Updated 6-12-05

Born to drive

My family's trucking story actually started long before this picture of me was taken in 1948. My Grandpa Woods did some long haul over-the-road trucking in the 20's and 30's. Two of the trucks told about in family stories were a 1928 Indiana with a semi and pup. The other was a 31 Chevy pulling a semi-trailer he built. Grandpa and Dad's brother Austin pulled loads to and from towns in Oklahoma to Houston and Galveston, Texas.

My Dad did some long-haul and local trucking for a local merchant here in Oklahoma in the late 30's, it was after WW2 that he really got involved in trucking in California. The picture shown here is from a newspaper clipping I've saved for years. It shows trucks lined up to unload potato's and is typical of some of his early trucks. He actually started out with some 1935 Ford trucks hauling produce from the fields to packing sheds and canneries in the valley working from Bakersfield to Lodi. As I change this page from time to time I'll post many different pictures from Dad, and my own history, along with stories of the past and present.

The picture on the right was probably taken in the early 60's. It shows my Grandma and Grandpa Woods standing by his last truck. Grandpa still owned and drove his own truck til he was about 74 years old. Some of the stories of his early years in trucking were very interesting. There were a few stories about escapes from outlaw gangs who tried to hi-jack his truck and cargo, and a story of a hit and run crash that left him trapped and injured in his truck for several hours.

Grandpa's story page

This is my Dad in a 1948 Chevy. This truck was brand new when he brought it home, but I must have thought it needed something extra. I went right to work making improvements.  I painted the front tire, part of the fender, my fire truck and myself with some green paint. I can tell you - I knew something years before "Kermit the Frog" said it. "It isn't easy being green."

Dad's story page

After taking a look at the 60's -70's and 80's - 90's pages please visit my links page. There are some very good truck related websites listed and for those of you that are running cross country I have included  a link to weather information to help your trip planning.

Some of my pages have a lot of pictures and it may  take a few minutes for everything to come up .

60s & 70s