I was planning to go shopping this afternoon. Instead, I made a lengthy journey, thanks to this terrific New York Times article (and with panoramic photographs by George Etheredge) from Peter Goodman, on US truckers, with a few days in the life of one US trucker:
[Stephen Graves] revels in challenging popular stereotypes of the truck driver, speaking with the precise elocution of a college professor. He discarded his CB radio years ago, weary of hearing the crude and sometimes hateful chatter dispensed over crackly airwaves. He starts his morning listening to the global news report from BBC World Service in London, and then switches to light jazz or classical.
“I love Brahms,” he says, as he winds through Kansas.
…
He savors certain stretches of road, anticipating them for hundreds of miles. Today’s journey takes him through one of his favorites — the Flint Hills of Kansas.
“During the summer, the tall grass, the prairie grass is going full,” he said. “It blows gently in the wind. You can just listen to the wind. It’s such a calm and soothing feeling.”