Alberta trucker Mike Murchison shares his experiences on the road through music, photography and humour.
So, I went for my late-night walk. It’s habit I have gotten into this last year. Some nights after pounding the white line, I’m too beat to walk; but most nights I make myself do it.
It’s my own time to unwind, after the engine is shut down and the bump and grind stop.
“Decompress,” I like to call it.
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Covid come tearing out of China like a cabinet minister out of question period. It consumed all forms of media. Disrupted the entire world economy and the lives of virtually every person on earth.
The phrase ‘social distancing ‘ becomes the cry of the day for nearly three years.
Masks, lockdowns….and hand sanitizers. Businesses are forced to put ‘stringent’ cleaning protocols into practice.
It was nice during the three-year period to walk into a restaurant, truck stop and even a washroom and smell that ‘just cleaned’ scent, which seemed to be present everywhere I went.
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A lineup at customs had me stopped, parked and just waiting. Waiting for the line to move. Sitting high up in the big truck, there is quite a sizeable blind spot on the right side of the truck. So much so that I didn’t see, but rather felt a small jolt and heard the distinct ‘thud’ sound of an object making contact with another object. Namely my truck.
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No Johnny Cash or Merle Haggard song about prison ever hit me as hard as staring at that structure: it was huge. Thinking about who was in there and why had a sobering effect.
Contained inside were those who for whatever reason stepped over society’s line of freedom and decency. Some by choice, some out of rage and some simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
They deserve to be in there, some would say. “He’s innocent.” “He’s been set up.” Didn’t matter. They were in there, and I wasn’t.
A stone-cold box with small windows that looked out into fields of lush green corn stocks. A small window that afforded a view of a highway, people moving, life being lived as opposed to just existing.
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I was up in the Oregon hills a few years back on the way to California. It was a beautiful day. Sun was shining, the air was clear. I surmised that by the time the sun went down, I’d reach my destination of Sacramento.
Now, I was just coming into quiet, quaint little town about to descend down a not so big hill, when I saw that at the bottom of the hill a not-so-big pickup truck was starting its ascent up the hill.
As we drew closer, I could see this wasn’t an ordinary pickup. No, sir; this was
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The movie is fast paced, spanning the life, milestones, stresses, joys and heartbreaks of the most famous entertainer to walk the earth.
The story for the most part was accurate, down to the details of the wardrobe, which was expected, having the technical assistance of many of the people who served with Elvis on this “rocket to eternity.”
The portrayal of Colonel Tom Parker by Tom Hanks is nothing short of brilliant, and it left me with the idea that I had just witnessed, as a fly on the wall would have witnessed, what went down in some very critical periods during the relationship of Parker and Presley.
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So, this past Saturday I decided I’m going to get up, clean up, walk into that big ole’ truck stop and park my tail in one of them booths in the restaurant. Just take my time at breakfast.
It was early. 6 AM. I was the first one there. So, the waitress was on me with the cutlery, place mat and a cup of coffee that sent my taste buds into a state of ecstasy. Yes Ma’am.
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most popular hangouts. Unless you like taking photographs of interesting people. Or at the least, trying to get some inspiration to write a song about movin’, leavin’, reuniting…or just gettin’ the hell out of Dodge due irreconcilable differences.
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Full-time Truck driver, part-time musician, writer and photographer Mike Murchison made a trip to Nova Scotia in May for an important family event.
Mike’s perspective on life and work, on the road and in Canada, is unique. Today Road Warrior News is dedicating a page to some of his most interesting East Coast photos; as always, his wry and ironic captions are at least as much fun as the images themselves.
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