Camelot's Team on the Road: A Moment of Pause
Have you ever wondered where the trucks and their drivers go after all the turkey dinners and holiday gifts have been delivered to the markets, fulfillment centers, and department stores? Let me tell you.
There is no winter vacation for the trucking industry. Those 18-wheelers need to keep rolling daily to deliver medications, groceries, car parts, and home goods all year round. Nonetheless, many a truck driver will celebrate the holiday season in their own way. Perhaps you’ve seen a trailer bedecked with holiday lights or a wreath on a truck’s front grill. I once saw Santa behind the wheel of a big rig in opposing traffic on an isolated two-lane highway, cruising across Kansas. So maybe the sleigh and reindeer are just myths?
Combining all the years on the highway throughout the country, I’ve spent every holiday, one year or another, away from home with only my dog, who was by the way always the very best of company.
So with no pause on demand for deliveries, what do Camelot and other over-the-road drivers do when we have a hankerin’ for turkey and stuffing around the end of November? We look for our favorite roadside destination where parking is plentiful and so are the meals: the ever-present truck stop diner. While on a dark highway, these diners first appear as twinkling lights in the distance. With each passing mile, the twinkling lights get brighter, and so does the 24-hour truck stop diner sign beckoning us to stop by. We park, wash up, and head in to find a seat at the table, both figuratively and literally!
It's a unique space that makes instant camaraderie among strangers, and that is what these diners offer, besides amazing fare! In the company of others in the same situation—travelers between a starting point and a destination with their home on their backs, so to speak—we gather. We might be sitting elbow to elbow at the counter, conversing out of the sides of our mouth with our newly acquainted dining companions. Or perhaps we'll grab a booth with our co-driver, occasionally sharing a laugh with the team at the next booth over. We may banter and bond over football teams (each of us rooting for our home team, of course) or the weather or the rough stretch of highway ahead. I bet you didn’t know that just about every large truck stop has a lounge area with a dozen or two theatre seats and a big screen. And as we all know, the Dallas Cowboys always play on Thanksgiving!
In other words, to answer the question, we drivers spend an evening with our “road family” for an hour (or 2 or 3 if you count the Dallas game), after which we each retire to our on-board bunk for the night and rest up for the road ahead.
At Camelot, we’re grateful for our team on the road, for our clients who trust us with their homes and memories, and for every person who makes this work feel like family. Wherever this season finds you, we wish you comfort, laughter, and safe travels.