Rider by Caroline Tompkins
“I am by no means an authority on living in an 18-wheeler. People do it for 30-40 years, I did it for a few months. It’s not my job; it was the person I was with’s job. So by many standards, I was a tourist in the passenger seat to a culture I’m not a part of. With that said, driving a truck is not a woman’s world, at least not publicly. I hardly saw women drivers or spouses, and if I did, they would fuel up, go into the rest stop to grab essentials, then b-line it back to their truck for the night. They’re even less a part of what is already an estranged community. Then there was me, a New York-looking woman wearing crop tops and high-waisted jeans walking around construction sites and truck stops. I think many of the men I encountered didn’t know what to do with me. They’d either talk to the man I was with like I wasn’t there, or they’d ask me how much I cost. I felt like I didn’t meet anyone.
Your life on a truck is determined by its limitations. I mean, think about all of your favorite restaurants, stores, landmarks, cities even, then think about whether or not you can park a truck at any of them. I’m going to go ahead and tell you the answer is probably no; you can’t. What this means is you’re often subject to convenience store food, Denny’s, or a Walmart if you can get to one. Think about having this amazing job where you see the most beautiful things the country has to offer every single day, the only exception is that those beautiful things quickly pass you by, and you’re stuck looking at them behind a glass window.” - Caroline Tompkins in Lenscratch
Discussed in Episode 3.18 with Caroline Tompkins
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