Slight Detour – May 2024
This Slight Detour captures some of the extremes that come with a life in trucking.
From learning to smile through the tough times to weighing the risks versus the rewards, this collection of tales from the road illustrates some of the highs and lows that can happen in the life of a trucker.
Tragic irony
Few places are as aptly named as Death Valley National Park. According to the National Park Service, this arid “land of extremes” is the “hottest, driest and lowest” of all the National Parks.
And when the NPS says “extreme,” that may honestly be an understatement. Located on Death Valley’s floor, the park’s “Badwater Basin” is the second-lowest depression in the Western Hemisphere. A mere 85 miles to the west sits the 14,505-foot-tall Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States.
With its topographical extremes, steady droughts and record heat, Death Valley is harsh to many a species. That includes the trucker – as one recently learned in the most ironic way possible.
While traveling through the park, the driver’s truck caught fire and was scorched – along with the trailer full of water bottles the driver had in tow. According to park officials at the scene, the water in the melting bottles helped slow the fire. But, ultimately, it was not enough to quench the flames.
First responders believe the fire started after the truck’s trailer brakes overheated during a steep descent along eastbound CA-190 – the only road within the park where commercial traffic is permitted. Officials made no mention of the driver’s name or of any injuries from the fire.
This isn’t the first time we’ve covered a trucker-related tragedy at Death Valley in this column. Earlier this year, we saw a driver lose a trailer full of beehives during a rollover crash. During the rescue, the driver and multiple first responders were stung by the angry swarm of bees.
I’m not sure how long the detour would be, but it may be worth avoiding this “land of extremes” at all costs. Your call.
Saving the circus
It turns out that not all semi fires are a complete tragedy.
Take, for example, the way troopers with the Indiana State Police recently spent one of their mornings – wrangling zebras and camels when a truck transporting circus animals caught fire on Interstate 69.
According to police, the driver had pulled over in the northbound lane when his truck engine caught fire around 2 a.m. The semi – which was headed to the Fort Wayne Coliseum for a show the next day – was hauling five zebras, four camels and a miniature horse from the Shrine Circus.
Officers on the scene helped to remove the animals from the truck, keeping them corralled in the median while firefighters tended to the blaze. According to ISP Sgt. Steve Glass, the animals were “docile and easy to herd,” presumably due to their circus training.
In a move I can’t say I blame them for, officers on the scene took photos and videos with the menagerie while their new four-legged friends waited for a replacement ride.
I, for one, was always a fan of the lions at the circus. But I imagine it would have been a slightly different story if the king of the jungle had been in the back of that truck.
It happens again
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – truck drivers are a lucky bunch.
I realize it may not always seem like it. In fact, it may never seem that way. But I assure you it’s true. In the year-plus that I’ve been penning this column, I’ve come across a story every month about a trucker winning the lottery.
This month, there were two.
For our first lucky trucker, we head across the pond to New Castle, England, where a driver recently banked nearly £333,000 – roughly $420,000 – in the People’s Postcode Lottery.
I had to read up on this lottery, which is actually pretty neat. The brass tacks: For £12 a month, you are registered for the lottery drawings. If your postcode – the British equivalent of a zip code – is drawn, every registered player in that postcode wins. The prize amounts change depending on the drawing.
Tony Hedley, a trucker for 42 years, and his wife, Christine Hedley, both were registered. Tony Hedley said he was in his truck when he got the call that his postcode had won. His next call was to his employer to share the good news.
“I’m not coming in tomorrow, and this is my last shift,” he told his company. “I got back to the base, I dropped the trailer off, and my manager said, ‘You lucky sod,’ shook my hand and wished me all the best.”
While that may not be the “retire early” kind of cash we all dream of, the financial windfall seemed to come at the right time for the Hedleys – who are both over 65 – to finally transition into retirement. Tony Hedley said that after a lifetime of work, “I think it’s time I had a break.”
“It’s lovely to know that we can just relax and live life for us now,” Christine Hedley, who works as a teaching assistant, told the BBC.
The couple plans to use the money to take a vacation to Scotland, as well as to update their bathroom and garden.
Meanwhile, here in the States, one trucker traveled over 1,300 miles before realizing he had hit it big.
Berhane Meharena, a driver from Arlington, Va., recently won $1 million in Virginia’s New Year’s Millionaire Raffle. The long-haul trucker bought his ticket in his hometown, but it wasn’t until he was halfway across the country – on the job in Texas – before he decided to check the winning numbers.
“I was by myself in the truck,” he told lottery officials. “I was screaming.”
That’s an understandable reaction.
It wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine, though. After returning home to Virginia, the driver fell ill and “had to wait a bit more” before claiming his prize. Meharena said he didn’t know what he planned to do with his newfound fortune.
“This was a lucky year,” he said.
Which means a lot more coming from a man who was incredibly ill just days before. LL