Truckin’

Cliff’s truck. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

58-year-old Cliff Habecker (“HAH-bek-errr;” as in “odd”) lives with his father, Billy Habecker, my neighbor across the street.
Together they live in the home of my original neighbor, Vern Habecker, who died a while ago.
Cliff recently got his CDL (Commercial-Driver-License) to drive semi-trailer truck.
I had a CDL myself once, a Class-4, when I drove transit-bus. Class-4 is to carry passengers.
There was more to carrying passengers than a Class-4 CDL. We also had to do various mandates. A company doctor also determined if we were qualified to drive bus.
But it was a kangaroo-court, or could be.
If the company didn’t like you, that doctor could find something to disqualify you from driving bus. If the company liked you — as they did me — that doctor could pass you no matter no matter what was wrong with you. (Nothing was wrong with me.)
I gave up my CDL after my stroke, which ended my bus-driving. I no longer needed it, and was difficult to maintain.
Cliff has worked for various truck companies since getting his CDL.
And trucking-companies can be capricious. The reason why Cliff has been through two employers over four months is because the first company was trying to pull fast ones.
Truck-drivers are in demand; his current employer is Emerson Express. If Emerson owns the truck, he gets 50¢ per mile.
He also is allowed to bring home his truck. He parks it in my neighbor’s driveway.
His employer now wants to sell him the truck. It’s an International 9400i with sleeper-cab. It has a turbocharged Cummins diesel motor, and a 10-speed transmission.
It also has cruise-control, and a 65-mph speed-governor. “That governor’s comin’ out as soon as I own it.”
Originally his employer was gonna sell him the truck for $13,000; now they want $24,000. Cliff is justifiably mad. All-of-a-sudden the price of the truck jumped $11,000.
So Cliff and Emerson are dickerin’. $24,000 and Emerson does the maintenance until the truck is paid off, etc. etc. Cliff also has other offers.
If Cliff owns the truck, he gets 72% of the trucking-charge.
The truck remains in company colors until Cliff pays it off. The truck is also leased to his employer, who arranges loads.
Cliff and I are pretty good friends, despite my being a bleeding-heart liberal, who doesn’t smoke, drinks little, and doesn’t carouse.
We swap road-stories, and I have many from driving bus.
“Oh Dora, look, a bus; PULL OUT! PULL OUT! PULL OUT!”
Cliff has also helped repair my zero-turn lawnmower, and also mows part of my grass.

• For 16&1/2 years (1977-1993) I drove transit bus for Regional Transit Service (RTS) in Rochester, NY, a public employer, the transit-bus operator in Rochester and environs. My stroke October 26th, 1993 ended that. I retired on medical-disability. I recovered fairly well.