We call them eighteen wheelers. They are the large tractor-semi-trailor rigs that haul goods across the USA on the network of Interstate highways. The front part of the rig is the actual truck or tractor, while the back two thirds of the rig is really a semi-trailer attached to it. The tractor part has ten wheels, two on the front axle for steering and eight more configured as four sets of dual wheels on its two rear axles. These immensly powerful tractors usually pull a semi trailer that is supported by the tractor on the front end while the back end rides on eight wheels distributed as another four sets of dual wheels on two axles. The entire rig is typically over twenty meters long and has a combined total of eighteen wheels.
If you drive on any interstate highway in the USA, you will see hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of these eighteen wheelers. Typically, the majority of them will be long-distance haulers. They might be hauling steel from Chicago to Los Angeles, or hauling fresh fruit from Florida to Boston, or hauling tanks of industrial chemicals from New Orleans to Denver. These "big rigs" transport much of our industrial, agricultural and manufacured goods across long distances.
Some of the eighteen wheelers are company owned equipment operated by employee drivers, however the majority are independent owner-operated rigs. The independent operator is someone who has borrowed sufficient money from the bank to purchase his own expensive tractor. It typically costs the driver more than the home he lives in, and is usually his single most valuable possession.
An owner operator of a tractor usually contracts with one or more freight companies to haul semi-trailers from one destination to another. He gets paid by the mile. Out of the haulage fee, the operator must pay for his own fuel, maintenence, insurance and traveling expense.
You can easily discriminate between the independently owned and operated rigs versus the company owned ones. A company owned truck will usually be a dirty drab affair with very little added amenities. An independantly owned rig will normally by a bright clean shiny truck with beautiful paint, lots of chrome plated accessories, numerous marker lights and possibly an elaborately painted name and picture on its door. The independant owner-operator values his truck very highly, and takes great pride in its appearance.
Truck stops are special refueling stations catering to the needs of truckers. They can be found at various locations along the interstate highways. In addition to widely spaced refueling pumps and a huge parking lot, most truck stops also feature a restaurant, a convenience store, restrooms, bathing facilities and specialty shops offering all sorts of trucker paraphenalia. You can visit a truck stop even if you are only driving a little "four wheeler". If you visit one in the late evening hours, you will typically find many big rigs parked in the lot while their operators rest or sleep in their rigs.
If you carefully stroll through a truck stop parking lot, you can admire the beautifully painted and highly decorated Macks, Kenworths, GMCs and Peterbilts. Most independant truckers are very friendly. They will proudly show you their beloved rig and will tell you about their life and career as a long distance trucker. They may even show you the interior of their truck. Most independantly owned trucks are equipped with an array of amenities to make life on the road more bearable. They will likely have a great music systems, two-way radios, navigation systems, computers, and in the back sleeper section, televisions with DVD players.
These guys spend three fourths of their life on the road in their truck. Yes, they are mostly men, but there are some women drivers as well. A few young truckers, are even accompanied by their spouses.
Truckers communicate with each other via citizens band (CB) radios, You can purchase a citizen band radio, install it in your car, tune it to channel 19 and listen to the truckers' conversations on the road. If you learn a bit of the jargon, you can even communicate with the truckers. They have a quaint and colorful way of speaking on the radio. A "smokey" or a "bear" is a police officer. A "picture taker" is a policeman with a radar speed gun. A "plain wrapper" is an unmarked police car. When you hear a trucker say, "I saw a bear rolling east and advertising at 334, and a plain wrapper in the grass taking pictures at 385." It means he spotted a patrol car driving east with lights flashing near mile post 334 and an unmarked police car with radar gun in the medial strip of the highway near mile marker 385".
If you come to the USA and do a bit of driving on your vacation, stop at a truck stop along the Interstate highway to see this bit of unique US culture. Just look for signs at the interchanges that advertise "Petro", "Flying J" or "Travel
Centers of America". These are just a few of the national truckstop chains. There are many others.