Watching Frazier

There isn't very much here in Frazier Park, CA. At least from this truck stop and all the concrete insulation from the outside world. I went to a small grocery store and saw some of the locals and they seem to look like us. You know, normal? Really, I get into this idea of mine that we as truck drivers are, by nature of the job, removed from a large part of society. Sure, everyone sees the almighty truck roaring down the road. Everywhere we roam, there are neighborhoods of life just going on with out us. I know, this sort of sounds stupid and I am just doing a poor job of putting what I am thinking on paper. But here goes. Here is an example.

Sad. I was at a signal the other day, when I looked left and there was an old car with a woman in the passenger side. She was crying. I had no idea who was driving as the angle from my tall cab would not allow such intimacy, but, when they pulled ahead of me there were five children of young age in the back seat. It could be there was a death in the family. Or she could be perfectly happy and just hates the hell out of her hemorroid surgery.

Angry. There were two people in front of a church in Wyoming a while back. As I drove by, the guy hauled off and hit the woman right in the face. Makes for an interesting dose of faith while sitting in those pews. I have faith in the fact that that woman is going to buy a Lodge frying pan and bash the hell out of her worse half.

Alone. On US-20, it started a few years ago. First time I drove by, There was a fresh chunk of bark missing from a large pine tree and signs of a recent accident. I drove by again two weeks later and there was painted on the trunk in large orange letters..."MOM". Another two months, there were beer cans at the foot of the tree. I can't imagine losing someone I care for and feeling such loss that I would visit the site where they died. However, it has not happened to me, either. Perhaps, when I have that fiery crash, maybe someone will have a beer on my behalf and put one of those crosses up. It could happen.

Happy. Driving through any town on a nice, not so hot, summer day. Well, it is just heaven. People mowing their lawns and children playing and enjoying the summer. With that being said, I would like to point out that much like appreciation of angry grizzly bears, bees, black widows and cyanide...it is better we observe and not get too close. You never know what will happen. We might just live a little. It beats the heck out of just doing what ever you do and waiting for all those Red-dyed M&M's to catch up with you.

Do other people notice these things? Seems that when you listen to two truck drivers talking, all you hear is some version of that stupid dispatcher and what he did this time. Well, I am here to tell you that even if I were a dog, and only had one squeeze toy, I wouldn't want to play with it all day. Seems to me that I think of myself as a bit odd. When my friends would all be observing the hot looking woman in the front yard and I would be just thinking to myself...you can't put a darn western looking front porch on a cape cod? Well, can you? Dedication">