ROBERT GRAY- FROM MILLINOCKET, MAINE EN ROUTE TO SOUTH PORTLAND FOR A MIDNIGHT DELIVERY AT HANNAFORD SUPERMARKET
WHAT IS AN AVERAGE DAY LIKE FOR YOU?
Usually, I deliver in the morning, then I’ll go somewhere within a couple hours of there to get another load of freight up. I’ll travel the rest of the day, shut down, then take my ten-hour break and get up in the morning and do it all over again.
TELL ME ABOUT A TRAVEL STORY.
Basically, up here, the traffic gets bad. If you go out here, and I’m are doing 62 or 63 miles an hour, I get trucks passing me on the right and on the left at the same time, and it gets real scary. I wish more people knew how to drive around big trucks. Which is very carefully. Pass them and get out of the way. Right now, the average distance I run is eight or nine hundred miles. I used to go out to California, but they don’t run to California no more. I used to run flat trucks 3,600 miles one way to California.
BECAUSE YOUR JOB IS ON THE ROAD, HAS THE IDEA OF HOME CHANGED FOR YOU?
I want to be home more often. I have a wife and three kids. Before, when I was home all the time, I wanted to be gone more often! When I get home, I’m usually home a week. I work on the house and I work on the truck. I polish the tanks and the truck. Me and my wife usually try to take off a day.
TELL ME ABOUT A LESSON YOU ARE LEARNING IN YOUR LIFE.
I’m still learning how to manage money.
WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU?
Most important if just supporting my family. Make sure they got everything they need.
WHAT IS THE BEST MOMENT OF AN AVERAGE DAY FOR YOU?
Usually, when I shut down at night. I set up my TV, I got satellite TV. I go in and take a shower at the truck stop and relax the rest of the day.
JANE MACLEAN- FROM YORK, MAINE EN ROUTE TO ARUNDEL AND SCARBOROUGH FOR ANTIQUE DEALERSHIP
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR TRAVELS TODAY.
I’m an antiques dealer, and I’m going to put some goods for sale in shops. And, I have my dog with me, and we are going to see his favorite person on earth, so he can play with her a while. He calls her Auntie Sue-Sue.
WHAT DOES MAINE MEAN TO YOU?
Maine, the way life should be, really! I’m, obviously a senior, and I was at the York Senior Center two days ago and the woman who cooks our lunches was admiring my shoes. I have two pairs of shoes she likes, and they are both Rieker’s. She said, “You know, Maine would be the only place that those are super shoes.” They are super shoes, for Maine but not Manhattan or Boston because they aren’t dressy. You can be casual, you can be yourself.
WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU?
In my life? My granddaughter and my dog.
TELL ME ABOUT A LESSON YOU ARE LEARNING OR HAVE LEARNED?
I’m learning to slow down.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT OF YOUR DAY?
When I get into bed at night with my book.
HELENA AND WILLIE WILBUR- FROM KEANE, NEW HAMPSHIRE EN ROUTE TO AUGUSTA, MAINE FOR A GRANDDAUGHTER’S HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR TRAVELS TODAY.
Willie- We’re traveling by motorcycle. Both of us are retired and we like motorcycling so we ride around the country. So far, South Dakota, Colorado, North Carolina.
TELL ME ABOUT A TRAVEL ADVENTURE.
Willie- I belong to a motorcycle association called Combat Vets Motorcycle Association so when we do ride, we incorporate that into the ride. We go see some of my fellow brothers. We’ve been out to spearfish in South Dakota as part of the national event around the country. That’s what we like to do, we go out and visit my Vietnam friends.
Helena- An interesting story he should tell is when he went out to the Marine reunion. He is a Marine. And he met up with the man who saved him, pulled him out of the hole. To me, that was an adventure.
WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU?
Helena- Most important to me is family. My kids, my husband, my mom, my sister. And my friends.
Willie- Basically, that’s what it all revolves around. We have six children between us, and a bunch of grandchildren. When we aren’t out doing an adventure on our motorcycle, we like to spend time with our family.
WHAT IS THE BEST MOMENT OF YOUR DAY?
Willie- Getting up in the morning!
Helena- Opening my eyes. “Thank you God, you gave me another day.”
Willie- Like I said, we’re both retired. We both enjoy riding the motorcycle. She has her little hobbies and I have mine. I like to fish and golf.
Helena- I like to work out and journal. I like to do Pilates and walk.
SARAH, JOYCES AND MEEYAH VEGA- FROM MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE EN ROUTE TO OLD ORCHARD BEACH, MAINE FOR VACATION.
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR TRAVELS.
Sarah- We’re just staying on the beach, a little vacation trip. We’ve gone to Old Orchard for three years now. We always stay in the same place. It’s a convenient place to go, it’s not that far from home. We go either in the early summer or in the fall, because it seems to be slower then.
WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU?
Sarah- Spending time with my family. Everyone has very limited time, and enjoying the most of it.
Joyces- Same thing. Spending time with my family.
TELL ME ABOUT A LESSON YOU ARE LEARNING OR HAVE LEARNED RECENTLY.
Sarah- That things don’t always go as you planned, and you just have to go with the flow. Make the best of it.
Joyces- Time is short!
WHAT IS THE BEST MOMENT IN AN AVERAGE DAY?
Sarah- Waking up to my daughter. She wakes me up screaming!
Joyces- Just taking care of Meeyah.
SUSAN AND ROB REECE- FROM TOPSFIELD, MASSACHUSSETS EN ROUTE TO BOOTHBAY, MAINE TO PREPARE THEIR ISLAND COTTAGE.
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR TRAVELS TODAY.
Rob- We are going to an island that her family has been going to for 93 years.
Susan- Isles of Springs, 100 acres. It’s an island community. It’s part of everyone in my family, and our children, their children.
Rob- It’s a thing that keeps our family united. More than our winter homes.
TELL ME AN ADVENTURE STORY.
Susan- A week ago today, we got back from the Czech Republic. We did a walking tour from Vienna to Prague.
Rob- We learned a lot of history. A few days before that, we went to Munich reconnecting with some foreign exchange students we had when our kids were in high school. We saw Susan’s brother who lives in Frankfurt but has a house in the Czech Republic.
WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU?
Susan- Family.
Rob- Yeah, family.
TELL ME ABOUT A LESSON YOU ARE LEARNING OR HAVE LEARNED RECENTLY.
Susan- I think I’ve learned that we are always developing and we are always adjusting to new phases in our development. It doesn’t stop. For us, become in-laws, becoming grandparents, becoming retired has required change. Much of it is wonderful, some of it a little uneasy sometimes, trying to figure out what we want to do when we grow up.
Rob- I guess I would add that as we get older, we see friends coming down with illnesses. And, you have to appreciate each day. You keep learning, and you have to appreciate what you have.
WHAT IS THE BEST MOMENT OF AN AVERAGE DAY?
Rob- Mine is getting up in the morning. My job is to get up and get the coffee. And we sit in bed and read the newspaper and drink coffee together. We start the day that way together.
Susan- My favorite moment or time of the day is the late afternoon sun.