Fully loaded truck hauling fuji apples to the packing shed.
What's the best part about being a trucker? I wanted to get a different perspective to another aspect of the farming industry. Another cog in the grand scheme of farming. How does our produce get from farm to factory and then finally to consumers. Who are the people that make this happen is what i wanted to find out. Good thing all the truck drivers i met are more talkative than i am. I got quite a few varying answers, each person did it for a different reason. One of them for example has been doing this his whole life. He originally hauled equipment and other various produce down the west coast. He said he loved getting to see the country by driving around. Now that he's a little bit older and settled down, He's moved to more local hauling practices. He hauls fruit during the harvest season and also hauls cattle and hay. This gave him the option of still driving 8+ hours a day, but is afforded the luxury of going home and sleeping in his own bed at the end of the night.
Cowboy boots are made for hauling
Craig... this was one of those cases where you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. We only got to speak maybe 2-3 times. He wasn't one of our usual truck drivers. He lived about 4-5 hours in the southern part of Washington so it wasn't exactly convenient for him. He made the trip anyways, but why? When i first talked to him, He seemed to be like any other normal person. We talked about food during his travels, he loved road side truck stop food no matter how greasy it was. There was some appeal to him about gritty diners. The amazing part about him was that he is a college professor. Trucking was a side job past time. He has his masters and taught on a regular basis. Times when he was free he would haul fruit or hay. He said Its not like i need the money, but i don't like sitting at home doing nothing.
Strapping down the apple bins
The guy pictured above was a lot of fun to talk to. He's actually been to alot of places in the world. He used to be a marine and traveled to different bases in the world. One of them was Subic bay philippines. A place thats very familiar to me. I used to travel there very often with a few friends when i lived there. Although its not very far from Manila, it was very different in lifestyle. More of a laid back country life with a sprinkling of American infrastructure. The base was already closed when i lived there, but we both talked about similar places we've been to like the import grocery store which was still standing. It sold alot of imported goods that you wouldn't normally be able to buy in the philippines. He also asked me a lot about film photography and told me he used to have a dark room on the base. Me being who i am and loving to teach anyone about what i love doing. I gave him everything i knew about processing film and if he didn't want to do it himself i gave him the names and contact info for Panda lab in seattle and Indie film lab in Alabama.
As you can see i've been rambling on in this entire blog with no point in sight. I like to talk, I like to be inquisitive. It's just in my nature. In my younger years i was told not to ask people certain questions about their life, That i was being too nosey. I know there are boundaries to what you should and shouldn't ask, but how will you ever meet or learn about someone without asking about them? asking about their lives. Asking why they do certain things? If i refrained from asking people or talking to people i feel like this book project would have been alot more dull than it is. I don't think images always need a backstory, but it certainly doesn't hurt to have one. long story short, People are AMAZING. Don't judge people before you get to know them. You'll find out quickly how many commonalities we all have.