Trucking is what he’s supposed to be doing

Robert Shannon loves to go to Beale St. in Memphis, Tenn., when he gets the chance. (The Trucker/Barb Kampbell)

By BARB KAMPBELL
The Trucker Staff

9/26/2008

Robert Shannon said he doesn’t claim to have been born to be a trucker, but he knows he’s in the right spot.

“I’ve wondered all my life, what am I supposed to be doing?” Shannon said. “I think this is it.”

Shannon hauls reefer for SST out of Stuttgart, Ark., where he drives to California with frozen chickens and returns with produce.

He lives in Jonesboro, Ark., with his wife of six years who used to drive team with him. She now stays home to be grandma, he explained. She also has returned to classroom teaching. The couple has three grandchildren, one is two-years-old and the other two are infants.

Shannon said he loves the freedom that driving a truck gives him.

“I can stay in a week if I want. It’s really up to the driver.”

He hasn’t always been a truck driver, but like most truckers he loves the freedom of the job.

“I like driving; I like being out there,” Shannon said. “I like to see the country. I’m not going to say I was born to be a truck driver. When I first started over-the-road I wasn’t sure I liked it that much. I discovered after factory work and other jobs there’s more freedom out driving. I can eat and sleep when I want. Yeah, I punch a clock but I’m still more free.

“I usually run Interstate 40. Sometimes I drive 10, 8, 20, the lower section. I love seeing the mountains in New Mexico, Arizona, and California.”

And while he may love trucking, there are other things he would like to do more of.

“My favorite place to be is Memphis, Tenn.,” Shannon said with a big smile. “There’s nothing like being on Beale St. I go watch the Memphis Redbirds [minor league baseball affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals] and walk down to Beale St. after the game.

“Being on the road I don’t get to go much but every chance I get, I go. Football’s my favorite sport, but watching a game and then listening to music on Beale St. is my favorite thing to do. I got to see B.B. King at the millennium celebration.”

In his spare time when he isn’t in Memphis, Shannon spends time with his physically and mentally challenged daughter. And he loves to also spend time with the grandchildren.

“That ranks up there as more fun than anything,” he said. “I’m not a jealous person, but I do envy my wife’s time with the grandkids.”

Shannon has been driving since he was 18 or 19, and while he doesn’t look quite ready to retire even when that time comes he’s not likely to do it.

“I’ve had several friends through the years who have retired and died,” he said. “I told my wife: ‘I don’t see retirement in the picture.’ I’m trying to enjoy retirement now. I had one friend who was just talking about retirement and before he even retired he died suddenly.

“There’s no, well there might be a tomorrow, I won’t know until I wake up if it’s there. I try to live life day by day.”