A Drivers Story
– By #Mark Dorrance
I have had a love affair with trucks since I was a boy. I had my first ride in a 1950 Reo that my Dad had. I was about four years old. He was hauling sack cement from the gypsum plant in Florence CO. to Denver CO. He would take me with him a lot. When I wasn’t with my Dad I was playing with my toy trucks at home. I spent a lot of time with my Dad and trucks over the years. When I was old enough to drive one my Dad taught me how. First I had to learn to drive a pick-up with a clutch. I wasn’t very good at it at first, but finally got the hang of it. Then I moved up to an eighteen foot, single axle, flat bed with five gears and a two speed axle. After driving the flat bed for awhile it was time for the big rig. It was a 1963 cab over international. It had a ten speed transmission that was put in backwards so it made for an interesting learning experience. My Dad had bought it so he could haul drywall from Florence CO to his business in Denver. That is what I did until things went south in the construction business in the 1970s and my Dad sold the business. So now what do I do? I did not want to be an over the road truck driver because I wanted to be home with my family at the end of the day. On one of my last runs from Florence I saw a PETCO tanker at the port of entry and I wanted to know if they got home every night and I found out that they did.
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