full attention, regardless the truck’s age and size. Keep them coming ! Great story and pictures.
I’m quite familiar with US pickup trucks and class 8 trucks, certainly the older ones, but I know almost nothing about this kind of “inbetween” US trucks.
A while ago I came across this Chevrolet Kodiak C8500 owned by a Dutch company. I believe it’s the only one in Europe. Power (300 hp) comes from a 7.8 liter Isuzu 6H diesel engine, the transmission is a 6 speed Allison automatic. GVW 36,000 kg / 79,400 lbs. That’s class 8 territory in the US, correct me if I’m wrong.
This truck was imported straight from Detroit. Is this the biggest truck model wearing the Chevrolet badge these days ?
More (and bigger) pictures on the website of the proud owner:
http://www.themmen.nl/actueel/chevrolet-kodiak-c8500-voor-themmen-heftrucks-ferwert/
The Kodiak was kind of a weird truck in that it was really too small to do big duties and too big to use as a inner city vehicle. I have scoured GM’s website and they appear to be totally out of the commercial truck business with the exception of their ancient van. A quick look at Wikipedia tells that the last ones were from 2009.
I saw one on the road a while ago, with an 8.1 litre gas engine, a sparkling clean three yard dump box on it and all pretty as can be, its rich guy owner driving it to his Clampett Mansion in West Vancouver. I mean, when you are rich, you get to have a real dump truck to drive to Starbucks for your latte.
Obviously, a three yard box isn’t worth it since a real five ton dump (if there is anything that small around) isn’t going to cost much more and will double your payload for only a small increase in cost. Probably that’s why GM is not doing trucks anymore.
Did not realize the GMC Topkick was too small to do big duties so thanks for the info. I figured they were as tough or tougher than International’s Star line. I am waiting to see what U-Haul replaces their Kodiaks and Topkicks with.
The transportation business is squeezed like crazy for margins. One of my interests is in waste management and we have found for most duty, you either need to be big or small. In an urban setting with small pick-ups, a regular van makes sense as it goes in regular parking spaces.
For rural area, five tons are required, and we buy Hino 338’s brand new. Since 2012, they are DEF and the run much better than before. The 15,000 kg allows a large box, since we ship bulk that isn’t that heavy. They run about C$80,000 all in, including the box. Each load grosses us $25,000, and we can do several loads a week with them. They are easy to drive, since they have hydraulic brakes and they are automatic, so no teaching problems. The cabs are comfortable and this cuts down on WCB claims.
We have a fleet of these trucks and the work very well. The plus is they rarely have an unscheduled stop, the cost per tonne/km on them is high since they are good on fuel and have a good payload. The brakes last a lot longer than drums did and the engine makes loads of torque, so it can be run in BC without scaring anyone.
The downside is dealer only maintenance. You’d be nuts-ola to let Homer from Hanna AB wrench on your Hino, so it’s the Hino centre. It’s not cheap but it is thorough, with a comprehensive manual for every service visit. Again, not cheap but the upside is there is rarely, if every, any unscheduled downtime since wearables get replaced on schedule.
As for Navistar, I hope they were better than the old IH Five tonners, they were fuel hogs and broke down an awful lot. We are not about to beta test them when we like Hino. Once you know a vehicle in your fleet, it is very hard to change.
Sounds like a Hino is not something you buy used if you want to work on it yourself or have your local mechanic (under a shade tree) work on it. I imagine it cannot be much harder than a Saab to work on since I hear Japanese vehicles are easy to wrench, but what do I know.
Teddy, the haulage business is hyper-competitive. There simply isn’t time to wrench on machinery and make money. It is in fact much cheaper to pay an expert on a regularly scheduled maintenance stop. The resultant loss in downtime is far cheaper than trying to use shade-tree mechanics, who do not have access to manuals, TSB’s, recalls, upgrades, etc.
Most farm/excavation machinery has qualified service techs as part the lease payment, or your service plan.
Japanese stuff is very well built, you don’t have problems with stripped fasteners and the like but I know that I can count on a Hino having a four to eight hour maintenance stop once a month, depending on the service required.
Old Hino Ranger cabovers had the coolest badge – if I ever live somewhere with a garage, I’m definitely getting one for the wall:
That Hino badge reminds me of the old DAF leaf spring badge (my avatar) on their trucks of yore. Seems like they both had the same idea more or less.
That would be considered a Class 8 truck, the tip off it is model designation starting with 8. That series of truck represents the last of the class 8 trucks from an “automobile manufacturer”. GM has since left the MD truck business, they tried to sell the business but there were not takers so they just exited.
Those are interesting trucks because for what ever reason instead of using the pickup cab as had been the norm that cab is derived from the same cab as the subject of this article.
When Ford sold their HD truck business to Mercedes the agreement called for Ford not to produce a class 8 truck. That meant the F850 went away. Ford is now the only automobile mfg with a significant line up of MD trucks, the F450, 550, 650 and 750. The 650 and 750 were for a number of years a joint venture with Navistar and the two trucks share the same basic chassis with the mfgs own cab and engine choices though for much of the time they even shared engines. The joint venture had a time limit and Ford will be producing the next F650 and 750 in house once again.
Thank you guys for all the extra info.
I found more details about this 2008 C8500. The engine choice was between a Caterpillar C7 and the Isuzu engine I mentioned. The owner was told that the fuel mileage of the Isuzu was (much) better than the Cat’s mileage. I also like the picture of the owner sitting behind the wheel. I would have guessed he’s in a big pickup truck, not in a 36,000 kg rig. Looks nice and comfortable though !
Never mind the text, it’s all about the pictures:
http://www.truckblog.nl/reportages/chevrolet-kodiak-mark-themmen/
Like Canuck mentioned, you could get a white trash millionaire version of the Kodiak/TopKick for a time, just like the International CXT. I say that disparagingly, but I also think it would be pretty awesome to see what one could do off-road. Just don’t make me pay for the gas!
Sounds just like the Unimog Brabus U500 Black Edition.
!!!!!
I think the best part of these cube vans and “inbetween” trucks is how easy they were/are to drive in comparison to even the Kodiak. Often I’m sure I’d be well over the GVWR of it – but you really couldn’t tell. The one time I could tell was when the back was loaded with solution on the ’94, but otherwise they drove about the same loaded to the brim as they did unloaded – just a little bit slower.
And they were easy to maneuver. I loved just whipping backwards into a loading dock while watching the bigger class truck drivers working the wheel trying to get in. I could get in and out faster, and into more places than a bigger truck.
Essentially – they were like driving a wider van. You did have to take some care when loaded not to get too nuts, but otherwise it was an easy and comfortable drive.
I have driven a lot of commercial stuff, and your take on the GM cubes is right on: the are a lot more comfortable to drive that the Ford. The swing-axle front end of the Ford always made driving in hilly, twisty country a bit of an experience, especially when they were loaded.
The GM vans have great drivetrains, although the brakes, like most American stuff, are not up to snuff for the conditions here. Where the GM stuff really goes wrong is anything other than driveline: things like door hinges, seat adjusters, window regulators, door latches, hood latch cables, master cylinders (but never ABS controllers, I am sure their lawyers made sure of that) mirrors, anything inside the vehicle really. This stuff costs a fortune to replace since it is so time intensive. Replacing a beat up seat is a much bigger undertaking than one might think. I mean, somebody has to take the seat out, drive it to the upholstery shop, drive back, and then wait a few days to get it finished. In the meanwhile, you’ll either have no truck or a very unhappy driver who is sitting in a replacement seat. This stuff drives you nuts in a business. Fords and Dodges are much better in this respect than GM stuff.
I got a chance to mess around with a 99 Silverado, Even though much smaller and more for personal use, the hood cable broke plus the adjuster for the front seat. Took me quite a while to move back further bit for my friend to squeeze in.
Cable is never fixed and he drove with hood open( after spending $350 opening it in an Arabic mechanic shop) for the rest of the year, until the next user unknowingly shut it.
Oh those seats did start cracking like crazy after a couple of years but hey – that’s what cheap truck stop seat covers are for! Twenty bucks and you have yourself one seriously fine looking seat, and no more burned legs on hot summer days to boot!
And, granted, a few years later even the seat covers couldn’t do a whole lot…. 🙂
Nice article, I can relate as I put a few hundred thousand kilometers on my fathers 91 diesel ford cube van ( as we call em in Canada). It was mostly in town deliveries of cabinets and mill work. But about once a month or so I would get to do deliveries in the mountains around Banff Ab. I loved the freedom and the views on those trips and like you always tried to plan a nice place to have a break for lunch or coffee if I had the time. Just recently got to go out on a delivery with the new shop I work at now. It wasn’t as fun as I remember as the 20ish coworker I was with hasn’t figured out how to pace himself and it was all rush rush as he kept hogging the left lane and playing on his phone. Kids these days…
Man, to go up to Banff?? That’s a heck of an upgrade from my Kansas route. If I was up there, I’d have a lot more things to worry about than my phone, that kid would definitely need to get off my lawn proverbially…
I will take heat, noise, and no power any day over GM stuff. I bet those Fords are still being used, somewhere…
A superbly written article. I really felt it.
I own a 1997 Ford E-350 15′ box truck. It has the 5.4L Triton, and the E40D (Though, it was renamed to something else). After one of it’s many breakdowns, I borrowed a 1993 GMC 3500 14′ truck from a friend.
The GMC had the 350 (TBI), and the 4 Speed auto. The GMC drove way better than the Ford, had just as much power, and returned 2-3 MPG more than the Ford.
The Ford drives like garbage, can’t go up hills, is impossible to work on, and burns through a tanker of fuel every day.
The E350 is being sold right now after it’s last breakdown. I never made more than 300 miles on it, without something breaking.
Between that truck and my 1995 F-150 (300/M5OD), I am now a GM guy. I started life as a Ford man, but enough is enough.
The GM is a far better truck. I do think the Fords had a better interior from 1992-1996, but that’s not enough of a reason to buy one.
I need a truck that will work. That’s why I’ll have the GM.
What’s interesting is that same company, who I still do IT work for, now has new Fords. I drove one of the E-350 box vans and it was a night and day difference from the old GM’s – rode rough, was loud and rattly, and definitely wasn’t what I expected. It reminded me directly of the ancient 80’s Fords that they had.
That said, I can’t fault Ford pickups too much. For whatever reason, I love the things despite all their faults – but that’s another story that will start next week…
Another guy who did some delivery driving earlier in life. Like others, I really enjoyed it. Smaller 3/4 ton vans, mostly. The Chevys were the older kind, which I grew to hate. These must be much better drivers.
They were almost shockingly good, especially compared to the Fords. I liked the ’94 best because it was a little rough around the edges, but the ’97 was downright refined. Nice, smooth ride and it was almost quiet in the cab, and that AC was a nice addition. They always surprised me, in good ways, at how good they were.
Since I had a commercial driver’s license in the 70’s, I could occasionally extricate myself from my monotonous factory job to make a pick up or delivery in an ancient GMC stakebed truck. Even with no A/C in the Texas heat and no radio, I enjoyed my few hours of freedom from the mind-numbing work inside that factory/warehouse Hellhole.
I think they finally gave up on having me in the warehouse itself as when I was there I was miserable – and pretty much let everyone else know it. When I was in the trucks, though, I was just fine and did all I could to make sure I was always on time or early. Never wanted to go back into the warehouse…
If you painted the truck in the picture (google images) rust brown with rattle cans it would look just like the 78 model I had. One ton with duallies and an overhead door. I filled it with tools and parts and my dispatcher kept me and a helper covering ground all day. It paid for itself very early despite making miserable gas mileage (about 10-11 mpg was the best). Not bad though for essentially being a seven cylinder 350/350 drive train. The only time I remember it breaking on me was when I overloaded it with oak firewood and had a flat on the highway. One jack wouldn’t get it off the ground.
I finally pretty much collapsed the front by overloading it with firewood. Had I just done AC/Heating and Chimney Sweep jobs with it I don’t see how I could have broken it. Because of economy alone I preferred the stretch Ford with the 300 six (which did break). I can think of nothing I have done for a living that I could not have done in that truck with one exception. I couldn’t have passed a gas station.
LOL – the newer ones were definitely better on fuel, but I never really did track it. I know I could top it off in Lincoln before leaving, and not have to fill until I was on the my route back – basically around the Nebraska border. It was around a 30 gallon tank, so all in all not bad – they definitely never left me stranded, and the several times I forgot a gas card I could make it back to Lincoln – but probably literally on fumes.
I’ve got a love song to sing about the Ford 300 six, but that will be for another week..
The 2003-2009 GM Topkick and Kodiak medium duty trucks were indeed a bit unusual. The cab was made from components sourced from GM’s full size vans. This was a great idea for the class 6 through 8 models as the result was a cab comparable in size to those used by International and Freightliner, however the cab was too large for the class 4 and 5 models that competed with various Ford and Ram trucks. Another issue was the slightly scaled down straight rail chassis used on the 4500 models was quite heavy, and though the GVW was comparable to a Ford F-450, the unladen weight was significantly more. The result was a very durable truck with a low payload! The Topkick and Kodiak were available in tandem axle class 8 versions, but were intended more for construction/vocational applications rather than over-the-road work. GM is not currently active in the medium duty truck market, but word is they may return to it in the not too distant future.
I’m surprised they don’t at least get back into the lower end of the MD market, Class 4-5. If they used the pickup cab they could run them on the same lines as the pickups and it wouldn’t be that large of an investment for the chassis.
I don’t know why GM doesn’t make Medium-Duty stuff anymore, either.
Even Dodge has enough money to come up with a RAM 4500 and 5500.
Simple: they weren’t making money on it.
Here’s a GM medium-duty truck. An Opel Movano.
Rumor is that they will make something like the TopKick style trucks again, they used to also offer the Isuzu based Tilt-Cab trucks badged as Chevrolet/GMC models, but I’m not sure they are offering them still.
The Isuzu/GM truck deal came apart with the bankruptcy. GM was assembling trucks for Isuzu right along with their own rebadged versions, now the diesel Isuzu’s you see here are imports while the gas engined versions (still using GM powertrains) are assembled by Spartan Motors (fire apparatus and crane chassis). GM is slowly getting back together with Isuzu, I wouldn’t be surprised if it eventually leeds to commercial trucks again.
Interesting. It has been a long time since vehicles like this have been sold without a diesel engine in Australia, and the only vehicle in this class with a hood would be a Mercedes Sprinter or Iveco Daily. The more popular version is the Isuzu/Hino/Mitsubishi cabover truck.
I always wanted the company to purchase a diesel, especially on those days where I’d be loaded to the brim and really have to flog the old 350’s. Granted, I’m sure I’d have to flog a diesel too – but they likely could have saved a ton of money over the years on fuel costs by going diesel.
Wow, great writing – I had lots of jobs like this when I was younger and I really miss all of them. All that time alone forces you to think, and you see how massive the world is; plus you meet all sorts of different people in different places and come to realize they’re basically all the same. It definitely requires a certain personality and being OK alone with your thoughts for long stretches (a nightmare for many), but personally I never felt as comfortable as I did with the wheels moving under my feet. My parents told me the only way I’d ever get to sleep as a baby was if they took me out in the car, so I guess that’s just programmed into me. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I’d get in my car and drive down to Argentina.
It definitely spurred a serious case of wanderlust in me, that still lasts to this day. I always prefer driving when I can, and prefer the less-traveled path. Give me a vehicle and a open road – I’ll show you my happy face.
I’m a bit late with this, but I wanted you to know how much I enjoyed this. Given that I spent a lot of time in my younger days on the road, in a similar part of the country for some years, and both for pleasure and sometimes for work, I can totally relate to your strong feelings.
It’s hard to replicate perfectly anymore, because the world changes, but I still am very happy to be behind the wheel with nothing but the wind in my face and alone with my feelings.
Thanks for a very well written story that really resonated with me.
“Over time I came to appreciate the solace of the route, and the simplicity of the truck I took. No navigation systems, smartphones, bluetooth, pandora, rdio, or text messages to distract me, and heck for most of the route not even a decent radio station. Just the wind whipping through the windows in the summer and the smells of rural America coupled with the stories in my own head to keep me busy.”
This.
While I never had a driving job, we did move a lot growing up, so U-Haul’s 18′ vans were a regular part of life. I kind of felt let down when they retired all the “armstrong steering” manual transmission trucks.
These days, I’m doing a lot of trips from the Middle West down to Georgia where my Dad is slowing succumbing to Dementia. It’s not uncommon for me to make the whole trip without turning the radio on at all (which would be playing tunes off my iPhone anyway). I’ve just gotten to the point where I enjoy the drive.
I’m also really late here. I was reminded of the several months I spent as a parts runner and general helper for a construction equipment dealer in south Seattle. The vehicle I used was an almost new red 1957 International short-box half-ton pickup, six, 3-speed whose optional equipment list consisted of a roof-mounted AM radio. I learned all the back ways around Seattle; the quickest way to get to and from Carco in Renton, where to look for parking when I was dropping off packages at “South Stage”, the little Greyhound bus station that was close to Pioneer Square – thank heaven for truck load zones. A lot of our customers were in remote areas of the state where the bus service was better than the post office offered, especially for heavy packages of tractor parts. I dropped off parts at places on the docks – probably for shipment to Alaska. I made a daily post office run to the Terminal Annex post office; all the packages were prepaid so I would just back up to the loading dock and send them down the chute onto a conveyor belt. I met all sorts of interesting people and had a good time for the most part, but I finally decided that I should get back to college and complete my degree in chemistry.
Thanks for your well-written story; I hadn’t thought about that job in a long time.