"The Hat" pt, 1

I'm sure everyone has had that one article of clothing, or that one object that has become a permanent part of their personality. Usually it's a meaningless item which acquires value only to the person who posesses it, yet the value it gains is immeasurable to it's owner.

I have one such item, an old faded red, white, black and silver hat which has seen its better days. I purchased "The Hat", as I affectionately call it, in April 2001. It is a Dale Earnhardt commemorative hat. When I bought the hat it was only one of many such #3 hats that I owned, and was destined for the shelf where I kept them all. This hat, however, held a special place for me from the start, as it was so recently after Dale's death that it was purchased. It soon became the hat that I wore everyday.

Around this same time I decided to attend truck driving school, and little did I know that this three week trip to Lexington, Kentucky would become one of many for me and "The Hat". I graduated with my CDL and started driving for a local expedited trucking company making several runs weekly to various locations east of the Mississippi. "The Hat" accompanied me on all of these trips. On one such trip to the BAX Global Air Freight terminal in Chicago, one of our normal destinations, I removed my hat due to feeling a bit overheated, and laid it on a desk next to the receiving dock. I inadvertantly left and headed back toward Memphis, sans hat. Several days later my boss called to let me know he had a run for me, and by chance it was going to the same freight terminal in Chicago. By this time I had written "The Hat" off as a loss. Upon arrival at my destination in Chicago I was approached by one of the dock employees who recognized me from my previous trip, and he was carrying my hat! Reunited!

After several months with this employer, I switched jobs, and went over-the-road team drivng with my best friend John, with whom I attended truck driving school. John and I had many trips together to many locations in 22 states, and "The Hat" was along for them all, and always close by my side. One night John and I arrived at a truck stop in North Carolina. It was early morning and there were very limited parking spaces available. The ones that were open were that way beause of the difficulty involved with backing into them. This is a common occurence at most truck stops every night. John wasn't the brightest tool in the shed, and I definitely did not trust him to get out and guide me into a tough spot. He also wasn't the greatest when it came to operating a Freightliner in reverse, but I figured that with my guidance he could manage. I hopped out, and as I was walking around to the front of the truck, I bent to pick up a piece of trash that had fallen from my jacket pocket. The bill of "The Hat" caught on the running board, and fell behind the front tire. I raised my hand for John to wait while I retrieved it, but before I could get to it, John backed the truck right over it. I waved at him to stop and the idiot pulled forward and right back over "The Hat". I finally got my squashed, misshapen hat out from under the truck and placed it back on my head. Upon climbing back into the truck, I promptly whacked John over the head with it.

John and I parted ways a few months later when the owner/operator we drove for sold off his trucks, and I immediately went back on the road with CRST in Cedar Rapids, IA. Of course "The Hat" came along for the ride. This time I team drove with Rob, the former friend, who eventually ran off with one of my girlfriends. Finally, "The Hat" was able to make it's debut west of the Mississippi. After several coast to coast hauls "The Hat" had been in 40 states.

One of the most memorable was a trip to Laredo, TX, when Rob and I had the opportunity to go south of the border into Mexico. We went to where pretty much every trucker goes, and that was to "boystown" as it is called. Its a seedy place on the outskirts of town, protected by a brick wall where within almost anything is legal. Boystown is best known for it's cheap prostitutes who range in price from $10USD to $80USD for the more expensive ones. This is also where the much-daunted "donkey show" takes place. When you arrive and enter into one of the many bars, you are usually greeted by a prostitute who leads you to a table, then sits with you while you order a drink. She makes small-talk and flirts in an attempt to get you to take her to a room and pay her. Well, the one that met me at the door took me to a table and ordered herself and me a drink. She sat on my lap, applied extra lipstick and then kissed "The Hat" leaving a huge lip mark right on the white part of the bill. I got completely wasted that night and after sleeping it off, I completely forgot about the lipstick. I wore it that way for another week until I got home, and my wife saw it. Let the argument begin. Yet another chapter in the saga of "The Hat".

Rob and I had the opportunity to spend two days in Los Angeles, California. We made the most of it by visiting Hollywood, and spending two days exploring Hollwood Blvd and the Sunset Strip. We visited neary every major spot and saw things that would last a lifetime. The first night Rob made a phone call to a friend of his from high school back in Detroit, whom he said he knew lived in Hollywood. His friend "Bobby" was home and we were invited to come visit. We drove the truck minus trailer into the Hollwood Hills following Rob's handwritten directions. We pulled up to a palatial, gated estate, pressed the intercom button, and the gate opened. As we walked to the front door, it opened and standing in the doorway was none other than Kid Rock himself. We spent a couple of hours sitting in Kid's living room and enjoyed a few cold ones. "The Hat" stayed with me the entire time.

After a year of driving for CRST I tired of team driving, and was offered higher pay to drive for Arrow Trucking in a solo capacity. Arrow Van Division (I refused to drive flatbeds) only ran east coast, so it gave "The Hat" a chance to visit the last couple of states in New England where it had never been. No major things happened to or with "The Hat" during this period. We just drove quite a bit establishing a close hat-head bond. Many nights I grew so tired from driving that I just climbed in the bunk and slept with "The Hat" on.

Another year later, and I was offered a position to drive solo coast-to-coast for an owner/operator out of Portland, Oregon. I jumped at the opportunity. The truck I was to drive had been abandoned by it's previous driver in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida, so "The "Hat" and I boarded yet another Greyhound, (almost all trucking companies rely on Greyhound for moving their employees around) this time bound for Florida. Upon arrival in Florida, although it was January, it was extremely balmy. I found the truck with no problem, as the gentleman from the detail shop picked me up at the bus station, but finding the trailer was yet another adventure. It seems the previous driver had dropped the trailer on the side of a residential street in St. Petersburg, and the police, believing it to be abandoned had towed and impounded it. I spent two days dealing with the St. Pete PD and my new boss trying to get all of the proper paperwork through all the proper channels. Needless to say I was sweating alot because of the heat, and it was beginning to show as a white ring around the base of "The Hat". This ring stayed for several weeks until I had to drop off my trailer in a horrible rainstorm in Louisiana one night.

To be continued in Pt. 2....