Chapter 14

Six hours after the movie was over, Cherie was waking me to get on the road. Legally, drivers can drive for ten hours and then must take an eight-hour break. I jumped in the shower to wash and to get rid of my bed head. When I walked out to the truck, she had a small bat in her hands, hitting the tires to make sure they were all full of air. She explained that hitting the tire with a bat, provides a certain sound, which indicates when there is enough air in the tire. At this point, she had the truck idling, so it could warm up. I put my bag in the truck and went back inside to grab a couple of breakfast sandwiches and coffees before going back out. Cherie was thankful for the food, so we pulled out and started on our way to Davenport.

We talked about the schedule, and she said that the ten on eight off schedule could end up being very exhausting. "They want you to sleep, but in reality, the eight off means you end up getting five hours sleep and some time for breakfast, dinner and a bathroom break. If you do that too many times in a row without a catch-up break, you'll hit the wall and fall asleep at the wheel. I don't do too many 'just in time deliveries' where they're waiting for me to arrive. I make sure that I have the proper sleep, so I can stay awake when I drive."

"Would you rather drive a route and be home every night?"

"I like to see the country, but after your second or third loop, you get used to the sights. If I had to choose, I'd drive a route, but the truth of it is that I make more money over the road."

She asked about me and I told her that I worked as a consultant for the Stop and Go Truck stops. "We have a partnership with Freedom trucking, so I'm catching rides to check out the newly opened facilities. I'm also trying to learn about the trucking side to see if there's anything we can add or change to make your lives safer and easier."

"More showers and laundry machines for the long haul truckers would be nice."

"Cherie, over the next six months, you'll see that the way we ship things will be very different and the needs will be changing. I'm sorry for the hassle that you and your fellow truckers will experience in the short-term."

"What kind of changes?"

"Will you promise not to say anything?"

"I cross my heart hope to die, pinkie swears. I won't say anything." She said.

"The plan, if it works out, is that you'd go to the nearest Stop and Go and pick up a load. You'd drive four or five hours and then pull into another S and G. You'd drop your load, and, turn around to pull another load back to where you started, and then go home. Depending on where your home base is, you could drive in different directions, but the goal would be to make an eight or ten-hour round trip run whenever you worked. The scanners take care of tracking the freight to make sure that it's in the expected location and heading in the right direction."

"That's pretty cool. I guess I should start looking to get rid of my sleeper, so I can get better fuel mileage. Do you think that'll work?"

"I do. However, you may not want to own your own truck, but drive a company truck instead. You'd save on the fuel, insurance, maintenance and depreciation."

"That's something that I'll need to think about. If what you say is true, and if I want top dollar, then I should sell this baby before the switch-over."

"I can get you a truck to drive and you can stay in the S and G at night until they make the switch to the round trip routes." I said.

"That sounds like a plan if you can swing it. Do you really think they'll be switching to the new system?"

"I do. They're waiting to have all the truck stops working before they make the switch."

She was quiet for a while and I let her think. At some point, she almost started again, but decided against that, and just thought some more. During the time she was thinking, she reached over and turned on the radio, so we could listen to some music. I thought back to my sales training class when we learned that after you make the offer, you should simply sit back and be quiet. The next person that talks loses. I just rode along and was quiet.

Cherie finally said, "That makes a lot of sense. I may have to move because I live in between two stops, so I'd have to drive a couple of hours to and from work every day. I guess that people who want to drive using your new system will have to make some changes."

"Some will. There may also be times when you need to deliver loads to end customers near your house, so you may end up taking a job driving to the S and G to pick up a load for a local delivery. I can see where a little town will form around the S and G to make it an easy drive to and from work. They can drive a car to work instead of parking their rig at the house."

"That makes sense. I know a lot of drivers will be happy to meet their families again."

"That's definitely one of the benefits."

"What're some of the others?"

"Huge fuel savings, continuous movement, online tracking and eventually better pay and benefits are the main ones." Of course, if you're home almost every night, you have a bit more of a life as well."

We pulled into Davenport after being on the road for ten hours. I saw a line of trucks parked along the fence in the back of the lot. After she shut everything down and was about to get out, I told her to leave her bag and follow me. We walked back to where they had the new trucks parked. They had all the fairings attached and looked quite nice. She hopped up on the side and looked inside, and she saw that everything was new and top of the line. She said that everything looked good, and then she hopped down and flipped up the hood.

Cherie said, "This engine looks too small to pull all the loads that I pull and especially those that I take up most of the mountains."

"We can talk about that inside," I said.

We went to the apartment and dropped our bags before going down to get some dinner. I asked her if she wanted some beer again and she said she didn't, but would appreciate some Tab. I bought her a couple and some Cokes for me. We went back to the room and I asked her, "Where are we?"

"You know we're in Davenport Iowa."

"If you drive out and back four or five hours in any direction do you think you'll run into any mountains?"

"No."

"So why would you need an engine large enough to pull the largest load up a mountain instead of an engine large enough to pull a load on the flat terrain you have for a round trip?"

"I guess you wouldn't. It still looked small."

"Of the loads that you pull, what percentage do you think the DOT considers are at max weight?"

"Maybe twenty percent."

"So maybe twenty percent should have engines designed to pull maximum weight and the rest should have smaller engines designed to pull less than maximum weight."

"That sounds good, but how can you expect to keep track of which truck will pull which load? I have trouble finding my shoes at home."

I just held up my badge with the bar code. She looked at me and I saw the light bulb go off.

Cherie said, "Someone planned all of this a long time ago. This is so cool. I can see that all of those things you said will come true. I really get the concept now, and I'm surprised that no one has done it before."

"It takes a lot of money to buy and build everything and it takes a lot of people to believe in the plan."

"What other secretes do you know?" she asked.

"You have to promise on your mom's life for this one."

"Britt, I wouldn't break your trust."

"OK." I whispered and leaned in close to her, "Dani came up with the chicken and waffles recipe in my kitchen while wearing nothing except an apron."

"Shut up. You probably don't even know her if she's even a real person."

"She's real and really nice. I saw her and we hung out when she showed up at the grand opening in Las Vegas a week ago."

"Naked, huh. That's almost too crazy to make up."

"Well I can make up some crazy shit, but that's the truth. She had a helper and she was wearing the same thing too. I just sat at the counter and drank coffee while they argued about the seasoning and spices that they needed to add."

"I've learned a lot today. I'm going to take a shower and get some sleep."

She took a shower and when she finished, I took one too. When I came out, she was in bed. I dried my hair with the towel and got into my bed. We said good night and went to sleep. She woke me in the morning and we did our morning routine. I put my stuff in the truck and then took a brisk walk around the plaza twice. I introduced myself to the night manager and asked if he needed anything. He showed me around and told me that there were a couple of problems the first week, but when the installation crew came back, they fixed everything. I met Cherie for breakfast, and once again, I had chicken and waffles while she just smiled at me.

We went to Flint Michigan and dropped off the load. We picked up another and since it wasn't hazardous, we made it all the way to Columbus, without any problems. It was a thirteen-hour day after she made the switch in Flint and the drop at 4 PM in Columbus. We didn't have a trailer, so we went to a restaurant away from the truck stop for dinner. After we shared a nice dinner she asked me what was my next stop.

"I have no idea. I'll look over the stop here in Columbus, then pick up my mail, and see what they have in store for me next. Are you staying here tonight or heading out?"

She said, "I have a pick-up scheduled for eight in the morning.

"Do you have an extra bed for the night? If not, you can share mine," Britt said.

"I didn't think you had any interest," she said.

"I'm always interested. I just didn't want to take advantage of the situation. We work together and I want to learn what you have to share without the cloud of sex over our heads."

"In that case, I'm kicking you out of my truck. Let's go see if that bed of yours has room for two."

"I do have to read over my mail and make a few phone calls first, but I think we can check out the bed tonight."

When I called Beth, she told me to hop a ride down to Nashville in the morning. There was no hurry, but Craig had some things he wanted to discuss. She also wanted me to sign the papers in the folder she sent and send them back to her. I looked them over and signed them, put them in the return envelope and went down to the office to place it in the outgoing mail.

I made it back to the room and asked Cherie what direction she was heading. She said, "I have to go back west with a load of chemicals from Momentive Chemicals. I haul chemicals a lot because of my licenses and the pay. I also get regular breaks. Did you find out where you're going?"

"I have to meet with the President of your company in Nashville. Before I forget, here's my card. Give me a call when you're ready to drive a new truck. This number will reach my secretary Beth in Orlando. Beth will either track me down or put you in touch with Joe, the man in charge of operations, who can set you up. When you stay in the apartment, you'll need to let the plaza manager know that you're staying there, so when you leave, he can send in the cleaning crew. My code to the door is BRIT."

"I'll do that. Is there any more bookkeeping before we go to bed?"

"I could use a shower, but I can take one later after I get a little dirtier."

"I'd like to get dirty with you, and then we can shower together."

She was not a shy woman and she said, "I want to see that big cock of yours. The first day when we were driving and you fell asleep, you must've had some dream because I thought your jeans would rip with that hard dick sliding down your leg. I think I've been wet ever since."