Grounded in Adversity
My smart phone's alarm sounded at 2:30 this morning. I had to be just west of Cleveland, OH by 5AM. Armed with coffee and an Egg McMuffin (my Dad calls it a McEggwich), I followed my regular routine of paperwork and verifying directions to the consignee. Few things are as unnerving as getting lost in an 18 wheeler. You can't exactly whip into a convenience store parking lot and ask directions. For peace of mind, I entered the address of the customer in my Droid phone's GPS application.
On I-80/90 headed west, I plugged the phone into the truck's big speaker system and called up an internet classical music station to start the day on a soothing note. Bad move. From the cerebral point and counter point of Bach, we quickly degenerated to opera. I appreciate the training, the control, and the range that go into opera, but I haven't acquired much appreciation for what comes back out again.
Today's operatic howler was a baritone. He did pretty well at the outset, when the melody had handles on it. But soon they fell off. And then the instrumentalists took a smoke break, leaving our baritone with nothing but a vibrato I could drive my Freightliner through. At that point, the melody made a break for it, and the singer began chasing it. Up and down the scale, through every key ever written, and several that are as yet unwritten, he searched every note in his considerable range. A friend of his heard the commotion and soon there was a duet of them, their voices running hither and thither, but the melody had gone into hiding in the general direction of the instruments. Suddenly the percussionist tried to hit it with his cymbals, but the melody was too fast, and there was an awful crash. Eventually, with the assistance of a massive and roaring flanking maneuver by the symphony, one of the singers held the melody down while the other murdered it. I thought I'd rather listen to Johnny Cash anyway.
Approaching the exit for my delivery, I heard the gentle female voice on my phone say, "GPS signal lost." As Jack Sparrow would say, "Not good." But I had my notes, and I had already entered the customer's phone number in my ostensibly smart phone. Right turn on highway 57, another right on Lake, followed by an immediate left on tiny Lowell St. No problem. But I couldn't find the warehouse. Reading signs is difficult enough in darkness, but it's even harder when the signs aren't there. I called the customer and got their answering machine. All these gadgets, computers, phones, machines, and I'm still reduced to searching in the dark, trying not to take out fences, low lying tree limbs, or put the rear wheels of the trailer in a ditch at 4:45AM while trying to find a dark unmarked warehouse in a neighborhood I've never seen before.
Eventually finding the customer, I shut off the truck engine so I could hear the security guard's instructions. And then, yep, the truck wouldn't start. A nice shiny Freightliner equipped with a condo sleeper, a desk, bunk beds, book shelves, a little closet, television, a smart phone and a partridge in a pear tree, deader than an opera melody right there in the driveway.
Three hours later, I was on my way, but the lesson was learned anew. We depend on our technology every day. Every new gadget becomes tethered to us. But it helps, from time to time, to become reacquainted with the rudimentary skills we so often leave to the gadgets. We still need to able to think for ourselves. This lesson is brought to you via smart phone. Ugh.
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May '10
Re: Grounded in Adversity
I drive probably 0.005% as much as you, Dave, but this sort of thing is why I refuse to buy a GPS device. Yes, I'm a nerd, and yes, I love gadgets, but I get lost plenty well on my own without outdated maps or spotty satellite connections! Refusing to rely on a robot means I at least remember how to get back where I came from. Usually.
I'm also with you on opera, though in my case I'm sure it's due to some lack of refinement. I much prefer Johnny Cash, with his dozens of songs that share a total of four guitar chords, three percussion rhythms, and two bass lines!
May '10
Re: Grounded in Adversity
I drive taxi @ night here in Århus, Denmark's second largest city: and I can commiserate with you: the numbers in the streets are HARD... I use GPS, actually have 3 of them in my ŠKODA Superb diesel cab: MIO for the quick and dirty, Google Nav on my HTC Desire for details, phone numbers and fantastic Satellite & Street View; and the "old fashioned" GPS-map (no directions) on the cab-fleet computer-screen! Here in Denmark everything, I mean EVERYTHING is regulated: the radius of cucumber, max number of sq.meters for a smoking-allowed bar (40 - abt. 430 sq. feet!) - but the house numbers - many of them are like a color-blindness test! At night!
And yes, with so much appliances online, I never, NEVER switch-off my engine - not even at the petrol-, I mean diesel-stations, regulations be damned!
May '10
Re: Grounded in Adversity
Great story, and I really like the way you closed it, "We still need to able to think for ourselves." I'm very much on board with the need to retain the old skills, ready for the day when the technology let's you down (I work in technology, so I know first-hand how tenuous the "system" can be), but the ability to think our way through an unexpected problem is another art that is being lost.
In an earlier era, I expect, the 'best laid plans were more likely to go awry, and folks were better prepared to stay calm and think though a solution. But look at how people will come unglued now when bad whether shuts down an airport.
The most important thing I learned at engineering school was how "work the problem." It's a useful skill. I'm sure that a truck driver, dealing with mechanical breakdowns, and weather along with deadlines, learns to keep his head and figure out how to work his way out of a fix.
Apparently, a career as a community organizer or legislator does not teach those useful lessons.
Re: Grounded in Adversity
Oldo, I'm with you on the gadgets. My Droid has the satellite view too, so I can actually see the parking lots, street hazards, etc. But when the electronics go kaput, you have to able to use basic navigation skills, right? And the address numbers here can appear on the house or building, on a mail box by the street, or not at all.
But to the really important question: They regulate the size of a cucumber? Here, our government tells us what kind of lightbulb to use, how much water our toilets can flush, and they tax everything that moves, ...but cucumbers? Why on earth do they do that?
Jul '10
Re: Grounded in Adversity
On a recent 18 hour drive to Wisconsin, I lost count of the number of times the GPS decided we were going the wrong way and told us to "make a legal U-turn". Technology can be wonderful, but keep a map handy for when the GPS insists you must take a closed road.
May '10
Re: Grounded in Adversity
Dave,
Since you were talking music, I have to ask if you've heard of 2 artists that I've been listening to constantly as of late. 1) Hayes Carll and 2) Phosphorescent.
Between those 2 and all my Townes Van Zandt sessions lately, I'm thinking of taking up driving a truck myself just so I can drive around the continent and listen to good road music.
May '10
Re: Grounded in Adversity
In defense of GPS, I have one I use regularly here in Japan, where secondary roads are not well marked. For a trip to America I downloaded a North American map. In order to see the countryside I took an unrecommended route from Amherst Mass to the Mass Pike. The route was convoluted and poorly marked, but the GPS took me to the entrance ramp without fail, and I never could have found it myself. A week later I was heading for a motel near the airport in Springfield MO. The motel is located on one of those service roads off the highway, with limited and illogical access. I thought the GPS was lost or confused, but I rounded a corner and there I was, one traffic light away. Again, I would have never done that one my own (alone). A week later, back in Japan, I wanted to go to a restaurant I had seen while riding my bike, but I was unsure of the location. I found it on google earth, put the location into the (same) GPS and found it as if I had lived there all my life. Next month, Thailand.
May '10
Re: Grounded in Adversity
Dave: actually - it's not the danish gvt. who made this crazy rule - it's the Boyz from Brussels, the EU-nuchs. They have regulations for everything -the radius-of-arch of an cucucmber is a CLASSIC. I suppose they would prefer "straight" cucumbers, but the nature will not cooperate,so they limit the size of "bending" so they can fit better in a box...
And when electronic go kaput: that's why we have redundant systems (your printed maps!)... But I believe the mobile coverage is getting better in the US, day-by-day...
Jun '10
Re: Grounded in Adversity
For the record, you certainly hide being unnerved very well! Unlike "my seat" there are no finger nail marks on your side of the truck from trying to turn around in places that just don't work.
And I do love how you use such a device to tell us not to rely on them. Also remember that we all are relying on them to read what you write for us. Ironic isn't it?
Hope your offer still stands in a few years. As soon as your Grandson is out of diapers and we can work out him being taken care of, I want to go back on the road with you! It might be later rather than sooner, but that's ok. How many times does one get to watch their children grow up?
Aug '10
Re: Grounded in Adversity
That was an absolutely hysterical description of an opera aria (and I've been in operas)! You made it sound so dreadful that out of sheer morbid curiosity, I have to ask: do you remember the name of the aria, or what opera it came from? Or who the singer was?
I like singing opera, but I'm still not sure how much I like listening to it. Wagner, for example. wrote some lovely music that gets spoiled by the singers. Anna Russell, an English comic, does a parody of Wagner's whole Ring cycle, videos here (part 1), here (part 2), and here (part 3). A transcript (slightly different) is here.
Aug '10
Re: Grounded in Adversity
Oldo-the-1968-Czech: I suppose they would prefer "straight" cucumbers...
Oh dear, that's not very tolerant of them.
Jun '10
Re: Grounded in Adversity
Your opera description is a cartoon video waiting to happen.
Re: Grounded in Adversity
Tim, I must confess that I haven't heard of either of the artists you mentioned. My listening on the road is limited to classical, some "outlaw" country, New Orleans jazz, Cajun, and Ted Nugent. Along with lots of podcasts of my favorite news and talk shows, of course.
As a word of caution, I wouldn't get into trucking to listen to music. It's a great job, for a person suited to it. Keep in mind, home is where you visit, but the truck is where you live. And there is a fair amount of manual labor, in every kind of weather, so its not for the faint-hearted. Still interested?
Re: Grounded in Adversity
Outstripp, true enough. I've been delighted with the GPS on Droid. Another driver told me that his goes on the fritz in northern Ohio too. What I've learned is that I can't depend on it entirely, however. Plus, this one is not programmed to steer me away from truck restricted routes, low bridges, etc. So I have to keep that in mind when driving The Beast.
Re: Grounded in Adversity
Midget, to paraphrase Victor Borge, I think it was the Die-Aria, from the opera Rigor Mortis. But don't quote me on that...
Re: Grounded in Adversity
Christie, I dunno, how often does a parent get to watch their child grow up? I've loved watching you and your brother grow up, ...but I fear my parents are still waiting for me to grow up....
Jul '10
Re: Grounded in Adversity
Back when I worked in a more suburban/rural sector of the city, there was a particular "commerce park" (that's what they called it), that did an abysmal job of communicating directions and addresses to their truck drivers. On midnight shift, I would frequently find 18-wheelers idling in the suicide lane with the interior lights on in the cab, and I would know immediately what the problem was. I'd pull the cruiser over, give them directions, and could see the air go out of them when they realized they were going to have to turn the truck around on the narrow highway in the dark. I didn't envy them the task.
May '10
Re: Grounded in Adversity
Dave, Are you streaming Pandora on your Droid?
Jun '10
Re: Grounded in Adversity
Most folks don't know this, but GPS proves Einstein's theory every time you use it. In order for GPS to properly position anything on the surface of the globe the clocks in the satellites--there are some 24 satellites and it requires 2 to position something like an 18 wheeler--must be correct. And here is where Einstein's theory comes in: These clocks must be adjusted for the effect of gravity on time. Because they are in geo stationary orbit some 25,000 miles above the equator time runs faster up there than on the earth's surface. I don't know about the rest of you guys, but for me that is a big WOW! Neat eh?
May '10
Re: Grounded in Adversity
What happens when your children are waiting for you to grow up too?