Goodaye all. A big week on the road, Dubbo to Melbourne to Dubbo to Newcastle to Emerald, Brisbane and back home today. Got the aircon fixed, a new idler pulley, repair to a curtain roller, some tyres changed and a bit of loading and unloading along the way.
An animal week, hit three roos, no major damage, just some nut covers (bugger) missed two wombats, saw a fawn, an eagle, a dingo, missed a big water bird and a few others. Plenty of bumps hit and recorded with a couple that I plan to follow up on ASAP.
Spoke with RMS re signage on the new overtaking lanes near Dubbo, explained green reflector bays to a couple of drivers and wished a few mates Merry Christmas on the phone. To all the drivers and people who will not be with their families for Christmas, thanks for the jobs you do and I hope you get time with them over the holidays.
I was to have some time off, the first time since being at RPT, but one customer still needed to get the freight out so I put my hand up and we found some freight in Melbourne, for the return, so I will be loading tomorrow and leaving Boxing Day, unload and reload Friday and home Saturday.
Some years ago we did the U2 tour which went from Melbourne to Brisbane, to Sydney and then finished in Perth. I was the last truck to leave and I loaded and left there, drove for three days to Melbourne where I must admit I had to cheat a bit of time to get unloaded and reloaded, then left Christmas eve and got home 9AM Christmas Day, the only time Santa beat me home.
It was my first and only show trip and at one stage I asked one of the tour people could I do a story. He said no, they had previously had people do stories and were not happy with the outcome. I offered to allow them to vet anything before printing, but he said, definitely not. So I asked someone else and was standing outside the tour managers door when the first fellow walked past and asked me what I was doing. I said I have an interview with the tour manager and he shook his head and walked off.
I wrote a story for Owner Driver, which I had to keep down in words and was then approached by a mate and had to extend it and it is one of four stories I contributed to “Great Australian Trucking Stories” by Jim Haynes. I have had a number of drivers comment on the story and if you are looking for a late Chrissy present for a truckie, consider it and you can also get it as an audio book, read by Jim himself and I have a copy. It was strange that when I was approached about my Audiobooks for the road Facebook page by Big Rigs, I was reading the trucking one.
I do believe we have too few books on trucking in Australia and little history of those involved. The Road Transport Hall of Fame do sell some, but it is not where all can attend as easily as others. If you know of a good trucking history book, please let me know. I do have copies of “They Came like Waves” by Jeffrey Ffrost and this was an excellent story about how trucking got going after the war, then there was another book about the Hughes and Vale case which got road tax removed. I highly recommend both.
I also have a copy of “Where the Big Rigs Fly” which I had to buy as an old library book form the USA. It turned out to be signed by the authors, so quite a bonus. I had started to try and build my own road transport library, but ran out of time to read and chase them all, but one day?
I also still have a number of unbuilt truck model kits from years ago, I built them when I was a kid and whilst they have travelled in boxes as we have moved, I am not sure how much is still intact. All these things to do when I have time.
May I wish you all A Merry Christmas and a Trucking Good New Year, hope you continue to enjoy my writings and I will keep on trying for trucking in 2020. Safe Travelling, Rod Hannifey.
TRUCKRIGHT 