Photographer finds joy in being on the road with drivers

By WILLIAM D. LEWIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
The CB radio chattered and the miles ticked away as Rob Thornton, a driver for Falcon Transport in Austintown, and I headed south toward Louisiana hauling 34,000 pounds of supplies collected in the Mahoning Valley for Hurricane Katrina victims.
For someone who never has ridden in a big rig, the chance to ride along on a 2,400-mile road trip was a great opportunity in and of itself, in addition to being a way to get a firsthand look at the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Thornton and I left Youngstown ON Thursday afternoon and traveled through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and finally to New Iberia, La., where the supplies were unloaded.
The trip was also an inside glimpse of at the lives of professional over-the-road drivers. The job involves long hours on the road and many days away from home. Thornton and most of the drivers I saw displayed professionalism and took their jobs very seriously. As in most occupations, a specific vocabulary of job-related terms is used. Truckers or "drivers," as they call each other, use terms including:
* Skate board -- a flatbed trailer
* Covered wagon -- a flatbed trailer with a canvas cover.
* Four-wheeler -- passenger car.
* Chicken coop -- weigh station.
* Portable parking lot -- automobile carrier.
* Polar bear -- a white highway patrol car.
* Full-grown bear -- a gray highway patrol car.
Glad to help
Thornton, a resident of Vienna, W.Va., who has been around trucks most of his adult life and has been with Falcon for nine months, said hauling the relief goods to Louisiana was just another load he was assigned, but he was glad to be able to help and hopes the items will make a difference in the lives the hurricane victims.
Seeing different parts of the country and different people every day are the upside of the job, according to Thornton.
Road construction, traffic jams, inconsiderate drivers and being away from home are the downside, he said. Even though he gets home most weekends, Thornton says he gets homesick and misses his wife and 2-year-old son, but he knows that truck driving is a good way to provide for them.