An appreciation of the hard work that a bead-show truck driver does:

COLORADO: Had an exciting day yesterday! Had a fire in the cab!
The sound system amp under the driver’s seat caught fire. Cab filled up quickly with smoke. Lynn managed to pull over to shoulder even though he could barely see and smother it (barely any flames — just lots of smoke and heat).

TAMPA: While the boys were loading in a downpour there was a lightning strike that hit the parking lot about 20 feet away — very loud!

FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT:

(our truck driver even finds time to write poetry to us)

Well,
Here’s to the folks in the warehouse,
for quickly preparing my load.
They don’t make me wait, to load up my freight,
so I can get back on the road.

And,
Here’s to the crew at the weigh station,
for watching, and waving me through.
We talk bad about ’em, but can’t do without ’em.
They’ve got a job to do too.

And,
Here’s to the waitress, back there at the truck stop,
who smiles and calls everyone “Hun”.
Her name tag sez “Thelma” or “Noreen” or “Velma”.
She’s worked there since ’71.

Yeah,
Here’s to the people I’ve met on the road,
and all the great people I’ve known.
But most of all, here’s to the ones that I left,
Here’s to the folks back at home.

And here’s thanks to our truck driver for safely escorting 5 tons of beads across the country…several times a year!

PS: credit should go to trucker poet J. T. Huffaker 🙂