As noted ahead of previous installments in this chronicle of longtime former owner-operator turned company driver Wes Memphis and his transition to e-logs … known for embellishment, coffee-shop philosophizing and more, Memphis is based in the Midwest. Catch Memphis’ previous story in this series at this link. The following is his latest, and likely final, update:
People have asked me through the years, “Wes, what’s the most important skill set one needs to pull a reefer?”
I actually once may have been the guy who asked. I would say, though, that the most important thing a guy could bring to the table if he was to go and pull a reefer is to make sure you come from a dysfunctional home. Oh sure, you could be a decent, normal person and go pull a reefer, but it’s kind of like a dude waiting tables at the truck stop — I mean it’s been done, but, well, you’re just not going to be in your wheelhouse. Whenever there’s a deep-seated, visceral need to create order out of a chaotic, desperate, and generally jacked-up situation, by whatever means possible — be it a load of melons in Tifton, loaded a day late because of rain and due in Detroit the next day, or a load of plants held up at the border in Sweet Grass because the driver has a DUI and can’t enter Canada, and your broker buddy really needs it in Anchorage in four days — a little family history of alcoholism, a little spousal abandonment in your dark childhood past goes a long way.
There’s nothing that motivates a certain type of driver more than the words “I just need someone I know I can trust on this load, brother.”
Learning to be an e-logger, for me, has meant unlearning the need to be that guy.
