Download or read book The Long Haul A Trucker s Tales of Life on the Road written by Finn Murphy and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2017-06-06 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “There’s nothing semi about Finn Murphy’s trucking tales of The Long Haul.”—Sloane Crosley, Vanity Fair More than thirty years ago, Finn Murphy dropped out of college to become a long-haul trucker. Since then he’s covered more than a million miles as a mover, packing, loading, hauling people’s belongings all over America. In The Long Haul, Murphy recounts with wit, candor, and charm the America he has seen change over the decades and the poignant, funny, and often haunting stories of the people he encounters on the job.

Download or read book The Big Rig written by Steve Viscelli and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2016-04-12 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long-haul trucks have been described as sweatshops on wheels. The typical long-haul trucker works the equivalent of two full-time jobs, often for little more than minimum wage. But it wasn’t always this way. Trucking used to be one of the best working-class jobs in the United States. The Big Rig explains how this massive degradation in the quality of work has occurred, and how companies achieve a compliant and dedicated workforce despite it. Drawing on more than 100 in-depth interviews and years of extensive observation, including six months training and working as a long-haul trucker, Viscelli explains in detail how labor is recruited, trained, and used in the industry. He then shows how inexperienced workers are convinced to lease a truck and to work as independent contractors. He explains how deregulation and collective action by employers transformed trucking’s labor markets--once dominated by the largest and most powerful union in US history--into an important example of the costs of contemporary labor markets for workers and the general public.

Download or read book A Trucker s Tale written by Ed Miller and published by Apollo Publishers. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wit, wisdom, adventure, and revelations from sixty years on the road. They say that only truck drivers experience the true grandeur and landscape of America: the winding mountainsides at sunrise, the first frosts of winter descending on apple orchards, the call of the rising roosters. In A Trucker's Tale, Ed Miller gives an inside look at the allure of the work and the colorful characters who haul our goods on the open road. He shares what it was like to grow up in a boisterous trucking family, his experience as an equipment officer in Vietnam, the wide range of vehicles he's mounted, and the daily trials, tribulations, risks, and exploits that define life as a trucker. Ed's vibrant, no-holds-barred tales are hilarious and heartwarming, sometimes cringeworthy or unbelievable—recollections of heroic feels as well as the “fishing stories” that have stretched and shifted from CB radio to CB radio. Many are the results of what he calls, “just plain stupidity.” Others bring to light the small acts of kindness and grand gestures that these Knights of the Highway perform each day, as well as the safety risks and continual danger that these essential workers endure. Together they paint a compelling portrait of one of the most important, but least-known industries, and reveal why Ed, and so many like him, just kept on truckin’.

Download or read book Becoming a Truck Driver written by Brett Aquila and published by . This book was released on 2007-06-01 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: www.truckingtruth.com Trucking schools can teach you to drive, but nobody's there to teach you everything else.This book is a no-holds-barred, call 'em as I see 'em account of what I went through when I decided to become a truck driver. I hope to shed some light on what the trucking industry is REALLY like, with no hidden agendas and no regrets.I have absolutely loved my years on the road. The experiences, the friends, the money, the challenges, and the freedom. "There are so many things to know if you want to be successful on the road and they take years to learn.I'm talking about things they don't teach in truck driving schools and things companies don't talk about..at least not honestly. There are "grey areas" and "unwritten rules" in the trucking industry that have a major impact on your life and your career - and only time on the road will reveal the reailtiesof becoming a truck driver......"- Brett Aquila, Author - "Becoming A Truck Driver:The Raw Truth About Trucking"

Download or read book Somewhere in the Bayou written by Jerome Pumphrey and published by WW Norton. This book was released on 2022-03-01 with total page 55 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Simple, subtle, and drolly funny, the Pumphrey brothers’ newest picture book is a layered exploration of the foolishness of making assumptions and the virtue of curiosity. When four swamp creatures looking to cross a river come upon a log that would allow for precisely that, they can’t believe their luck. But a questionable tail adjacent to that log gives them second thoughts. Opossum believes it’s a sneaky tail and that they must pass it quietly. Squirrel thinks it’s a scary tail that can be cowed by intimidation. Rabbit decides it’s a mean tail that deserves a taste of its own medicine. As the critters exhaust approaches one by one, Mouse, the smallest of the lot, observes their folly and adjusts accordingly. But is it the mouse or the tail that will defy expectations? Pairing their iconic illustration style with a wry irreverence, the Pumphrey brothers have crafted a delightful tale that reminds us to think before we act.

Download or read book The Old Truck written by Jerome Pumphrey and published by WW Norton. This book was released on 2020-01-07 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A young girl turns her imagination into action in this beautifully crafted and intricately designed debut picture book. When is an old truck something more? On a small, bustling farm, a resilient and steadfast pickup works tirelessly alongside the family that lives there, and becomes a part of the dreams and ambitions of the family’s young daughter. After long days and years of hard work leave the old truck rusting in the weeds, it’s time for the girl to roll up her sleeves. Soon she is running her own busy farm, and in the midst of all the repairing and restoring, it may be time to bring her faithful childhood companion back to life. With an eye-catching retro design and cleverly nuanced illustrations, The Old Truck celebrates the rewards of determination and the value of imagination.

Download or read book Trucking for Jesus written by Bunny Gregory and published by Tate Publishing. This book was released on 2010-08 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Christian's journey is not always easy. Life as a trucker on the road is not easy either. There are long, lonely hours, unpredictable storms, winding roads that never seem to end, and sometimes it's easy to forget God in the midst of it all. But God is faithful, the theme of this inspiring daily devotional. In this book, Chaplains Bunny and Blonnie Gregory share ways to beat the highway blues with stories of the miracles that they have experienced while ministering to truckers onboard Sheneeda (because she needa lot of love, just like the rest of us), their mobile chapel pulled by their Kenworth truck, and inside truck stops all across the country. Each devotion offers a Bible verse to reflect on, a short story, a real-life application, and a prayer for readers. There are devotions on faith, kindness, prayer, and more. Some are humorous and some are a little more serious, but each one offers hope and encouragement for truckers on the long road ahead and shows that in the end, we're all Trucking for Jesus. Chaplains Bunny and Blonnie Gregory have traveled the U.S. highways coast to coast with their mobile chapel since 1975, dedicating their lives to ministering to the truckers and to all others who have come aboard their church on wheels. When not on the road, the two live in Virginia.

Download or read book Truck de India written by Rajat Ubhaykar and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-10-22 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The share auto I squeeze into next seems unusually vulnerable after a night in the truck - too compact, too low down. Perhaps, these are the usual side effects of prolonged riding with the king of the road, I think to myself. But it is only when I fill in ‘truck’ as my mode of transportation in the hotel ledger at Udaipur does the utter ludicrousness of my endeavour truly hit home" Think truck drivers, and movie scenes of them drunkenly crushing inconvenient people to their gravelly deaths come to mind. But what are their lives on the road actually like? In Truck De India!, journalist Rajat Ubhaykar embarks on a 10,000 km-long, 100% unplanned trip, hitchhiking with truckers all across India. On the way, he makes unexpected friendships; listens to highway ghost stories; discovers the near-fatal consequences of overloading trucks; documents the fascinating tradition of truck art in Punjab; travels alongside nomadic shepherds in Kashmir; encounters endemic corruption repeatedly; survives NH39, the insurgent-ridden highway through Nagaland and Manipur; and is unfailingly greeted by the unconditional kindness of perfect strangers. Imbued with humour, empathy, and a keen sense of history, Truck De India! is a travelogue like no other you've read. It is the story of India, and Indians, on the road.

Download or read book Life on the Road Kiwi Trucking Stories written by Randolph Covich and published by Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited. This book was released on 2018-07-30 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kiwi truckies are the unsung heroes of New Zealand – the men and women who make great personal sacrifice and often risk their lives to keep our country running. The people who devote their life, in some way or another, to what is often a hard and lonely passion. Life on the Road gathers together their fascinating stories. It captures the humour, tragedy, action and extremes of the trucking world, by turns moving between the dramatic, light-hearted and surprising – including runaway trucks, skirmishes with the law, nostalgic tales of the early pioneers, love stories, and more than one practical joke. Whether you’re a trucking die-hard or just love the wide open road and a cracking good yarn, Life on the Roadis a gripping insight into the real lives of Kiwi truckies.

Download or read book Truck A Love Story written by Michael Perry and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2006-10-17 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of Population: 485 returns, delivering a truckload of humor, heart, and . . . gardening tips? Think Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, complete with stock cars, sexy vegetables, and a laugh track. "All I wanted to do was fix my old pickup truck," says Michael Perry. "That, and plant my garden. Then I met this woman. . . ." Truck: A Love Story recounts a year in which Perry struggles to grow his own food ("Seed catalogs are responsible for more unfulfilled fantasies than Enron and Penthouse combined"), live peaceably with his neighbors (one test-fires his black powder rifle in the alley; another's best Sunday shirt reads 100 PERCENT WHUP-ASS), and sort out his love life. But along the way, he sets his hair on fire, is attacked by wild turkeys, takes a date to the fire department chicken dinner, and proposes marriage to a woman in New Orleans. As with Population: 485, much of the spirit of Truck: A Love Story may be found in the characters Perry meets: a one-eyed land surveyor, a paraplegic biker who rigs a sidecar so that his quadriplegic pal can ride along, a bartender who refuses to sell light beer, an enchanting woman who never existed, and half the staff of National Public Radio. By turns hilarious and heartfelt, a tale that begins on a pile of sheep manure, detours to the Whitney Museum of American Art, and returns to the deer-hunting swamps of northern Wisconsin, Truck: A Love Story becomes a testament to the surprising and unintended consequences of love. 1006

Download or read book Semi Queer written by Anne Balay and published by . This book was released on 2020-01-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long-haul trucking is linked to almost every industry in America, yet somehow the working-class drivers behind big rigs remain largely hidden from public view. Gritty, inspiring, and often devastating oral histories of gay, transsexual, and minority truck drivers allow award-winning author Anne Balay to shed new light on the harsh realities of truckers' lives behind the wheel. A licensed commercial truck driver herself, Balay discovers that, for people routinely subjected to prejudice, hatred, and violence in their hometowns and in the job market, trucking can provide an opportunity for safety, welcome isolation, and a chance to be themselves--even as the low-wage work is fraught with tightening regulations, constant surveillance, danger, and exploitation. The narratives of minority and queer truckers underscore the working-class struggle to earn a living while preserving one's safety, dignity, and selfhood. Through the voices of drivers from marginalized communities who spend eleven- to fourteen-hour days hauling America's commodities in treacherous weather and across mountain passes, Semi Queer reveals the stark differences between the trucking industry's crushing labor practices and the perseverance of its most at-risk workers.

Download or read book Sailors of the Concrete Sea written by Dale Belman and published by MSU Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sailors of the Concrete Sea summarizes data collected from 573 interviews with truck drivers conducted by the Sloan Foundation Trucking Industry Program in 1997 and 1998. This data, unique in its depth and scope, provides a finely textured picture of the work and work life of over-the-road truck drivers in the United States. Presented with supporting data, the book provides information on widely ranging topics, including drivers' hours of work and rest, use of truck-borne technology, form and generosity of pay and benefits, employer retention, sources of training and job experience, use of log books and violations of hours of service regulations, and views of their jobs. The driver survey is a unique source of data on drivers, both in the range of subjects covered in the survey and in the reliability of the information. The survey questionnaire instrument included more than 250 questions. While some of these questions were designed to facilitate comparison between the Driver Survey and national labor market surveys such as the Current Population Survey, most were designed to explore the characteristics of truck drivers' work. As such, they provide a rich portrait of drivers' work and lives.

Download or read book Life in the Fast Lane written by Aidan Coles and published by Promontory Press Incorporated. This book was released on 2013-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a dark underbelly to every city, and one group of professionals spend most of their time lurking within. Unloved, unappreciated and mostly unseen: tow truck drivers. Join accomplished magazine columnist and 20-year towing veteran Aidan Coles as he blows the hood off the true story of what being a towman is.Ever wondered why tow trucks seem to block the middle of a busy street in rush hour for no apparent reason? Or how tow truck drivers seem to always know exactly where the illegally-parked cars are? Or even what happens to those cars once they've been hauled away? This book reveals all, from high-speed impacts to high-jinks on scooters.Take it from the author himself: "I've been the low boy all the way to general manager and have done every job in the industry including toilets. Yes, I've impounded a portable toilet."

Download or read book Truck written by DK and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2024-05-21 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lavishly illustrated celebration of trucks and trucking, from the first motorized wagons to the advent of electric, driverless freight vehicles. Charting decade after decade of innovation and change, The Truck Book is a beautifully illustrated history of trucks, trucking culture, and the romance of the open road. Trucks, semis, and vans share their origins in the steam wagons of the 1800s and the invention of the modern combustion engine in the 1870s. As steam power gave way to gas and diesel engines, trucks evolved and diversified according to their desired purpose - becoming everything from panel vans and pickup trucks to heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), or construction trucks, such as log carriers or concrete transporters. Military forces worldwide soon realized the value in these vehicles, and so they played a defining role in the wars of the 20th century. In the meantime, they have also saved lives as ambulances and fire trucks and entertained the masses in the form of monster trucks. The Truck Book showcases the most important and iconic makes and models of every era - from the Ford TT to the Bedford TM Turbo 92 Series, to the Toyota Hilux. Along the way, it evokes the freedom and nostalgia of the open road, explores trucking culture, and shows how trucks and trucking companies, such as Mack and UPS, have won a place in fans' hearts. Weaving together stunning photographic catalogs with specially commissioned "visual tours," feature spreads on truck models, designers, and manufacturers, as well as on milestone events or technological developments over the last 200 years, The Truck Book is the most comprehensive and best-illustrated title available on the subject.

Download or read book The Law of the Garbage Truck written by David J. Pollay and published by Sterling Publishing (NY). This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Law of the Garbage Truck, David J. Pollay shows us that by refusing to let others dump their "garbage" (negativity, anger, resentment) on us and letting it "pass by" instead, we become happier and more successful, both personally and professionally. And when we stop dumping garbage on others, we improve our relationships, strengthen our businesses and bring our communities together. This remarkable book shows us how to use this Law and helps us to avoid getting dumped on by rude, thoughtless and angry people, stop reliving the negative and fearing the future and focus on what can be controlled, not the negative things that can't be. It will help increase productivity, respect and cooperation and allow readers to gain the courage to enjoy every day and make a difference. Includes two powerful, insightful quizzes designed to help determine how much garbage you are accepting and how much you are dumping.

Download or read book This Truckin Life written by Laurie Driver and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-08-03 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a set of reflections and recollections of a truck driver's forty plus years in the hard and unforgiving world of the haulage and transport industry. It delves into methods resorted to in order to survive and make ends meet for himself and his family, in a world where the truck driver is deemed the lowest of the low. There is humor, pathos, some love and some violence. There are tales of underhand dealings, fiddles and thievery. It tells of times when truck driving was a man's world. Hard relentless toil, long, unsocial hours, when there was no power steering and all gearboxes were constant mesh. When roping and sheeting was the norm. When truck driving was not just a job, it was a way of life.

Download or read book Trucks written by Adrianna Morganelli and published by Crabtree Publishing Company. This book was released on 2007 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the world of trucks from big to small and fast to slow.