By Maeve Ashbrook, Aidan Rodriguez and Mackenzie Wilkes
As the sun set on a chilly Wednesday night, a man smoking a cigarette slowly crossed the parking lot of the Flying J Travel Plaza in Haw River, trying to distance himself from a woman asking for money and cigarettes. “Driver Bill,” as he calls himself, was wandering back to where he parked his truck.
He said he gave her money but refused to give up one of his “premium” cigarettes.
After taking his last puff of one of those premium cigarettes, he threw it down and smashed it with his foot. Bill said he doesn’t leave lit cigarettes lying around.
“I didn’t know drivers were so nasty until I became one,” he said.
Driver Bill has been to all 48 of the continental states and several provinces in Canada.
“If you have a buffet and there’s a driver there eatin’, don’t go after him,” he said. “Because I’ve seen it where they don’t even wash your hands when they come out of the stall.”
Bill said his desire to become a truck driver was born while he was driving military vehicles for the National Guard. After he finished his years of service, he hit the road again as a driver.
“The deuce and a half gave me the fervor,” he said. “So, I’ve been doing this for about 12–15 years.”
Reminiscing about driving the highways and interstates of America, Driver Bill’s time in the union’s smallest state resulted in one of his biggest memories.“Rhode Island has— it’s the smallest state— it has one truck stop and I got kicked out of it,” he said.
Bill said that his attitude had gotten the best of him at the lone TA truck stop in the Ocean State.
“My temper. I went off on somebody. I don’t know why,” he said.
Inside Flying J, where showers, washing machines and a television were available for drivers, William Hyche was watching the SYFY channel. Hyche has been a trucker for 13 years. He’s a North Carolina native who’s from “just off 95.” He recounted hazards of life on the road.
“People texting, on their computers, reading newspapers while driving 80 miles per hour,” Hyche said in a thick Southern drawl. “Y’all better not be texting and driving, because it’s dangerous.”
Hyche stopped at Flying J to get his truck weighed. He would spend his Wednesday night driving a truck full of cardboard to Franklin, Virginia.
Hyche said he used to drive to Georgia, Alabama and even Texas, where he delivered rubber and brought back tires. After a while, he didn’t need navigation.
“I knew where the places were. I knew where I was going,” Hyche said.
He said there are ups and downs to being a trucker.
“When I became my own op, that was a happy moment, and when I got rid of my truck that was a happy moment,” Hyche said. “It kept on breaking down every other week, and it took all my money to put it on the road.”
As both Hyche and Driver Bill prepared to return to the road, they expressed how much they enjoy their jobs. However, they both complained about one thing: other drivers, especially those who aren’t professionals.
“People cut you off and stuff,” Bill said. “I mean going 80 miles an hour, pull in front of you, five lanes of traffic, cut you off to get off this exit right now, and go all the way across three lanes to get off the exit.”
With that, Driver Bill got in his truck to do the job he loves.
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