Roses and Razzberries July 2020
RAZZBERRIES to celebrated horror author Stephen King and his son and fellow author Joe Hill for their novella titled “Throttle,” which is being turned into a movie by HBO Max.
The story involves a motorcycle gang being chased through the Nevada desert by an evil, remorseless unseen truck driver. If that sounds a tad familiar, it’s because the book is billed as an homage to “Duel,” the short story written by Richard Matheson and turned into a 1971 movie directed by Steven Spielberg. So yeah, you could say it’s been done before.
The whole killer trucker and/or truck angle has also been done before by King himself – in his infamous 1986 bomb “Maximum Overdrive” and in the 2010 novella “Big Driver” (we gave him RAZZBERRIES for that one, too). During a time when they are literally keeping this country moving, maybe demonizing truck drivers isn’t such a good idea. Or an original one.
ROSES to Andy Pham, owner of the San Paso Truck Stop in Paso Robles, Calif., for his continued efforts to support truckers during the coronavirus pandemic. Pham – in partnership with Melton Technologies – not only provided free breakfasts to truckers in May during the early days of lockdowns, but he and Melton stepped up again and offered free business identity protection services for drivers.
The Paso Robles Daily News reported that Pham gave out coupons at his truck stop that has the information for signing up for the free service. And it wasn’t just a one-time thing, either. Pham said he was going to continue giving them out through the end of the year.
So from us to you, Mr. Pham, thank you for thinking of the truck drivers.
OOIDA’s own tour truck driver, Jon Osburn, offers up some ROSES for the Mardi Gras Parade Krewes who greeted him – and other truckers – at the TA in Slidell, La., back in May.
Jon said there were three Krewes – The Indians, The Bacchus and The Rex – who had gathered to hand out free lunches to truck drivers and first responders. The lunches consisted of red beans and sausage on rice, corn bread, and chocolate chip cookies with a bottle of water. Jon said they were having a great time doing it, too, laughing and talking with anyone who came by. And they refused to take any payment for the food. Well, maybe they’ll take some kudos from a humble trucking magazine.
ROSES to Rush Enterprises and NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer for remembering truckers when racing returned to the track in May after a two-month absence.
In those early races, Bowyer’s No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang sported the hashtag #ThankATrucker as part of a nationwide campaign to honor truck drivers as they deliver medical equipment, groceries and other needed supplies.
“Anything that we’ve needed during the quarantine,” Bowyer said in a news release, “whether it is medical supplies, food at the grocery stores, or whatever the case may be has been delivered by a truck driver who’s away from his family doing the job to make sure our country still works.”
He added, “If you see one of those truckers going down the road, give him a thumbs-up. They deserve it.”
ROSES to Greg Kindle, PrePass Safety Alliance regional director, who volunteered with the Illinois Trucking Association for its Lunches for Truckers event throughout the month of May. PrePass partnered with the Illinois State Police and the Illinois DOT to help provide both lunches and protective masks at the O’Fallon Scale on I-64 during the third week of May. They did it again the week after that. It’s not often truckers are glad to see the state police and the DOT, but we’d imagine this was one exception.
ROSES to ONroute, an Ontario, Canada-based rest stop company that offered up a kind gesture to truckers north of the border. On Wednesdays beginning in April and lasting all the way through Canada Day, which was on July 1, the company offered free coffee or another beverage, if you’re not a coffee drinker, to any trucker who stopped by one of their stops. It was all part of their “Keep ON Trucking Initiative.”
ONroute CEO Melanie Teed-Murch said in a statement that “truck drivers are a critical part of maintaining our supply chain, and we hope this initiative shows our gratitude for the essential work they do for us all every day.” LL
Check out last issue’s Roses & Razzberries here.