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When I was growing up, one of my family’s favorite bands was ALABAMA. Anytime we headed off on an adventure you could pretty much bet your shirt that dad would play a little Mountain Music. A couple of my brothers may deny it now, but we used to belt those songs at the top of our lungs and loved every minute.

As I sang those songs in the old pick up, I never would have guessed that I would end up living one of them…

Many of you know that my husband drives truck for a living. Well, actually if we are going to get technical, he manages a trucking company and just happens to end up driving the truck for months out of the year. If you ask him, he’ll say he is a manager for a small business. But if you ask my kids, who are all too well aware of the real life day to day reality, they’ll tell you that their dad is a trucker, and a dang good one.

He’s been gone most of the last 4 months, stopping in here and there for a shower, clean clothes, home cooked food, and to catch up at his real job in the office. We’ve snuck in a family weekend trip here and there, but even with those we all feel he’s been gone too much.

A week and a half ago, he came home sick as a dog and a couple hours later, I took him to the ER.

His appendix was ready to rupture.

Thankfully, the surgery went well.

The big man wasn’t loving being too large for his bed {I sure got a good giggle out of it!} so that night he made the nurses release him. Stubborn mule. With deadlines to meet and people waiting on him, he was back to work in a day and then back on the road a week later. I guess they were right, You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down.

This morning when I looked out my window I saw snow. The wind has been blowing side ways and the temps are supposed to be icy all week. It’s comfy and cozy sitting in front of the fire with my munchkins. The Christmas lights are up, the kids have piles of homework, and I have 6 cans of gourmet hot cocoa to keep us toasty warm. Somewhere far beyond my window, my husband is getting ready to drop his load of batteries in California. Then he’ll head straight into the snowstorm as he drives up to Montana and then back down to Utah. As I watch the snow whip past my window, the words to that old Alabama song comes to the forefront of my mind.

“Well it’s Wednesday evening, Mama’s waitin’ by the phone. It rings but it’s not his voice. Seems the highway patrol found a jackknifed rig in a snow bank in Illinois…”

That’s where you come in.

Did you know that there are around 3.5 million truckers working on the road somewhere in the United States? When you see a big rig driving down the highway, you probably see a smelly guy with a couple weeks worth of stubble on his chin. You might see him as a nuisance, slowing you down on that hill or getting in your way as you race to work. After years of driving on the road amongst trucks, you might not even notice him anymore, he’s just another driver on the road.

But to somebody out there, he is a husband, father, son, brother, uncle, and friend.

He is somebody’s whole world.

Here are 5 tips for Sharing the Road with a Trucker:

1. Do not cut in front of big trucks.

*Did you know that a fully loaded tractor trailer can weigh up to 80,000 pounds and take the length of a football field to stop? To give you a little comparison, the average passenger car weighs about 3000 pounds. {trucking.org}

2. Leave extra room between you and a big rig, as in several car lengths worth of room. You can’t see what’s in front of him so use your thinker and give you both a little personal space.

3. Don’t drive in a truck’s blind-spots. If you can’t see him in his mirrors, he can’t see you!

4. Be alert and attentive. Put down the phone and watch the road.

5. Be kind.

When you hit the road this holiday season, see him as he really is.

A hard working man (or woman) doing his level best to get his job done, with a family somewhere praying their guts out that he will come home safe.

“Roll on highway, roll on along, roll on Daddy ‘til you get back home. Roll on family, roll on crew, roll on Mama like I asked you to do. And, roll on eighteen-wheeler roll on. Roll on.”