

Greyhound buses or any other passenger bus in the U.S.A., well before our Interstate system was built, were known to pass semi trucks on two lane roads. It was a logical move to advance passengers right along. But at times there were illogical passes to experience first hand as a kid ridin' over the road with Dad.

I suppose back then it was a trucker's goal to pass a Greyhound, but mostly it was just in their imaginations or prayers. I will admit it was never my goal, but that changed on just one night. Years ago Dad was passed a lot by them and sometimes he did brake to prevent close calls by buses.
Dad passed away on May 18, 1974. The following January 7, 1975 I was running empty and headed for my last load of hogs in western Kentucky. As I left Henderson, KY a Memphis, TN bound Greyhound bus was just leaving a railroad crossing after the driver did his required STOP - LOOK & LISTEN.
Something clicked in my head related to my Dad's livestock trucking years. I punched my 318 Detroit Diesel motor thinking his motor was probably the same engine. I put my toe to the top of the fuel pedal to get the cable fully extended at the fuel pump. In a few miles I could tell I was gaining on the bus!
I was up to 65 mph and going downhill into a little valley that came up just right on the two lanes of U.S. 60. I caught the Greyhound bus and pulled out to pass using up the legal passing zone to do it!
I did that attempt to pass a Greyhound bus, with success, for my father Jack! Who contracted malaria in North Africa during World War II!

A Truckers Prayer - Dave Dudley - I watched the trucker music icon Dave Dudley sing his song live in Florence, Kentucky in 1975

Turn it on to sing along.....
Songwriters: Thornton, Jim / Turner, Scott
Thank you Lord for all the miles without an accident
But I wanna ask one more favor before my life is spent
Please Lord this once before I turn to dust
Let me run the wheels plumb off a Greyhound bus
You know I have been running these highways in this old rig for a long long time
And I have been humiliated by them dang buses till it's a crime
And even when I'm empty gettin' all that she's got in high
They just blow them air horns and flash them lights and fly on by
Now if I had me a rig that'd do about a hundred under a great big load
I'd wind her up tight and I'd blow me one of them grey dogs plumb off the road
So Lord before my last run to the foot of them mighty golden stairs
I hope there'll be an answer to this poor old trucker's prayer
So thank you Lord for all the miles without an accident
But I really do want to ask one more favor before my life is spent
Please Lord this once before I turn to dust
Let me run the wheels plumb off a Greyhound bus

______________________________________________________________________
MK II Cody

Post Script: This Pink Floyd song/signature came over just now from the UK. So I let it hang on with the above true truckin' story. I hope you don't like Monsanto! Here's your bonus rock and roll chiller well off topic. So go get your warmest sweater and put it on before you play this one. In the UK it's been my signature at Halifax-West Yorkshire's Supernatural Earth for a long time.
"Coming Back to Life" - The Division Bell - Pink Floyd - 1994
Ref the above link: Was there an eerie "Ode to Monsanto's CEO" song out there back in 1994


An antsy UFO Phil got in the way of me concluding my 2 minute call into Coast to Coast AM during the close of an October Friday night program in 2010


