Trucking and Accidents

The long and winding road from Virginia to NC:
There were so many miles traveled in my young life. In the 1960s and 1970s; especially in the south, twas the custom to go visiting on Sunday. I guess it was due to the blue light laws. Nothing was open, except essential business like hospitals. Even gas stations were closed. We were lucky, we had gas pumps at Little Easonburg (Hwy 64 Business between Rocky Mount and Nashville NC. These gas stations had a slot in which you could feed dollar bills (never anything larger as it couldn't read the denomination on the bill) and pump enough gas to last you till you could get to a gas station.

Church was where you were supposed to be on Sundays and businesses opened after 1pm on Sunday. NO alcohol was served or could be purchased on Sundays. Southern. Bible belt. Get it?

Back to traveling. In the 1960s we lived in Virginia and we would come down every few weekends to visit my Grandparents. The route between Suffolk and Rocky Mount was mostly Highway 258 which ran through several small towns in North Carolina, including Rich Square and Scotland Neck.

You can't UN-SEE this!
Whenever there was a car accident, it was the norm for other cars to be pulled over and the males would get out and try to help. Females would stay in the car and watch the children. Dad was notorious for stopping and walking up to the accident to see what had happened. He had a natural curiosity about it. He'd come back and give us an update. The G rated version for us kids. One day he pulled over and I don't know what he saw, and I can only imagine. He told us when he came back in that someone had died and that he would never be stopping at the accidents again. As we rode past the vehicles; there was a body under a sheet on the side of the road. Dad was true to his word. He didn't stop again.

Dad was a trucker for many years of his adult life. He went between trucking and owning his own pest control business "Varnell's Pest Control". I was the secretary for his business, even as a young person, pre-teenager, even. I knew to pick up the house phone and say "Varnell's Pest Control" Then the person would ask for Dad and I would say, "He's not here right now, may I take a message". I would then write the messages and the phone number down and the reiterate the name, phone number back to them and let them know he'd call when he returned. I sounded like I was five. I still sound like a child on the phone. But, I did a good job helping out.

Accidents Dad has seen - the car fire
When Dad was working trucking he saw several bad accidents. He arrived at an accident scene one day where a car was fully engulfed in flames. The officer had pulled up and asked Dad and others to stay back. He walked up and looked into the back of the car (from a distance) and could see there were 2 people in the car who had perished from the fire. Dad said the officer reacted, jerking back when he saw it. Dad said it was awful and smelled awful.

The Storm that other Truckers were Ignoring:
Dad was driving in a horrible rain storm one night. Several trucks flew by him but Dad was in no hurry. Sure enough within a few miles the other trucks ran into some cars on the road and Dad had to pass this wreck on the right hand side of the interstate. He knew people died. It was horrible.

North and South Collide
Dad saw another accident scene where one Tractor Trailer rig had been traveling north bound and had for some reason run across the medium and into the southbound traffic and hit another tractor trailer (or Lorrie as they are called in England, but I digress). Dad said there wasn't much left of either truck.

They missed their turn
Back in the 1970s, Dad was driving a truck and I was watching Paula and me while mom worked 2nd shift at Abbott Labs. Dad didn't get home before we went to bed which was unusual. I took the phone and pulled it close to my bed. It didn't ring until after I was long asleep (and I slept through the call). Mom answered the phone and it was Dad. Just after he had crossed the VA/NC line going into Virginia, a car in front of him decided to turn left, and not give him any notice whatsoever. It was a last minute decision on their part; and they paid dearly for it. They turned, Dad hit the breaks causing the truck to jackknife (where the end of the trailer comes up beside the truck). The trainer hit the car and knocked the car into the field. Dad's truck hit the middle tree of 3 straight on. The doors to his truck were jammed shut and he had trouble getting out. See, the main reason on this story is BIG TRUCKS CAN'T STOP QUICKLY. Be aware. As far as I know the people survived and the accident was their fault. I seem to remember they were thrown out in the ditch. Must have been one hell of a scary time for them.

Dad got home really late that night. Not sure how as I'm sure the truck couldn't be driven. Mom was challenged to drive anywhere long distance back then.

Dad's co-driver - hit by car
Dad stopped working pest control and went back to trucking in the 1980s. He worked for a company that carried product from Abbott Labs to other states. Dad had a route that took him up through the mountains up north west. He had a co-driver so they could take turns. One would sleep while the other drove. One of his co-workers had a horrible habit of just walking and never looking around. One night they stopped to eat dinner and their rig was parked across the road. This guy was walking in front of Dad and stepped out in front of a car and was hit. He survived. He was in bad shape and out of work for a long while.

Lit up and no need for headlights
Dad was working for Carolina Freight and they moved him down to Atlanta to work. Dad goes down there and he's got a house of his own. One night he is driving out of the parking lot at ABF (they bought Carolina Freight) and it's a dark 2 lane country road. Dad is hit in the drivers side door, by a person who has just left the bar down the street and is drunk and has no headlights on. So - lit up, he didn't need headlights. Dad was in the hospital and Gregg, Mom and I went down to see him. He stayed in the hospital for several days. He had injuries all the way down his left side, including fractures on his hip and thigh. He came back home to recuperate. Greg had worked 3rd shift the night before I found out Dad had been hurt. I was going to drive down to Atlanta by myself and go see Dad, but Gregg wanted to drive and I was ok with that. Mom went with us.

When we arrived at Georgia, we went to the hospital "Grady Memorial" Hospital. When we got there, Dad was in a special unit where each patient had a glassed in room. Dad was hot and had a wet washcloth of top of his head. His nurse was from the 'islands' and she kept asking him about the washcloth on his head in her lilting accent. Dad was ok but he was broke up pretty badly. They ended up giving him a morphine drip.

We left to check on some things. We went to see the car. There was about 6 inches of room between the sterring wheel and the drivers side door. Dad was truly hurt. This idiot driving without lights on, on a dark country road. To this day, it burns me up.

Gregg thought I was stressed so he tried to take my and Mom's minds off of things and we went to Stone Mountain. To this day I must have been stressed out of my head to let him take me away from Dad when that was why we had gone there. But, anyway, we spent a couple of hours walking around the park and went to the top of Stone Mountain. A very nice park. After Dad was better, Paula and I and the three kids went down to stay and visit with Dad That's another story.....

Before we returned to the hospital. Gregg moved the motorhome to the parking lot of the hospital. It was there we stayed the night before coming back to Rocky Mount the next day. We had to drive the Motorhome back to Rocky Mount later, but Dad was staying at West Mount. Rough times for him. But he survived and healed.