If I Had a Semi

image: terrain.org

The daily writing prompt asks what skill I’d like to have in my back pocket.

Well, years ago I saw a truck driver back a semi into a parking space between two other semis, straight as a ruler and with about a foot to spare on both sides. Now that’s clever. Since then learning to drive a semi and backing it into a space like that has been on my bucket list. Just so I can say I’ve done that. Kind of like sky-diving. Well, not quite.

On vacations in Britain I hitchhiked all over the place, and I got a lot of lifts from truck lorry drivers. I loved sitting so high up, like a queen looking down on all the other little cars around me. Cheeky little things, most of them…

And the lorries all had a bed behind the front seats. Once, when I was on crutches, I lay on one of those beds, propped up on one elbow, even higher up than on the seat. One guy had a tiny little fridge in between the seats; he made us cheese and cucumber sandwiches.

As some of you may have noticed, I do a lot of escaping in my mind. Not that I have anything to escape from nowadays–I’m happily married with two amazing children–but the habit remains. Hence my desire to retire in an RV at some point, my love of back country camping, and my fascination with Robin Hood, who lived in hiding in the forest.

The idea of living on the road, in a semi, with only the minimum of personal space and personal possessions, appeals to me in an admittedly unrealistic way. There’s no way I could really drive a semi all around the country; I get sleepy after about two hours, tops.

That’s why the only thing on my bucket list is learning how to drive a semi well enough to back it perfectly into a tight space. For the rest of it an RV will do just fine.