Careers
Many careers are stressful. You need to meet deadlines, deal with demanding customers, make pushy clients happy, and have technical difficulties. While work can be stressful, most people don’t get put in life-and-death situations. Those whose jobs do put them in harm’s way, often choose these dangerous jobs. This is why it was so shocking that a typical truck driver found himself in a situation where he had to fight for his life because of special cargo.
Jacob Cartwright
Jacob Cartwright was a truck driver. He started his job a few months earlier, and he drove trucks cross-country. His routes wore him out and took him from his wife and children, and he wanted a change. When he found out about a local driving job with Little Trees Transportation, he applied. Roy Henry, the owner, was impressed by Jacob’s priority to his family, and he gave him the job. It wasn’t long before he proved himself as dependable as the other drivers on the job.
3 A Job
When Jacob arrived at work one day, his boss told him that he would be driving across Oregon, from Portland to a small town called Nyssa. The truck was filled with boxes. Jacob found it strange that the boxes were so light. What was in the truck wasn’t his concern. His only concern was getting the special cargo to its destination.
A Difficult Trip
Because the boxes were so light, it made driving in the snowy and icy conditions difficult. He knew that a heavy load would help him stay on the road. He didn’t want to drive too fast, as he had heard stories about reckless drivers getting in accidents in such conditions. And he was worried about getting in an accident when he realized that he made a mistake. When he glanced at his GPS, he realized that he put in the wrong address. He quickly entered the right one, and the directions told him to get off the highway and take a detour on a service road. This brought him on the windiest road that he had ever driven on.
Lost Control
Driving on the road was difficult because it was winding, it was slippery, and very little light peeked through the pine trees that lined the street. When he lost control of the truck, he did his best to regain control. Fortunately, the truck remained upright when it came to a screeching halt. When he revved the engine, he heard a loud sound. When he got out of the truck, he discovered that the tires were stuck.
Worries
Jacob’s first worry was that he wouldn’t get the shipment to its destination in time. He tried to call his supervisor to let him know what happened; he had no cell service. He couldn’t make phone calls or get on the internet. And he had no way to call for help, so he had to sit and wait for help to arrive. When he started getting thirsty, he melted some snow and drank it. As the hours passed an nobody came to help, Jacob began to get really hungry. He hoped and prayed that there was something in the special cargo that he was transporting that he could eat.
Potato Chips
Jacob checked to see what was in the boxes, the special cargo that he was delivering and discovered that it was boxers and boxes of potato chips. There had to be thousands of bags in the boxes. Just as he was ready to open a bag, he realized that he couldn’t. Roy trusted him to get the product intact to its destination, so eating just a few crumbs would be wrong. He closed the trailer door, trying to forget the solution to his hunger issues were right in front of him.
Going Off On Foot
When Jacob realized that nobody was coming to look for him, he decided that he had to find help on his own. He locked up his truck and headed out on foot. He trudged through the knee-deep snow and melted snow for water. When he got tired, he slept under a pile of pine needles. Days went by, and Jacob still wasn’t home. Understandably, Jacob’s wife, Devon, was terribly worried. He had never disappeared before. She was sleeping on the couch when she woke up and saw Jacob sitting in a chair. She thought that she was hallucinating, but she wasn’t. Her husband was home.
Medical Attention
When Devon realized that it was really Jacob, she rushed him to the hospital. On the way there, he told her everything that he had been through. He got checked out at the hospital, and fortunately, there were no long-term effects. When Roy found out that Jacob made it home, he went to see him. His boss was very impressed that Jacob survived out there, and didn’t dip into the chips.
A Strong Man
Jacob has a tattoo on his forearm that reads, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” This tattoo was very accurate. This deliveryman refuses to open his special cargo even if it costs him his life. Fortunately, it didn’t. He made it home to his family, where he recovered and returned to work shortly after.
