Especially to everyone driving over this holiday

By Timothy D. Brady

It’s time for our national holiday of giving thanks for our abundance, even in these uncertain economic times. Most of us still have a place to sleep, something to eat, and family and friends to share all of this with – blessings only dreamed of in some countries around the world. 

I’d like to thank the trucking industry, which not only met needs and many wants   for my family and myself, but provided experiences and knowledge that go way    beyond any financial gain. 

When I became a trucker, my plan was to run for a couple of years, find a good place to settle down and enjoy my life raising a family, most likely selling real estate and insurance. Instead, the diesel fuel and accompanying wanderlust got into my blood, and I never looked back. 

The trucking industry with which we all have such an intense love/hate relationship gave me the luxury of traveling in every one of the lower 48, seeing it all: from the shores in Maine to the sounds of the surf off Washington state, to the sandstone arches in Utah, to the colonial port of Mystic, Connecticut, to Key West Florida, and everywhere in between, even Canada upon occasion. But the greatest opportunity the 2.3 million miles I traveled gave me was the chance to meet and talk with people. I’ve met everyone from former Presidents and Generals, CEOs and the famous; to the people who truly make America a great country – the hard-working men and women who produce the goods we truckers haul. 

During the twenty-three years I was on the road, I gave my two children an incredible education too. During the summers, they traveled with me on the truck, caught the cable cars in San Francisco, sailed on Long Island Sound, rode every amusement ride in Florida, experienced the grandeur of the Rockies, saw Mount St. Helens, rode horses through the California Redwoods and visited museums whose subjects ranged from antique trucks to art to the Smithsonian. 

We observed the Fourth of July on both coasts, in Puget Sound, Washington, and Boston, Massachusetts, and many small towns across America. But they also received something invaluable, in that my children, too, met the varied people and cultures from which our nation of immigrants is built. 

Trucking isn’t a career, it’s a lifestyle, a culture all its own. It’s been an honor for me to have driven these many years, and it’s now a privilege to serve the industry as an advisor, teacher and journalist. 

Yes, I have a lot to be thankful for, but I couldn’t have done it without all the truckers, dispatchers, safety directors, company owners, shippers, brokers, and    anyone who uses the goods we haul. I look forward to continuing these relationships and building new ones. 

Timothy Brady   ©2011     To contact Brady go to www.timothybrady.com 
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