Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs Part 11

Dude, if you've been ripped off by a

hooker you don't call the cops.

LONG-HAUL TRUCK DRIVERS.

Darlene and Mike Yockey.

D: I got the bug as a child, they say. My dad drove a truck when I was a baby. And I've just always wanted to drive. But if you have kids at home, you shouldn't be on the road. You miss out on 'em. You know?

M: 'Cause you're gone all the time, weeks at a time.

D: It's just priorities. So we raised our daughter first. We didn't start until she was grown and left.

M: I was driving dump trucks and stuff. I'd done other things, I used to work construction, but-I always had a natural talent for driving- D: You did.

M: And it's like, at the time we did it we wanted a change in our lives. You know? So we thought, well, let's drive the big ones. Let's see the country. We can make good money at it. So we both tested. And both pa.s.sed. And it was like-cool! [Laughs]

D: We've been a husband and wife team for about ten years.

M: First job we had, we went down to Denver- D: [Laughs] We went down there because they promised we'd be a team. Then they tried to split us up, so we got in a big fight with the main-well, what do you call him? Dispatcher?

M: Skip. [Laughs] I mean, don't mention any names. Like Skip.

D: Yeah. [Laughs] He got p.i.s.sed off because his boss took our side. Said he had to keep us a team. So as a punishment he stuck us with this solo bunk spring ride cab-over. Had a little teeny bunk in it. [Laughs]

M: He gave us the oldest truck they had. He was p.i.s.sed.

D: If we both had to sleep at the same time, I would have to lie sideways up against the back wall, and then he would lie behind me with his b.u.t.t hanging out onto the doghouse.

M: That was when we were starting out. We looked long and hard to find the right company. The one we have now is Specialized Transport Services. It's our fifth company. But they're great. Our main bulk is airplane parts for Boeing, from Seattle to Wichita, but we run forty-eight states and Canada. Our boss is great. He really cares about his drivers.

D: We got a new truck, too. We got a Freightliner Condo- M: Yeah. Century Cla.s.s. It's a year 2000. It's only got about-well, we've got sixty thousand miles on it now. But we turn 'em in about every three to four years. 'Cause, you know, we do about two hundred and fifty thousand miles a year. Two-twenty-five to two-fifty.

D: Which isn't that bad when you're splitting it up.

M: No. It's not. And she and I run things pretty fifty-fifty. We split all the work. I mean, if you're a team that's how it's supposed to be. Some of the husband/wife teams-the husband just takes over. The guy's been out here for twenty years- D: And the wife was home raising the kids and making babies.

M: -and then she decides to come out on the truck and she's like an extra log book.

D: He won't-they won't train them. They won't let their wives do anything. If they hit bad weather, it's like, "Honey, you just wake me up and I'll drive." Well, how is she supposed to learn to drive bad weather if he's not letting her try it?

M: Let him sleep. Why are you waking him up? You know?

D: If he's asleep he don't know no different. You can't learn how to run rough weather if you never try.

M: With me and Dar, if she's in bad weather, she runs it. [Laughs] And she always used to hit the bad weather. She had the worst luck.

D: I did.

M: But she loves it, so it's not a big deal.

D: It's an adrenaline rush. Bad weather. He says that I'm- M: -an adrenaline junkie. It's true.

D: I love it. I had a driver tell me one time-we were talking about ice, and I told him I wasn't afraid of it. And he said, "Well, if you're not afraid of it, you shouldn't be out here." And I said, "No, that's not right." I says, "I respect it." If I was afraid of it, I'm gonna be white knucklin' that steering wheel. I'm gonna make these jerky little movements, and I'm gonna do something stupid. I gotta be loose when I'm driving ice. If I catch myself starting to whiten up on the wheel, I tell myself to take a deep breath and loosen my hands up- M: Loosen your hands up. [Laughs]

D: He's laughing at me because I'll keep a munchie up on the dash, and if I'm driving ice and it's windy, if I can reach up on that dash and get my munchie, a potato chip or whatever, you know, that means I'm calm. And I do so much better.

M: [Laughs] You know, I used to complain about her when we were first out here, because she's kind of a lead foot. Or she was. She's mellowed out-but she used to run with the big dogs.

D: Oh, I'd get out there- M: The old hands used to take speed and race everywhere they went. I mean, you know, they'd stay up twentyfour hours, run-you know, they'd run together in like a convoy.

D: A convoy. In a convoy.

M: And she'd run with the big boys out there, and if someone was running eighty-five miles an hour that's where she'd like to be setting- D: [Laughs] I didn't like anybody pa.s.sin' me, blowing up snow on me- M: -she used to scare me. It was like, "Dar, you know, don't let them push you."

D: I've never wrecked. I've jackknifed. I have jackknifed a few times. But I've always pulled it out of the jackknife.

M: It's true. Pulled it out. Yeah, well, you're just-you're talented.

D: [Laughs]

M: You know, our friends are always saying-they always wonder, "How can you stand being together twentyfour hours a day?"

D: 'Cause we're together twenty-four/seven.

M: But we're really not. I mean, she's driving ten while I'm sleeping, and I'm driving ten while she's sleeping, you know? There's a lot of time just watching the other sleep. [Laughs] Then we get a couple of hours a day to sit and bulls.h.i.+t and talk while we're eating.

D: We're good friends.

M: We always have been. And everything's always been fifty-fifty, and I definitely think that's what makes the difference. You know, when it comes to chaining tires- D: Oh, chaining, that's always lots of fun.

M: I think I've only chained by myself twice, and that's just because she happened to be real tired, and I didn't want to wake her up.

D: We've got it down like timing. Whoever's sleeping- M: You just tell 'em, "Hey, get up, we gotta chain." And you both do it together. And it's like-it's neat. 'Cause you know, when there's a big storm-those are some of the best times out here. You know, running in the Northwest, we see a lot of 'em. There are certain areas-Baker City, coming outta Baker City. Ladd Canyon.

D: Snoquamie. Cabbage Mountain. You get up on Cabbage, and there's, like, eight inches of snow, coming down really heavy. And it gets quiet out there. Soft and quiet.

M: And you're out there, walkin' around in deep snow, and you get all the chains all nice and tight. And you get rollin' down the road and it's kinda like a- D: You just hear this soft little- M: Kind of like a jingle bells.

D: -almost like a sleigh and horse, you know.

M: Like Christmas.

D: Just, ching, ching, ching, ching, ching. Oh, it's neat. [Laughs] And we roll the windows down and just sing along with it.

M: Like if it's around Christmas, we'll make up stuff. Christmas truck drivin' songs.

D: You just kind of change the lyrics a little. [Laughs]

M: I think that's the most fun out here that we have, is the different storms around you. Because some of them are so beautiful and intense- D: Like the lightning storms. Or the tornadoes, you know. And those intense rainstorms that you get, like down in Oklahoma where the rain is running so heavy the road is literally a river. It's just- M: An inch or two thick, you know, right over the road. Lightning everywhere. We came through Iowa one time, comin' outta Chicago into Des Moines and there was like- D: Tornadoes touching down everywhere. [Laughs]

M: -all over. There was like five reported touchdowns. And we're headed right for it. We can see it like a big wall. Just like a-what would you call it?

D: A bomb- M: Bombing run.

D: It was like a bomb run.

M: Just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Lightning just constantly.

D: And then lightning hits right in front of me.

M: -right in front of the truck.

D: I'm driving, and it hits like-I mean, five feet in front of the truck, this lightning bolt hits.

M: She couldn't see. It was just like, boop.

D: It seared my eyes. It took three days before I could see anything except that lightning bolt. [Laughs] He had to help guide me.

M: It's intense. There's all kinds of stuff. You wouldn't believe. Blizzards. Wyoming Whiteouts. Where you can't even see the hood ornament.

D: Oh G.o.d. It's-you know-you gotta take it in stride. And then it's okay.

M: You got to take everything in stride.

D: You know, actually, one of the things I like about-when it gets so bad that they shut the road down you wouldn't believe the camaraderie that you get in these truck stops. M: Yeah. [Laughs] Everybody comes in and tells their lies and- D: We all sit inside the truck stop and they all tell their worst storm lies.

M: And drivers are some of the best bulls.h.i.+tters, man. [Laughs] It always seems like there's always some young kid that's done more, bigger loads- D: He'll be twenty-five years old and he's driven truck for ten years.

M: Cussed out more cops, you know? [Laughs] And she'll call 'em. She'll say, "Oh, you're bulls.h.i.+tting. That is a total bulls.h.i.+t story."

D: [Laughs] I can't help myself.

M: Yeah, she's always- D: A truth detector. [Laughs] It's a whole world out there in the truck stops. You got lot lizards- M: You know what a lot lizard is?

D: They're the equivalent of prost.i.tutes in the trucking industry. They hang out at truck stops. They'll come up in the middle of the night and knock on your truck. M: Two in the morning. It's surprisin' that- D: Like, "Would you like company?" It's surprisin' how many drivers let them in.

M: And they'll get into the truck, get the guy's whatever, you know. And they'll grab their wallet and jump outta the truck. [Laughs] That's a regular thing for the hookers to do. I saw a guy once without his pants on, this guy-chasin' this lot lizard, chasin' her across the parking lot. And then he comes back to his truck and he locked himself out. So he's standin' outside his truck in his underwear tryin' to get-[laughs]-his truck back open. [Laughs] There's some good stories. Jennifer- what was her name?

D: Jennifer b.u.t.terfly. [Laughs]

M: This guy got ripped off by her down in Stockton, and he calls the cops. It's like, dude, if you've been ripped off by a hooker you don't call the cops-[laughs]- because you shouldn't have had her in your truck to begin with. You know? The whole thing is illegal. It's just crazy.

D: Then you've got gay rest areas. Isn't there still that one at Johnson's Corner? Johnson's Corner, Colorado.

M: No bathrooms, no building, nothing. Big parking area. You pull in there, and all these guys start gettin' outta their little cars and pickups and smilin' at ya. Standin' next to their trucks and it's like, whoa, time to get outta here, you know? But whatever, you know? Whatever. It's just a lot-people always say the camaraderie isn't- D: Yeah, that the camaraderie is not still out here. And that's not true. It is. You know, I mean, we've found it numerous times and we've been there for other drivers. There's good people out here. Lots of good people. It's a good life. It's not a vacation. It's not sight-seeing. But it's a good life.

M: You don't really see the country.

D: [Laughs] Which we thought, when we started. You know? We'll see the country. [Laughs] That's what everybody thinks. And you do get to see it, but you're seeing it at seventy miles an hour. You know? You get to drive by a lot of neat places. But the key words there are "drive by." Like I said, we've been out here ten years. We've seen Disneyland a couple of times, Disney World. Carlsbad Caverns. We had an extra day on that run. That's not much for ten years. We've driven across the Hoover Dam numerous times.

M: Numerous times.

D: Have yet to stop and take the tour. [Laughs]

M: It takes a certain kind of person to be out here, to wake up every day somewhere different and not know where you're gonna go or what you're gonna be doing or when you're gonna get home again.

D: It's a lifestyle. You know, like with us- M: We just kinda roll with it.

D: But it's just-it's great. The whole thing is great. Trucking has been very, very good to us.

M: Everything has improved so much from doing this. Our first year out here working together we did nine- teen thousand dollars more than the year before. Our take-home per week each is between five and seven hundred. Per week. That's after taxes.

D: I mean, shoot, I was working for I think six bucks an hour before this-workin' seventy hours a week at a diesel stop. Now I work an average of thirty, forty hours a week, and I'm making four times what I was making.

M: We bought a new home-it's a manufactured home-a nice, big place- D: We got a boat, we got the Mustang. [Laughs]

M: I just got to my-well, she says my-I'm forty years old now. So my midlife crisis, I went and bought a brandnew Mustang convertible.

D: Instead of having an affair he bought a new Mustang. [Laughs] I thought it was better. [Laughs]

M: Truck drivin' has been very, very good to us.

D: It has.

There's cute girls that come in here

sometimes, driving nice cars.

GAS STATION ATTENDANT.