If you can't place yourself on a map, you're as good as lost.
I'm an old OTR truck driver... Did it for years, enjoyed most ever mile. OTR is short for 'Over the Road.' I've been from sea to shinning sea, from the gulf coast to Canada. In fact I've been to all the bordering Canadian Provinces. I always knew where I was, cause I drove there.
When I was a young fellow, a friend of mine was learning to fly. We were up flying once with his instructor, when Byron (my friend) said, “I'm lost,” which Fred (the instructor) replied immediately, “No you're not, you just haven't thought about it.” Then this liturgy followed.
Fred “What country are you in?”
Byron, “Well the US.”
Fred, “What state?”
Byron, “Well Texas, hell I know that..!!”
Fred, “Shut up... What county.?
Byron, “Galveston.”
Fred, “ See, you're not lost.? You just hadn't thought about it. Start with what you already know, you know the direction you're going, so get this plane down low enough, and fly a wide circle until you recognize something, and wa-la you're not lost.” And we did just that. I have a feeling we were never lost. I think his point was, if you're in the plane alone, and trouble arises, there's nobody to ask, except yourself. Get asking. Get answering.
In trucking, or any over the road travel, or even flying, the trick, as simple as it is, is to know where you are, know where you are going, and knowing what route you're going to use to get there. Kind of sounds like life. Choose carefully, consider weather, construction, low overpasses, under-rated bridges, don't be afraid of the smaller roads, if they are rated.
Like I said, I was never lost, cause I was the one that drove there. When you train as an OTR Driver, one of the thing you have to master is map reading. Now my daddy taught me to read a map when we went on vacations.... So I thought I knew how to read a map. Turns out, when I took the class, there was much about a good road map I didn't know. It's full of information if you know how to read it. A trucker treasures his Rand McNally.
Where am I going with this. Well, I been watching Youtube, on Youtube truckers put up videos of their dash cameras as they go down the road. Sometimes they give you an idea of where they are in the title, and sometimes they don't. What I have discovered, (and I am sure many of you have, I am usually late to the party), is, that you can watch one of these trucker's videos going down the road, and within ten miles, you know exactly where you are on google earth, I mean to the mile marker.
There is enough information along most any stretch of highway that within ten miles, you can pinpoint yourself on a map. You can't ask for any better road markings. If you get lost, you can't read. Our fathers did a marvelous job putting together our Interstate, highway, byway, roadway and drive way system we utilized today. To ask for a railroad, or drones or anything else is like bitching about gold. Ahhhh...I don't like my gold...
Not only are the highways well marked, everybody and their dawg wants to tell you something, so the variety of signage out there is remarkable, and each one tells you a little something about what's down the road a ways, sometimes about what you just missed, 'Turn Around!' In many cases they are an art form, and in many cases they are intriguing. In many cases you don't even know what they are selling. Those people need to be fired. I should at least know what you're selling.
There is a serious of billboards west bound on I-10 that run from Louisiana to Arizona, the closer to Arizona, the closer the signs, “The Thing.” The Thing, was in the desert, on the edge of Texas Canyon, which is a place where God hand stacked the rocks. (A place worth seeing.)
I guess one of my points is, You Drivers, don't put your videos up live, put them up after the fact. We are at war, if you put it up live, you can be tracked to within a mile, you're a sitting duck. Quack, Quack..... Put them up after the fact. I enjoy them I do, as an old Driver, but don't put yourself and your cargo at risk for my entertainment. I am just fine with seeing them after the fact. You and your cargo are important, to you, your family, the company, the shipper, the receiver, the consumer, for goodness sake, the country. So be smart and safe out there.
As for anyone else reading this, it's kind of fun. Give it a try, pick a video of a trucker just going down the road, and see how long it takes you to figure out where you are, using google earth as your map. You can even drop yourself on the road to see if you see what the trucker sees. It's an interesting exercise.
Too many people don't know their way to the corner store. Too many people can't place themselves on a map sitting in their house. If you're one of these, then the schools failed you. Reading a map is basic, goes back thousands of years. Learn to read a map, and find out where you are on it. If you have a phone, everybody else knows. So be smart and be safe.
Do you realize that from Orange, Texas to El Paso, Texas is just as far as from Houston, Texas to Chicago, Illinois. I just bragging now, It's as far from Brownsville, Texas to the state line with Oklahoma there in the panhandle, as it is from there to Bismark, North Dakota. As a trucker you learn this, when you finally get out of Texas, state lines start going by, instead of just county lines. It's as far from Houston to El Paso as it is from El Paso to LA.... It's all good driving.
Can be tough in the winter, but what a site. Wisconsin in the winter, is a wonderland, around Christmas, you can't touch it. The beauty is story book stuff. Do you even know where Wisconsin is on a map? There is about two-weeks in Wisconsin when nobody goes to work, they go hunting. So don't pull no stunts in Wisconsin, you might get shot. Wisconsin was one of those states where in the winter, instead of cars outside the bars, it's snowmobiles. You'd see them weaving up and down the ditches.... Were there is a will, there is a way. So..... learn to read a map, find out were you are on it, and find out where your favorite places are on it. You are an American, you should know how to read a map.
July 10th 2025
George Henry Nichols
