Kindred Spirits

Last week was a great week to start off with. My wife, Ruth, was along for the trip to Charlotte, North Carolina, and back home to Laredo, Texas. But there was one bonus day! On Thursday morning, we woke up to start our day at the TravelCenters of America in Slidell, Louisiana. I was looking forward to the morning, as I had seen that they’d expanded the morning hours of the restaurant to open at 6:00 A.M,  rather than 10 A.M. The restaurant opening early was just the beginning of starting out the day on the right foot.  

We were walking down the hallway of the travel center to get our showers, when I noticed a gentleman approaching from the opposite direction who was wearing a bowtie. For those of you who know my history about me wearing a tie, you’ll understand why I stopped dead in my tracks. The gentleman in the bowtie also stopped and addressed me by name. He introduced himself as Randy and reminded me of how we had met over a decade ago. We had a short, but a very pleasant, conversation with him and afterward left him so we could get our showers.  

Ruth and I sat down at the Country Pride Restaurant in the travel center to have our anticipated breakfast. We were searching for Randy on Facebook to contact him and continue our conversation, when he showed up at our table. After we took a few pictures, we sat down to enjoy our breakfast and a lot more conversation. Randy and I had originally met at a truck stop on I-77 North of Charlotte, NC. many years ago. This was at the time that I was looking to move my trailer's license plate holder to the rear threshold plate, in order to reduce aerodynamic drag.

At the restaurant that Thursday morning, we talked about the old times in trucking and how truck drivers would share truck routes and stories at the counter. Sure there were some big fish stories that were told at those counters, however, there were a lot of conversations that were fitting, as well. I miss those days before technology took over face-to-face conversations. Cell phones, social media, and GPS have pretty much replaced a lot of this exchange of information. All these are wonderful technologies, and I don't want to go back to the old days, but if there is one thing I could bring back from old school trucking, it would be the conversations with other drivers at the truck stop. Talking to Randy this week reminded me of those times and in fact, on this particular morning, it was in reality, just like the old times. It was a very welcomed breath of fresh air to meet and spend some time with this kindred spirit in uniform and tie. I hope that it’s not another ten years before we cross paths again, Randy.

Randal Bouwens wears a gold-colored bowtie in memory of his son and the American Childhood Cancer Organization. I think it’s awesome that he not only wears a tie with his uniform, but even more so that he has a very meaningful reason behind it. In addition, he also shared with me that he wears a bowtie vs. a traditional tie for safety reasons.