BUSTING STEREOTYPES
Patrick McCarthy of New Berlin, Wis., isn’t too pleased with a comment from Peter Bannon, president of Sports Publishing, published in The Freeman newspaper. Bannon, speculating on the success of selling books about Dale Earnhardt at truck stops versus other locations, says: “Our guess is that the average truck driver isn’t in Barnes & Noble sipping latte.”
“I, for one, spend a considerable amount of time and money at Barnes & Noble,” writes McCarthy, who also confesses to partaking of the store’s lattes and having musical tastes that run from country to classical. “I guess that disqualifies me from being your ‘average’ truck driver. Most drivers I know are no different.”
TRUCKER, AUTHOR, ARTIST, THINKER
Murray Morgan has been a life insurance salesman, riverboat pilot, stable boy and CEO, among other things. Now, as an over-the-road driver for Halvor Lines, of Superior, Mich., he’s branching out into more creative avenues.
His new book, Thoughts of an Average Joe, 2002, includes his own artwork on the cover. His wife and former team driver, Maryanne, suggested he write the book because he kept phoning with ideas that came to him on the road. Including something truckers have plenty of time to cultivate – thoughts about thoughts: “Thought is man’s true form of creativity,” Morgan writes. “Without it, nothing else can begin.”
Morgan’s book is available at: www.booksurge.com; his watercolors and other artwork can be seen at www.yessy.com.
CONSIDER A DETOUR
The fifth annual Nerves of Steel Survey from the Steel Alliance, a steel producer coalition, notes cities that have the sleepiest, meanest and rudest drivers:
45% of Denver drivers say they fell asleep at least once while driving.
46% of Chicago respondents say they have recently committed aggressive acts while driving.
66% of New York City drivers rank local drivers as more rude than drivers in other cities.
STILL LOGGING MILES
“I’ve been doing more work since I retired than when I was working.”
– Ex-trucker Ron Lantz, 62, who helped police nab suspects connected with the sniper shootings in the Washington, D.C., area. He told The Cincinnati Enquirer that he continues to speak around the country.
SPEND AND WEEP
“If you’re a driver, you can afford a lot of things. But if you buy them, you’re never going to see them. That’s because
