Description
Book SynopsisWit, wisdom, adventure, and revelations from sixty years on the road.
They say that only truck drivers experience the true grandeur and landscape of America: the winding mountainsides at sunrise, the first frosts of winter descending on apple orchards, the call of the rising roosters. In A Trucker's Tale, Ed Miller gives an inside look at the allure of the work and the colorful characters who haul our goods on the open road. He shares what it was like to grow up in a boisterous trucking family, his experience as an equipment officer in Vietnam, the wide range of vehicles he's mounted, and the daily trials, tribulations, risks, and exploits that define life as a trucker.
Ed's vibrant, no-holds-barred tales are hilarious and heartwarming, sometimes cringeworthy or unbelievable—recollections of heroic feats as well as the “fishing stories” that have stretched and shifted from CB radio to CB radio. Many are the results of what he calls “just plain stupidity.” Others bring to light the small acts of kindness and grand gestures that these Knights of the Highway perform each day, as well as the safety risks and continual danger that these essential workers endure. Together they paint a compelling portrait of one of the most important but least-known industries and reveal why Ed, and so many like him, just kept on truckin’.
Trade Review“A well-crafted, intimate portrait of a life lived in trucking.”
—Overdrive Magazine
“If there's one person who can reveal how to overcome loneliness and social distancing, while maintaining a great sense of humor, it's a long-distance trucker. Ed Miller literally wrote a book on it.”
—Fox45 News, Baltimore
“Hop into the cab for a view of trucking in all its glory, grease, and hilarity.”
—Texas Border Business
“A Trucker’s Tale is notably refreshing. . . . Over the years, I’ve spoken to any number of folks who have riding in a big rig on their bucket lists; Miller’s book is a wonderful opportunity to vicariously clear that item off your list.”
—The VVA Veteran
“The beauty of A Trucker’s Tale is that you can read the whole book or everyday choose just one story to transport you to another place. Some of the stories are full of laughter, while others sadness and anger, male machismo, rescuing damsels in distress (don’t know if I can use the word damsels anymore), highway consciousness, manners, bad leadership and really, really good guys.”
—Arabella magazine
Table of ContentsPreface
Part One: An Education
Part Two: Military Trucking
Part Three: College Trucking
Part Four: Characters
Part Five: Management
Part Six: Directions, Shippers, Strikes, and Baby Animals
Part Seven: Knights of the Highway
A Note on Safety
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
