Magazine / A Likely Story

  • Warning Labels Part 2

    Roger Clark
    September 2020
    Trucking and country music have always been tied together, and no one knows, actually, which came first. And while rock & roll is sub-divided into doo-wop, rockabilly, bubble-gum, and novelty tunes, country music has always been, well, country. B...
  • The True Trucker Story

    Roger Clark
    August 2020
    You ain’t gonna believe this, but the company I work for has only three rules:   Stay out of the left lane.   Stay out of the left lane.   Stay out of the left lane.   This works well in computer models, training videos, and safety bulletin...
  • When It All Started

    Roger Clark
    July 2020
     I started my trucking career in 1978 the way we all did back then. The agency manager of a Minneapolis moving company casually tossed me a set of keys. “These belong to a Ford cabover out back,” he said, “hooked up to a 40-foot furniture van ...
  • A Likely Story - Covid19 In My Neighborhood

    Roger Clark
    June 2020
    Like so many others here in flyover country, we’ve been ordered to shelter in place while the Corona virus wings its way around Kansas. We have also been instructed to avoid gatherings, wear masks, and put gloves on. Authorities are issuing these o...
  • A LIKELY STORY - WARNING LABELS

    Roger Clark
    April 2020
    When I get our lawn mower out, pull the sidearm from a holster, or unpack my wife’s hair curler, I always see the warning labels. I’m not a dummy, of course. I know better than to put my feet near the blades, finger on the trigger, or hand around...
  • A Likely Story - DMV, The Great Equalizer

    Roger Clark
    April 2020
    Recently I had the opportunity to see my state taxes hard at work, when I went to renew my CDL. The Department of Motor Vehicles is a study in discrimination. There isn’t any. Whether you’re a minority or majority, rich or poor, CEO or See You La...
  • ​A Likely Story - You’re All Heart

    Roger Clark
    March 2020
    A heart attack was not on my radar but, like many people, I work too hard, walk too slow, talk too loudly, and wait too long. Folks like me spend too much time watching TV, playing the ponies, picking out donuts, and making up our mind at the Golden ...
  • ​A Likely Story - Freeze, You’re Under Arrest

    Roger Clark
    February 2020
    As the severe winter weather plowed through the entire nation during the final week of January, police departments across the country were forced to take drastic action. Who could blame them! Everywhere we looked, coffees got cold and donuts were fre...
  • ​PHANTOM 309

    Roger Clark
    January 2020
    I know a lot of music. I don't know a lot ABOUT music, and didn't major in it, but do enjoy a wide variety of genres. My interest ranges from Big Band to bluegrass, and Doo-Wop to New Age.Recently I came across a YouTube list of the fifty favorite...
  • NOT OUR REALITY

    Roger Clark
    December 2019
    As an owner/operator solely responsible for supporting the welfare recipients of Kansas, there are a lot of boxes to checkoff on our tax returns. The state wants to make sure single moms, illegal immigrants, fast food workers, and slow-witted politic...
  • SAFER IN BED

    Roger Clark
    November 2019
    Everyone has days they should have stayed in bed. Mine was last Sunday, and it revolved around multiple new technologies drivers love to hate. The first, of course, was the ELD, and the second was something called 'nautomatic deceleration'.Every Last...
  • " Dont Answer That"

    Roger Clark
    October 2019
    Lawyers learn never to ask a question unless they already know the answer. Husbands learn just as quickly not to answer, unless they already know the question on. Interrogators often hit pay dirt, not from what they ask, but what people volunteer. Pa...
  • Employee Of The Month

    Roger Clark
    September 2019
    Not long ago I viewed a security video from a downtown Dallas alley. It showed a young man about 20 years old parking his car on a lightly traveled side street. Emerging from the ten-year-old vehicle, he carefully removed his cellphone, cigarettes, a...
  • ​A LIKELY STORY - KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD

    Roger Clark
    August 2019
    Truck drivers have a bad reputation, and many have certainly earned it. From speeding to blocking, and drugs to drinking, drivers in the big rigs often become a big story. They are sullen, defensive, obnoxious, and self-centered, becoming more brazen...
  • DREAMS OF A TWO-WHEELER

    Roger Clark
    July 2019
    Parked at a small truckstop in Le Mars, Iowa, I was lounging in the driver’s seat, leafing through a magazine. Something caught my eye in the driver’s mirror, and I noticed a strange but wonderful sight. A young boy about eight years of age slowl...
  • XM OR TRANSISTER RADIO?

    Roger Clark
    June 2019
    Everyone has an earliest memory of childhood. Mine was curling up in front of the family’s floor-model Philco radio. A few years later the coolest accessory I could attach to the handlebars of my Schwinn Flyer bicycle was a transistor radio. I went...
  • It’s A Blast

    Roger Clark
    May 2019
    It was a sunny Monday morning, outside Poughkeepsie, New York, and I was just leaving the customer. Stopped at a red light, I noticed the mini-van stopped in front of me had a bumper sticker that said “Honk If You Love Jesus”. It just seemed like...
  • ​Just Another Perfect Day

    Roger Clark
    April 2019
    Monday morning started early one week recently. Breakfast at home was quick, hot, and nutritious, including a thermos for the road. Leaving the house at 7:00 AM sharp, I drove to the terminal using “personal conveyance” on the ELD. This is a grea...
  • COPS AND TURNPIKES

    Roger Clark
    March 2019
    Traveling east across the New York Thruway several miles from Newburgh, I saw a state police cruiser stopped on the right-side shoulder. The blue lights were flashing and, as always, I eased over to the left lane, watching intently for the officer. I...
  • VALENTINES DAY EXODUS

    Roger Clark
    February 2019
    This will be the fourth consecutive Valentine’s Day my marriage has withstood the withering barrage of advertising. It hasn’t been easy! You would think it’s impossible to survive without chocolate, cards, jewelry or flowers. Who knows? Maybe i...