"Trixie do this! Trixie do that! Trixie, don't you ever do that other thing!" I'd had it with my small town and all the idiots telling me what I shouldn't do, and what I should do and with whom. They can go pound salt! I'm over 21 and an adult, plus I have a better education than most of those ass wipe mouth breathers. At least they don't call me Patricia!
Completely fed up with the place, I packed my backpack and rode my bike out of town. It was early afternoon and I hoped to hitchhike west. I headed for the Interstate highway. I decided to cut across country toward it using back roads, since the law might stop me if I stood at an on ramp. As I got close to the Interstate, I saw a girl playing outside and gave her my bike. I couldn't take it with me, and at least she'd have some fun with it.
Working myself across a couple of open fields, I approached the Interstate and slid down the hill to the roadway. Traffic was heavy in my direction so I started thumbing and walking. After about two hours, I got a little depressed as I started thinking this might not work. No one was slowing down at all! My plan was to get into the movie business and work my way up. If worse came to worse, I could get a job as a fitness instructor. I'd taken care of myself and it showed in my strong arms and legs, and my tight, flat abdomen.
Light was dimming as twilight set in and now I was getting more worried and desperate. I didn't want to sleep in the woods, since I had no shelter or even a blanket. I was still walking with my thumb out, facing away from the buffeting slip streams of the rushing traffic. Starting to look off to the side of the road, searching for potential shelter for the night before it got too dark, I was startled by a loud roar behind me. A huge tractor trailer pulled up and off the road ahead of me with its blinkers flashing. The roar had been its air brakes.
Still walking, since I was not sure why he'd stopped, I heard him sound his horn. I took that as a signal to me, so I ran up to the truck cab. The truck was so big I had a hard time climbing up to the door. He rolled down the window and asked, "Where are you heading?"
I answered, "West. Ultimately I hope to make it to California."
He grinned. "You really lucked out, gal. I'm heading home with a load of machine parts back to a warehouse just outside of San Francisco. If you want to ride along, I could sure use the company! And it's getting too dark out for hitching, so I can at least drop you off at the next exit, if you'd rather do that."
He was an older man, clean cut and friendly. It made me more confident that he'd given me an option, so I climbed in. As we started off. I noticed how high up we were and said, "Wow! What a view you get from being up this high! It's a whole different view of the world for me! You must feel like the king of the road up here." I was still a little nervous, and trying to hide it by making small talk.
Since we were moving and picking up speed, the engine roared as he shifted gears. I was amazed how he effortlessly shifted gear after gear, never taking his eyes off the road. "Yep, there's so much weight we're hauling, it takes some doing to get up to speed. We have a lot of momentum when we're at speed. That's why I traveled so far beyond you when I stopped." The radio was turned on low, playing 70's music and the CB would pop to life every once in a while, with messages that were in a strange jargon used by these road warriors.
We chatted at this and that. I told him my name was Trixie, and he told me his name was Hank. He said, "I do most of my driving at night with less traffic on the road, so I can make the best time. If you stay for the long haul, you'll have to get in this same mode, sleeping during the day and staying awake and alert at night."
"Where do you typically haul these loads?" I asked.
"I like traveling all over. I've been to every state in the U.S. except Hawaii," he replied.
"Even Alaska?" I queried.
"Yep. That was quite a long, tough haul, though, because the icy roads can get very treacherous."
It was quite dark out now, and I was tired from my bike riding and walking alongside the road for such a long time. The view out the windshield was a little hypnotic. Yawning, I couldn't fight the tiredness, and I was nodding off from the hum of the tires on the road.
He noticed, and said, "Trixie, you can get in the back and sleep for a bit -- I can tell you've had a long day and I'm still fresh. But there's one thing. If I call you because I'm getting sleepy, I need you to climb back up front here again, and chat with me to help to keep me awake." I looked over my shoulder and realized the truck had an extended cab and there was a small sleep area in back of the front seats.
I slept for a couple of hours, which helped me a lot. It was about midnight when I woke up. So I asked, "Hi Hank... how are we doing?"