Great read Lang,
I do know what you mean- when I got off the road doing interstate back in the mid 80's (and i only spent a few years on it anyway) I remember thinking "I'm not going to miss this at all". But funny enough, you DO miss it. I think it's always in you, just a little bit. Love it/hate it/love it/hate it. Even now, if I do some sort of job, I often can't wait to get home to get out of this bloody truck- then a few days later I want to go away again!
The old shitbox I used to steer was 18 hours pretty much to Sydney from Geelong, with a stop for tea somewhere. And Brisbane was about a 7 to 8 day round trip. Best time I ever did was leaving Geelong at 6 am, in to Coonabarabran at midnight. Stuffed, cold, stiff, then because it had no bunk, sleep on the road or on the back of the truck in a car. We certainly used to stuff around a bit, cos thats the way we operated. But gee, just sit there and steer the old girl, up hill, and down dale, down evey hill in angel gear because otherwise the old Gardner would over rev, and back through the range change for everything that even remotely resembled a rise in the road... Bloody trucks. And to think I miss it!
This is how stupid I am- Just to toture myself needlessly I took my old 1966 Kenworth (ex Hartridge!) to the Boort show a couple of years ago, had the dropdeck and another truck on the back to make the 871 work a bit, it's a bloody uncomfortable thing to drive with no legroom and no power steering- anyway I got home a few days later, that night and had this dream about being in the Kenworth loaded for Brisbane, and doing a few errands before leaving- and I woke up BLOODY DISAPPOINTED that I wasn't actually going!!!
How sick is that!!!!!
Somebody belt me with a pallet board please.