08/21/12

Long-Haul Trucker Relives a 2-Day Gridlock in One Instance…

Nature’s Fury in Another…….All on the same road trip!

Hubby had a crazy thought this week. It occurred to him that one particular trucking gig years ago saw him experience two monumental events in one week:  The Woodstock Music Festival, in Bethel, New York, on Aug. 15, 1969 and Hurricane Camille in Biloxi, Mississippi, on August 17, 1969.

He experienced both… as only a TRUCKER can.

First, he headed out on a northwesterly route, out of Rhode Island and was driving along in that central region of New York when he hit the “parking lot” the highway had become. Cars had been ditched everywhere, in breakdown lanes and on grassy strips of median dividers.

Truckers from the opposite direction hadn’t been able to warn him of the problem—they got stuck, too, and their CB radios were out of range.

Everybody just sat there, watching the human parade pass by–young people carrying their favorite accessory—boomboxes, shouting the music they loved.

Many would be stuck for 3 full days, as unintended ‘guests’ of the Woodstock Music Festival.

You’ll read about what this trucker did, during that event, in Grandpa and the Truck Book 3, coming out later in the Fall.

What book’s out soon?  Grandpa and the Truck, Book 2, with “Grandpa Meets the Hurricane” and “Girl Truckers” (remember…it’s for little ones 4-8 years old.) That 2nd. story (every Grandpa and the Truck book has 2 stories) tells of 2 Rhode Island women who made male truckers sit up and notice, as they became phenoms in their industry…

But they didn’t start out as such.

What’s ironic?  Hubby did the Biloxi run on the reverse side of the Woodstock Music Festival run….two potent events on the same road trip…. two that might have driven anyone else (but a trucker) “bonkers.”

Book 1 and 2 are available now on the www.grandpaandthetruck.com site ….

Book 2’s story with “Girl Truckers” has been endorsed b Women In Trucking. OOIDA gave us a shout-out, too, and Overdrive’s given us two.Women InTrucking and OOIDA’s edorsement are proudly affixed to the back of every Grandpa and the Truck book.

PS…We know you’ve got your own ‘chilling moments’…every trucker does. We aim to tell them to a public that knows very little about what we truckers do—via stories told to little ones.  After all, they’re our best Fan Club.

08/15/12

Reviews Are Coming In–Along with Pictures

On the Amazon site, under our Grandpa and the Truck book, Barbara T. of Cranston says: “I bought two of these books to give away as gifts. The illustrations are beautiful and the stories will capture a child’s imagination. As a retired reading specialist I am impressed with the vocabulary used and the way each story is introduced with a lesson to be learned. It is a book that can be read a multiple of times and for different purposes. In addition to enjoying Grandpa’s tales, one is given the opportunity to learn about our states. This book can be used to teach a geography lesson. I highly recommend this book!

Know what I especially value in Barbara T’s review? She’s an exepert in her field, a reading specialist of many years’ experience who recognizes this book can be read a ‘multiple of times and for different purposes.’ She likes the vocabulary (I don’t water it down) and the lesson that’s introduced clearly at the beginning of each story. She points out its geographic value, as tool for little ones to learn about our states.

Thank you, Barbara. As a teacher, I tried to hit on all levels–not just put out a cute, fuzzy, feel-good book.

Though I characterize its best audience as the 4-8 crowd, some parents have already introduced their younger ones to it, at age 2 and up..Reading together can’t start too early.

Here’s little one, Tyler Harrington, son of Alicia Stickney Harrington (one of my former students) so happy with Grandpa and the Truck, he’s trying to eat it.

But in next pic, he gets down to serious business pointing out “Twuck…twuck…and big rig (some of the vocabulary little ones will learn in the glossary of terms called “Trucker Talk.”)

Join us on this exciting journey.

We go to Hasbro’s Children’s Hospital soon, to do a reading, complete with truck models and sound effects of jake brakes clicking and air horns blasting..We hope to give little ones facing difficult health problems, a reprieve, if even for a short time.

 

07/27/12

Tyler Triplets Love Grandpa and the Truck

“Who are those adorable kids?” you ask….

They say “A picture’s worth a thousand words,” or “The proof is in the pudding,” and I say:  “Folks, we couldn’t stage this—believe me.”  See the little ones in the big banner picture atop the site?  They’re the sons of a daughter’s co-worker enjoying Book 1 of the Grandpa and the Truck stories.  It just helps a lot that these Tyler triplets are adorable!

Look at the expression…pure enjoyment as they follow the adventures of Grandpa as a young trucker, when he trekked all across the United States in his truck “Proud Mary.” What happens in Story 1?  Well, little ones learn the wisdom of independent thinking (no, I don’t put it that way in the story) as they follow a chain of cars following a “smokie” (“policeman” in trucker lingo) on a fog-enshrouded highway. This story will teach them to think before they blindly follow.

In Book 1, Story 2 (each book contains two stories), excitement is ramped up even more when Grandpa’s trucking partner goes off into the Virginia woods after dark and falls into a pack of bloodhounds.  The merry chase is on, as Ralph races down a moonlit path yelling “Paul, open the truck door…they’re after me!”

When I’m reading the story and get to the part where the dogs are at Ralph’s butt, the little ones convulse in laughter.

All good, wholesome fun…teaching good things…with remarkable illustrations sure to get little ones’ imaginations running (But, I swear:  It looks like the Tyler tykes are actually reading–at least the middle one! Considering they’re only 4, that’s pretty amazing!)

In approximately three weeks, Book 2 will be released containing “Girl Truckers” about two Rhode Island women who became a long-haul trucking sensation and “Grandpa Meets the Hurricane” where little ones will learn about one of Nature’s most powerful forces.

“Stay tuned…good buddies.”

PS…Some have said, “But I don’t have little ones 4-8 years of age.”  The answer to this?  Grandpa and the Truck stories make great gifts for little ones in the 4-8 age group, so if you have event coming down the pike where you’ll need, they make unique, personalized gifts. Or you could stockpile in case you will need and avoid rushing out for that last-minute gift.

Not sure your little ones will like? Just look at the faces of the little boys in the banner picture…There is no better testimony.

See you soon when I tell you more about the trucker…the model behind this series…things you probably don’t know, even if you think you know him.

07/20/12

Real Setting for “Ralph and the Bloodhounds,” Book 1

See this interesting rock formation?  It’s Natural Bridge, the amazing structure that’s part of Rt. 11 in Virginia, the former truck route for drivers making a run from Southern regions to the North who needed to pass through this particular region of Virginia (and we who’ve driven know how LONG Virginia is.)

Rt. 11 is a country road, winding through gorgeous territory highlighted by the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background.  Farmlands and fields dot the landscape where horses and cows graze peacefully. This is the famous Shenandoah Valley.

In Grandpa and the Truck, Book 1, Story 2, it’s dusk, and the sky is flecked with fuscia strands, alternating with deep blues and purple.  It’ll be jet-black night soon.

Here, in this pastoral setting,”Ralph and the Bloodhounds” takes place, as Grandpa (in his younger trucker days) limps along, in the big rig, almost out of fuel.

He wasn’t alone—his trucking partner, Ralph, slept in his seat nearby.  He’d driven earlier in the day.

Suddenly, Grandpa got lucky.  He found a gas station out there on that lonely stretch of road.  Only problem?  It was after hours and no lights were on.  But Grandpa noted a house on a path up the hill behind the station and he knew it was probably the owner’s.  With that, he roused Ralph, saying “Ralph, get up…I need you to go up that hill behind the station and get the owner.  We need diesel…we’re almost out.”

Being an easy-going fella, Ralph rubbed his eyes to shake off the sleepiness, unfastened his seatbelt, opened his door, and jumped down from the big cab saying, “OK, I’ll be back in a few.” He then headed into the Virginia night.

That was when the real fun started (but not for Ralph.)

You can read about it all in “Ralph and the Bloodhounds,” Story 2 in Book 1 (each Grandpa and the Truck book is comprised of two stories.)

All the stories provide important life lessons, as well as facts on history, science, and nature, while they teach geography about our country from the perspective of long- haul truckers.  And by the way, young readers will learn of the fascinating lifestyle and lingo of these true mavericks of the road, too.

So, climb on board the big rig and join Grandpa as he revisits the locations of real events that happened to him in his younger trucking days…a career that stretched on for 30 years.

Now, if you haven’t already done so, note interesting new stuff added to the site. Check out the shirts and cap, too, in the truckstop store.  Why the Wo-Man cap?  To highlight “Girl Truckers,” story 1 of the next book in the series (due out in few weeks.) Anything for men?  You betcha…t-shirts for them and of course, for our prime audience–little ones.

07/17/12

What It Means When a Trucker Says “Breaker..Breaker…1…9?”


Are your little ones going around the house, yet, saying “Breaker…breaker…1…9?”

Well, believe me—they will be, if they’re reading the Grandpa and the Truck stories.  Why?  They’ll hear it, in Book 1, Story 1 (every G&T book has two stories) and then they’ll mimic Grandpa (as younger trucker,) talking on his CB radio.

In that story, he goes along a fog-bound mountain highway in northern California, sitting high in the big rig. Up ahead, he sees a long line of cars following a ‘smokie’ (trucker lingo for policeman).  All the drivers believe they’re safe because they figure the police officer knows the road, well, and if they just follow him, they’ll be safe, too.

But that isn’t what happens.  No, instead, they suffer a major mash-up.

When he sees the accident (don’t worry—it’s not frightful), Grandpa gets on his CB (Citizen Band radio all truckers use) and calls out, “Breaker…Breaker 1..9” then waits for a response.

You see, when a trucker says this, he or she is asking permission to break into the conversation other truckers are having on their Citizen Band (CB) radios, on Channel 19.

Truckers operate in a very different world from the rest of us and my trucker husband and I (along with our illustrator) plan on driving that world home to all…. through the Grandpa and the Truck stories for little children.

After all (some of you know this already,) a big rig driver’s #1 fans are little kids.  They just love our trucks.

Now, they can ride along with one of the best who was a legend in his day.  His stories are those of all long-distance truckers, we they go about their difficult job of moving America’s products.

***So, the question is:  “Is your little one saying ‘Breaker…breaker..1…9 yet?”

Just wait—he or she will be.