I drove for Atlas Van Lines for a couple of years in the mid '80s. Fall in Vermont, winter in Milwaukee, summer in Miami, spring in Greenville, Mississippi, and all points in between. I absolutely loved that job; and the only reason a quit driving was that I blew out the L5 disk and the doctor that did the back surgery said I couldn't drive anymore. Of course household isn't like hauling freight. There were times when I would load furniture from eight in the morning to midnight, and then get in the cab and start driving. Household is also seasonal; we would work all summer, but in the winter we would usually just work five days a week. I didn't really care for driving in New York City, or the northeast in general. Back then there was no place to pull off 95 in Philadelphia, and the New Jersey turnpike wasn't a lot of fun. The loop around DC was a challenge, especially on the southside were you get off the loop and head south on 95. But Vermont in the fall was beautiful, as was the Pennsylvania turnpike, and Kentucky and Tennessee. The mountains between Knoxville and Asheville on ice and/or in fog was a rush. In addition to household, we had contracts to haul mainframe computers and CT scanners, and had the occasional office move. It was hard work, and the pool tables, refrigerators, washers, and boxes of books day after day eventually took its toll; but I loved it. And after all the physical work, getting in the cab and putting in 500 miles of windshield time was a wonderful feeling.
And
here is one of my favorite tunes from that time.
