I was 15 years old. I had been driving for a year when one day My brother, Herb asked if I would like to take a ride with him the next day. He was a truck driver and he had to take a load to Fort Ord from the Port of Stockton. It had to be delivered the next morning so I said sure. I often rode along with him and sometimes with my cousin Harvey who was also a truck driver. Anyway, the next morning he picked me up at 4:00. He pitched me the pickup keys and told me to drive over to the Port of Stockton to pick up the truck. I started driving while he curled up to catch a little more sleep. As we were driving through Modesto I stopped at a railroad crossing. I looked down the track and there was a train coming but it was a long way off and there was plenty of time for me to cross. I started to cross when Herb woke up and saw the train coming and he yelled. It scared the crap out of me and my foot jumped of the clutch. The pickup died right in the middle of the track and by now the train was a lot closer. I tried to start it but it turned over but wouldnt start. I heard Herbs door open and close. He didnt say see you later or anything he just left. I tried the starter again and it turned over and started so I drove it off of the track. Without much conversation we went and picked up the truck in Stockton. I climbed up in the cabs sleeper and fell asleep while Herb headed to Fort Ord. A while later I felt something hit me in the side and heard Herb yell for me to wake up. He told me to get a comforter and wrap it around me and when he told me to he wanted me to jump out of the truck. I thought he was messing with me so I just rolled over. Then I heard it in his voice that he wasnt kidding. I got up and looked at the speedometer and it was pegged out at 80 mph and the air pressure gauge was at 0. I got up and did what he told me to do, I wrapped a comforter around me but I looked around and noticed he was very busy and there was no one else there to throw me out of that truck that was now going close to a hundred miles an hour, so I knew I was in for the ride of my life. We were on Pacheco Pass. At the time it was a one lane each way road. I looked out the windshield and every few minutes I could see a slow moving truck a few miles ahead going in the same direction as we were. Herb was using the whole road to straighten out the curves. He was blinking the lights to warn the other truck driver that we were a runaway. The other driver caught on what was happening and sped up as much as he could safely do. As we crept upon the other truck I just knew there was nothing that could save us. I prepared for the impact by hanging on for dear life. As we got up to the truck, Herb swung into the left hand lane and the other driver hit his brakes and in a split second we were around him. Just then a car came around a curve and we couldnt have missed it by very much. We were able to coast down the hill a came to a complete stop. My brother saved our lives that night by some very skillful driving. After we got stopped he got out of the truck and went to the back of the truck and buried his head and I knew he shed a few tears. Oh, by the way, we were hauling 48,000 lbs of medical supplies.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 01:30:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015