Thumpin' tires

When I think of all the things that happened to me while driving an 18 wheeler, some stand out more than others. Some funny, some not. One in such funny incident happeed in the winter of 1968. I was driving for a company that transported refrigerated and dry products. My driving partner and I had picked up a load of fresh pork in Souix City, Iowa and were headed west for a delivrey in California. I was driving and elected to stop on the emergncy lane of the freeway somewhere west of Rawlins,Wyo. to thump the tires, stretch and get some fresh air. It was about 1:00 a.m. and as I recall it was well below freezing on that January night. I got out of the truck and took my "bud bar" to thump the tires. Normally I went to the back of the trtuck humping tires and checking for anything amiss down the traffic side of the truck. This time, however, I went around the front of the truck and went down the borrw ditch side of the truck. I returned to the cab along the traffic side of the truck, got in, quietly closed the door, slipped the truck in gear and pulled onto the freeway. I stopped at Little America, Wyo. about two hours later and unzipped the curtain to the sleeper compartment to wake my partner but he was not there. I immediately knew what had happened. While I was going around the back of the truck, he must have gotten out of the truck and stood beside the drive tires to relieve himself. I didn't notice him and left him standing there in his shorts, barefooted with no coat. I sat there for several minutes not knowing what to do when a car pulled up beside the truck and he got out wrapped in a blanket. I was really releived when I saw him. He told me that after I left him stranded, several trucks and cars went hy ignoring him. He said he stood there for about 20 minutes berore someone stopped. To say the least, he was madder than Hell and I didn't blame him. You can be sure that from that time on, I always checked the sleeper to make sure my partner was there if I had stopped, gotten out of the truck and returned before moving out.