Monday, November 20, 2017

Truck drivers and Television



Today’s Historical Photo:


 The magic mysterious Television before it was simply TV!

Truck Drivers and Television
As early as I can remember I admired tractor and trailer drivers. I heard they drove as far away as Florida and New York.
Truckers wore  uniforms including hats. Some wore award pins to indicate how many miles they had driven without a ticket or accident.
 (That is Uncle Hisure at the door in his trucker's uniform)
By the time I was 7 or 8 I had uncles and cousins who were driving trucks. Some of them bought their trucks, others just drove for ‘The Man’. Long haul truckers made more money than local drivers of course. When they were trying to save money my Uncle Hisure told me they ate ‘trucker’s soup’ which was water and ketchup with soda crackers.
Back then a trucker would teach a novice to drive for $100. That being the novice must take three or four trips and log so many hours behind the wheel. Hisure made what he called a ‘rabbit box’. This was before the great sleeper trucks of today. He knocked out his back window and built a wooden box for one driver to sleep in going down the road. They crawled in and out from the cab. Aunt Agnes made him a curtain.
He taught my brother Odis to drive and Odis started driving for the same trucking company, Akers Motor lines. Odis drove to New York City and hauled goods back to NC. He brought the most amazing thing back once, He called it a Television. It was like big box radio, except it had a six inch glass they called a screen. We would sit and watch that little bright light for hours, there was nothing on it but test patterns at times. The nearest television station was in Charlotte, NC and that was 60 miles away and did not reach Shelby. Test patterns were odd shapes we had never seen before.
 Telling a kid that today with all the electronic gadgets and toys they have, they would know we were crazy or at least stupid.


But to us it was amazing. We were told that one day it would actually be like a radio that you could see. I just dreamed of seeing The Long Ranger on that little screen one day.
 Some of you are old enough to remember that. But forever after I pictured the Truck Driver as visiting magic places that had things like TVs that worked. My brother had seen them and knew it was true.
 
Nite Shipslog
PS: Now about this wonderfully created body:
*******  *****************  ************
****Three hundred million cells die in the human body every minute.  (I asked, are you  sure?)  He says  for adults let’s say 60,000,000,000 in 24 hours
 
****Like fingerprints, every individual has a unique tongue print that can be used for identification




6 comments:

Mevely317 said...

Taking a ride in an 18-wheeler is still on my bucket list! Tom has a friend who's an over-the-road driver, who has offered to take me down I-10 at 75 mph sometime (wheeeee!).
Unfortunately, he's limited to the California coastline of late and we're moving east ....

I don't recall those tiny screens, but do remember the 'test' screens. Aren't we so fortunate to experience all technology's leaps and bounds?!

betty said...

Son had a friend whose dad drove an 18 wheeler. He was gone a lot, but the advantage was during summer he would take one of his kids with him on his various trips and they got to see a lot of the country. That would be an adventure. Kids these days would be shocked that TV actually stopped broadcasting after a certain time and the small number of channels offered.

betty

TARYTERRE said...

my husbands uncle was a truck driver. Fascinated your kin built a sleeping cab. such a clever idea. ahead of it's time. you must have been beside yourself to see The Long Ranger on tv .

Anonymous said...

It was nice to see the simple tv. Really it would be nice to see the early truck drivers wearing full uniform.Now also we can see some drivers wearing full uniform. They look beautiful on that:)

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

I do remember the test screen on the TV. Although we also had a station or two that we could also watch. We didn't have 24 hour TV then and that's when the test screen was on. It's hard to believe what a difference television had in our world. Every time I'm on the highway I'm amazed at all the truckers out there and we often forget what a great job they do supplying goods to all the nicks and crannies of our country. Our stores are now stocked for the holidays and that is thanks to a trucker.

Dar said...

My uncle was an OTR trucker. He was going to teach me how to drive his truck but my short legs never met the peddles and shifting 16 gears was challenging.
I do remember the test screens that always came on at 10pm after the National Anthem. Today everything is in a blink of the eye.
love n' hugs from up north where it's gloomy and fluffy snow is falling.
Have a restful week!