The View From My Office
I had picked up a load in Chicago and was headed south on I-65 between Gary, IN and Indianapolis. The first real winter storm had blasted through the area the previous day, with winds so strong it had knocked over other 18 wheelers. Luckily, I had a heavy load in the trailer and was less vulnerable to the blustery conditions. Driving through a windmill farm just south of Gary, I noticed offhand that the gusts were making the turbines spin at a very rapid clip. At about the same time, another trucker keyed his CB mic and slowly drawled, “I’ll bet that wind would die down if someone would climb up there and turn them fans off.” Such wonderful dry humor! It seems that a frequent problem of listening to CB traffic is trying to keep from shooting coffee out one’s nose at comments like that. But the remark highlighted the fact that different people can look at the same objective data and reach dramatically different conclusions.
Some people look at a staggering debt, a government that displays weakness abroad while wielding a heavy Orwellian hand at home, and their hearts go aflutter with the fulfillment of a progressive utopia. To other people, in the circles I frequent, an alarm has sounded. Oddly enough, many people in that great swath of territory known derisively as “fly-over country” are not terribly well disposed to having their lives, health care, light bulbs, toilets, houses, vehicles, energy, food, firearms, religious freedom, earnings, news sources and more, taxed, regulated, prohibited, curtailed and otherwise micromanaged. They are not citizens of the world. They are Americans, free people with an indomitable spirit. Sporting a large “Don’t Tread On Me” flag in my truck, and a POW/MIA license plate on the bumper, I’m honored to count myself in their number.
After 20 years in uniform, it is now my privilege to travel this great country for a living. My office literally gives me a window from which to view America, and from where I sit, it seems that the people who were once known as the “Silent Majority” are silent no longer. Call them Tea Partiers, call them activists, call them your next door neighbor, they can no longer be ignored. Risking the condescension of the major media and even their elected officials, these people know the stakes and are acting to preserve liberty and our Constitution. Our country is at a crossroads, and for my money, it’s a great time to be an American.
- Comment (10)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
Comments:
Re: The View From My Office
Totally agree. Personally, I love driving around the US. I've criss-crossed it a bunch of times (always a new route) and haven't been disappointed yet. I'm a devotee of the Deep South, but I think one of the most beautiful drives ever (outside of California, that is, which has a bunch of amazing drives, especially California Highway 16, from Woodland up through Rumsey) Is the drive -- and the little roads off towards the coast -- from Myrtle Beach, SC to Savannah, GA. Just amazing.
Hey, I know for you it's work, but for a lot of us, it just isn't summer without a road trip.
Which reminds me: is there another country, or another culture, that loves the open road like America and Americans? It just feels like freedom to me.
Re: The View From My Office
Once upon a time, when the economy was better, I used to tour the country by small airplane. It’s not flyover country the way our family did it. In fact, from the cockpit of my Cirrus we could take in at a glance the grandeur and vastness of America. Especially out here in the West, ripples in the earth heap into mountains and you can imagine the hand of God crinkling the land below to attain just the desired effect; rivers seem like living things, sinuously winding to the ocean; towns are self-evidently just where they need to be for efficient passage over mountains or water.
The best thing about touring by plane is meeting great people in unexpected places, like the motel manager who volunteered to rescue us from a deserted airstrip in Ogallala, Nebraska the night we made an unexpected landing in near-zero-degree weather. Assuming I was flying solo, he brought an ancient Chevy El Camino for the run. We had lots of laughs on that 10-minute car ride. Don’t ever try sharing the right-hand bucket seat of an El Camino on a winter night in Nebraska. Ever.
Re: The View From My Office
Three gorgeous pieces of writing about politics and travel, the vast expanses of our continental country, and our high hopes for Ricochet. My contribution? A question: Dave, did the wind really knock over 18-wheelers?
Re: The View From My Office
To your observation, Rob, that the open road has a quintessentially American feeling of freedom, you are exactly right. That feeling is a huge part of why I chose trucking after retiring from the military. All those years of taking orders resulted in an intense desire to live free. So before the ink on my retirement papers dried, I fired the barber, let my hair grow halfway down my back, broke the speakers while cranking up Ted Nugent, and never looked back. And while, yes, it is my work, it's still enormous fun. Tonight, I'm at a perfectly hideous truck stop where the food looks like it came from an episode of Fear Factor, resulting in me dining on beenie weenies, snack mix, and apple sauce, and I couldn't be happier! As a trucker, I live the life of a free man, and traveling is just as exciting as it was years ago.
Tomorrow morning, I will be up before sunrise, headed toward Chicago, sipping coffee, listening to blues music, and savoring my good fortune.
And George, your description of viewing the country from the air, ...brings back memories I will have to share at a later point. Thanks gents.
Edited on May 24, 2010 at 4:06amRe: The View From My Office
Peter, unfortunately yes, the wind did blow some of the other semi trucks over. Actually, the previous day I had to pull off the road and shut down early due to high winds. The problem arises when strong winds meet a trailer that is either empty or with a light load. Imagine trying to maneuver a sailboat down the highway. The wind catches that 53' long, 13' 6" high trailer and if it isn't anchored down with a lot of weight, the result can be murder on one's social calendar.
May '10
Re: The View From My Office
David, that's either very fast-growing hair or very slow-drying ink.
George, the world wants to know if you have ever tested the aircraft parachute on that unique and fine Minnesota product?
Re: The View From My Office
Duane, I practiced a peculiar muscle-memory drill with the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) on every takeoff. Climbing through 400 feet, I would say "CAPS alive," touch my head and then touch the red deployment handle (Peter Robinson can vouch for me on this). The idea was to ensure finding the handle early on in any sort of aircraft upset. I figured I ought to be able to find my head and would know where to go from there. I give thanks after every flight for the fact that all of my landings since soloing 29 years ago have ended with wheels on a runway.
Re: The View From My Office
CAPS alive? I love this. I'm going to use it in my daily life, working in Hollywood, where it's always useful to know where your head is in relation to your emergency exit.
I guess the theory is, you can always find your head. And if you can't find your head, then a parachute isn't really going to solve your problem.
May '10
Re: The View From My Office
Dave, I am glad my little corner of the United States could inspire this post. I grew up just south of Gary (in that patch of shopping malls between the steel mills and cow patties). Sorry our weather couldn't be more hospitable. It rarely is.
May '10
Re: The View From My Office
Dave, just a quick note to thank you for your service to our country. I appreciate it as one who served as an Infantry officer from '69-'72. I have been heartened to see that our nation's attitude toward those who've offered the last full measure has improved dramatically since I got out.
And I'm very glad to have someone not only a veteran, but someone with a definite "boots on the ground" experience in the working world contributing to this list.
Thanks!