The Last Ride
There comes a time in every traveller’s life when he makes that one last ride. For those of us who are professional ‘touristas’, those lucky souls who, through skill and good fortune travel and get paid for it, the last ride is usually a hard one.
For some, only the last few seconds are hard, as they lie bleeding in the remains of their rig, thinking of all they have given up for the life they are now leaving behind. For others, the last ride is bittersweet, because no matter how healthy, fortunate, or skillful you are, the last ride always arrives eventually.
Mine was different. Like the man who found a treasure in a field, and went and sold all that he had to buy the field, I was blessed with an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up.
That opportunity was Love! All of my life I had longed for the kind of love that my parents had experienced, but I didn’t understand that you have to be ready for that opportunity before God will give it to you.
Boy, did I have some getting ready to do! I had no clue how far I had to go, and grow, before I would be ready to meet Karen. However, in my child’s mind, I was beginning to search for it by age 6! I know that now as I look back and remember taking out a red crayon and drawing a valentine to send to the little dark-haired girl on the other side of the first-grade classroom. Why I thought I knew what love was at that point in my life is
a complete mystery to me now, but apparently I thought of Love as an emotion! I could not have been more wrong! As it turns out, Love is a lot more than an emotion, but Hey, I was six! (going on 30!)
I know, I know, this story is supposed to be about my last ride, but I had to give a little background. The last ‘ride’ for me was in mid January of 2007.
In mid-December of 2006, I had returned to Springfield Mo., from which was ‘home base’ for me in those days, to take a little time off and recuperate from the 4,000+ mile trip I had just completed.
Normally I would get into town, spend a night in the motel, and the next day call my friend David Garner. I would usually spend the second, (and maybe a third) night at his house before heading back out for another ride. 
This time however, I was exhausted. I spent 2 nights in the motel before I even called, and then it was mostly because I had promised the kids, Michael and Mayona that I would see them next time I was in town. (Funny how hard it is to disappoint a child!) So instead, I finally drug myself around about 2:30 or 3:00 pm and called David.
“No, we don’t have any plans for the weekend.”
(As I found out later, he meant none he was going to tell me about over the phone!)
So an hour or so later, after he had picked me up, and reached cruising speed of 65mph, (too fast for me to jump out) he turns to me and says: “Oh, by the way, my sister is coming to spend the weekend with us, she should be in tonight.” Those of you who know me probably realize what was going through my mind at that point: images of the open road and how I should have just went for another ride!
The last thing I wanted at that point was to meet anyone’s sister!!!
Sorry ladies, but I was tired of the game, tired of wanting something that didn’t exist, tired of meeting new ‘exes’! I didn’t like my past, and had only recently learned to like myself, and to be grateful for the life I already had. All I wanted was just ‘another ride’. (and another one after that)
Yes, just a few days before I had admitted, (privately in prayer) that I really did need a good woman, even though I was grateful for the good life I already had, but I had ceased to believe that such a thing could happen in my life.
“All the good ones are already married, and that’s why they are good, they are still married!” ”They didn’t just bail out when things got tough, they stuck it out!” ”Besides, if I did meet a good woman, why would she want me?” Ad infinitum, Ad nauseum!
In the interest of brevity, let me just say: I could not have been more wrong. About a lot of things.
Love, as it turns out, is composed of several things, but the primary ones are these:
Emotion
Desire
Compatibility, (you actually like the other person)
Trust
Comittment (funny how often that is missing)
And:
Effective Problem Resolution! (imagine that!)
When Karen and I discovered each other we both learned a lot! And what we learned led to my ‘last ride’.
One night as we were discussing things over the phone, she said to me: “You know, we will never get to know each other with you out on the road.”
That is when I knew for sure that I could not afford to let this opportunity pass me by without at least investigating it.
So, I gave it all up, and never looked back. The sunrises on the road…
The 20 hour days, the truckstop food, (some of which is actually quite good!) the song and power of a big diesel engine, the mountains, the seashore, the endless black ribbon of highway….
Was it worth it?
Absolutely! I know that this too is just another phase of my life, and that it too will some day come to an end, but I am so glad I didn’t have to miss it!
The world is full of places to go, things to do and see, and there is never an end to any of it.
But you only get real love once in a lifetime!
Well, I guess that’s about all of the story.
Yes, I took most of these pictures on my ‘last ride’.
Oh, I still get behind the wheel of a big truck, but it’s all local here in Mississippi.
A real ‘ride’ takes you through multiple states, ecosystems, and time zones, not to mention several major cities! There’s nothing else like it, but take it from me, a home and loving family is worth giving it all up for!!
The End
No… to earn your NCRS degree, you have to have the kind of mental defect that enables you to spend the better part of your life sheperding 80,000 lbs. of steel, rubber, and glass down the road at 65-70 mph. All the while dodging tourists, locals, and law enforcement who just want to get a closer look at “the pretty truck with the ugly driver!” :-0
Gotta run now, I think I hear my Jake Brake calling…
