When I was growing up we would take family trips down to
Georgia, and just like kids today, when you pass a truck you would ask the trucker to
blow that horn. I told myself that one day I’m gonna blow that horn
myself.
When I graduated from high school my dad asked me what I was
going to do with my life and I told him I was going to be a truck driver. He
told me if you drive a truck, you gotta know how to fix it – he was a diesel
mechanic.
I wondered who would teach me to fix a truck. I woke up one
night and decided to join the military - the army. When I went downstairs that
morning, lo and behold, a recruiter called me – I hadn’t called him. He was
going through a solicitation process and I asked if the army could teach me to
be a mechanic? He said yes, and I pretty much signed up. I couldn’t join right
then, so I went to college studying sociology at Bowling Green State University
in Toledo, Ohio. In January, 1993, I joined the army. I did eight years in with
the reserves as a 63 whisky (W) (heavy wheel heavy duty mechanic).
When I turned 23, I realized that if it wasn’t my truck, I didn’t
have to know how to fix it. So I went to truck driving school. A city driver
had to teach me how to be an over-the-road driver. I really didn’t know a lot when I finished school. I’m in the process of making
a movie called
The Things They Didn’t Tell You in Truck Driving School.
I didn’t even know how to fuel a truck. I didn’t know that a
satellite pump existed; they had to show me how to do that. I didn’t have a full u n d e r s t a n d i n g about
log books. I like the independence of driving solo. But, I get scared when I
get lost and I used to get really paranoid, breaking out in a sweat – a panic attack.
So what I do now is just laugh and say I can’t believe I did that, and that
calms me down. I try to get directions from the guy I pull for or better than
that, I call the people where I will deliver. Nine times out of ten they know
how they get to work.
I remember one time a truck driver came on the radio that
needed help slidinghis tandems and when he saw me come over he was surprised.
He never thought that a woman would come and help before
a man.
Halloween is my ultimate – I love Halloween. In October I like
to dress up and hand out candy to truck drivers. Once I was dressed up like the
Nightmare before Christmas – that big white head –
and wear a suit. Some ladies at a truck stop told the police
and they asked me if I was workin’. I said no I am a truck driver. If I was
working why would I be dressed up like this?
I joined Women In Trucking because it is like a sisterhood.
Shannon Smith
Source: Women In Trucking www.womenintrucking.org
