Jenny had a different idea about it, however. She didn’t expect she would be sleeping in the top bunk for long, if at all.
Hugh’s mom, as she had done countless times before when Hugh ended his home time, pulled out from one of their big chest freezers homemade dinners frozen from family meals. She gathered together other food items, utensils and such things Hugh would need on the road.
This time was different because of Hugh’s extended time away from the truck, and because he was planning for a permanent rider. He needed virtually every cooler, cabinet and drawer in his sleeper cab restocked with food items, utensils and cookware.
Hugh had never been a regular truck-stop or fast-food restaurant eater, preferring to scratch together simple meals from grocery store purchases he could keep in his fridge and freezer, and heat up in the microwave.
For as long as his mom’s frozen homemade meals lasted he preferred them most of all.
Hugh had cranked up his semi’s APU – the auxiliary power unit, basically a diesel-powered generator – to pre-cool his small fridge and freezer without running down the truck’s battery. The sleeper cab also had a microwave and, because Jenny was coming with him, Hugh had acquired a one-burner induction cooker for making fried meals and heating food in a saucepan. All that was missing was a kitchen sink.
From previous trips with Hugh, Jenny had experience with preparing meals within the limitations of the small cab, and she had adapted quite well.
It was about a two-hour jaunt from the ranch to the 2 p.m. pick up in Spokane. It was still morning at the ranch, but Hugh wanted to start early enough to get ahead of any problems that might come up during this shakedown trip. After all, the truck hadn’t been on the road for several weeks.
He had been keeping an eye on the big rig all along – making sure the tires stayed inflated, checking fluid levels, and keeping the battery charged, but Hugh had always believed in erring on the side of caution.
He had made sure the load at the precision parts manufacturing plant in Spokane was a pre-loaded trailer because he didn’t have an empty trailer with him, and empties were few and far between in this neck of the woods.
As Hugh was beginning his pre-trip he saw Jenny and Martha come trooping out of the house with arms full of bags of clothing and sacks of food and other essentials.
They climbed up into the cab to arrange everything. Jenny was familiar with Hugh’s preferences, and Martha had been doing this task for years.
“How’s it looking?” Hugh asked when he saw them. He had been so busy getting ready it was the only words he had spoken with anybody since everybody cleared out of the kitchen after breakfast.
“Doing good,” Jenny yelled out the driver’s side window at Hugh as he was elbows deep under the hood checking the oil and other fluids.
Jenny finished arranging her own things, and helped Martha take care of the rest. Then she grabbed the bottle of windshield cleaner and rags and began cleaning all of the truck’s windows and mirrors. That had been her job during previous trips with Hugh.
Hugh finished inside the engine compartment and slammed the hood down, so Jenny swung up onto the hood to clean the windshield. Seeing her do that, Hugh couldn’t help but grin at her. He saw her wink at him.
Hugh and Jenny had had a rough beginning when he had first picked up what he thought was a vagrant male hitchhiker on a lonely stretch of Nevada highway. One of the first fun moments they had shared was Hugh blatantly staring at Jenny’s lithe figure the first time she had stretched herself over the hood to clean his windshield. Jenny teased him about it then, and it was now an inside joke with them.
“Hey, Mom,” Hugh shouted, “Can you call the guys and tell them we’re almost ready to bug out?”
Mentioning calling the guys reminded Hugh he needed a new phone. His had gotten lost during his last encounter with Jenny’s uncle. Her uncle was the leader of the hijackers, and that fight had been the final one ending the attacks against him by the gang.
He’d been using the ranch landline phone to make the few phone calls he’d needed to make, but he knew he was now going to need a new phone for the road.
He recalled seeing a cell phone store in Sandpoint, the nearest town. He planned to pick up a newer model smartphone on the way out.
The preparations finished, all that was left was to say goodbye to everybody and to get on the road.
Martha told Hugh and Jenny to come into the house and into the kitchen to pick up bag lunches for their trip. Hugh’s mom was never one to send people away without feeding them first.
Father and son and Jimmy came in, and Mary came downstairs from where she had been studying.
The men were doing and saying the regular guy things: “Drive careful,” “Be safe,” shaking hands, hugs with back slaps. Out of the corner of his eye, Hugh noticed Martha and Mary had pulled Jenny away from the men and were deep into conversation with her.
Eventually, Hugh and Jenny were able to break free and head toward the truck. They had a final hug and kiss for Martha and Mary, then climbed into the cab and clicked on their seat belts.
Hugh punched in “On duty, driving” into his ELD. As he began to back the truck out of its parking spot he could see his mom trying, and failing, to hold back tears.
“I’m thirty-six years old,” he said to Jenny, as he kept his eyes on his mirrors backing out. “I’m a Marine. Seen combat.
