Having grown up in an owner operator trucking family, and also ventured out a bit on my own, working for a trucking outfit, I’ve travelled a bit. I have been from Seattle to Miami, and from Maine to L.A. Seen a great deal in between. Few states I haven’t been in.

I was driving a 13 speed truck when I was 12. An early start.

I learned how to work on our truck. My stepdad was an old school trucker, who had been around the block a time or two. I learned a great deal from him about driving big trucks, as well as how to work on diesel engines, and the things that make them go. We didn’t pay to have things done we could do ourselves. I still carry that attitude with me. We didn’t do transmissions or rear ends, but everything else, we had the tools, and the know how, to handle.

I’ve been working on a motorcycle that was acquired lately, because I can. Replaced the coils in it, because after a time running @ 60-65 mph, it would spit-n-sputter, and sometimes die. 20 minutes later it would fire up and run again. Bad coils have a habit of misbehaving in such a manner. Took it for a ride yesterday, and the issue persists. So I’m looking around for hint or a clue, and I spotted a wet fuel filter, way down deep under the bike.

I pulled the filter, and you should have seen the brown crud that dumped out of it. New filter, fuel line, and a new fuel pump on the way. I think this might be the culprit. (It’s a 2004 bike, that only had 7064 miles on it, so it sat a lot. Which is not good for vehicles in general.) Being mechanically inclined, and having the experience of working on that truck, prepared me for most of my adult life. I’m still reparing most things that need fixing, which is darn near everything sooner or later. Though, I still have a car that myself, a good mechanic in town, and the Ford dealership have, to date, been unable to fix. I haven’t given up yet, but have been to busy and/or too tired to mess with it. It’s on my list.

Among other things, I also worked as a deckhand for a towboat company for a couple of years, I rode the Illinois, the Ohio, the Missouri, and the upper and lower Mississippi rivers. I learned how to handle rigging, ropes, capstans, and how to use a fid to splice rope, both poly and steel. Also, learned how how to make bumpers out of rope, for getting into and out of locks/dams. To this day, my rope experience pays me back in dividends. Knowing what knot to use for what situation is very helpful. Knowing how to splice an eye into a rope, or splice two rope ends together, is damn handy. Knowing how to properly use a cleat (Kevel, pronounced Cav’el, on towboats/barges,) is something I still do often in my boating/diving adventures. I also got to see much of our country from another perspective, from the rivers that run through them. I’ve seen big river towns lit up at night, and enjoyed the serenity of sitting on the front of a tow (a group of barges tied together with steel wire rigging,) far from the noise of the towboat, and only hearing the water lapping up under the barges as the town slips by. Pretty cool. You had to be there…

Of the many things I’ve learned in life, two would be: You can never have too much rope, and there’s no such thing as extra tarp! 😉

So, the things we learn in our travels, as young men and women, can be quite helpful in life later on. Though I gave up driving trucks, and riding towboats a long time ago, the experiences gained are invaluable to me still today.

Still shifting gears after all these years 😉

…and there’s no such thing as “far from home,” when you know how to find your way back, and can meet, and beat, the problems that pop up along the way.