Yeah, it's true- did I tell this story before?..hmmmmm...anyhow, it's very true. I stopped at the TA Truckstop in Huber Heights, Ohio-near Dayton- to take a shower. Must have been around 1979-80, or '81 because I was driving the orange and white 1977 F-model Mack. The truckstop is no longer there.

The showers had doors you could lock, but they didn't go all the way to the ceiling or the floor, so you could actually crawl under, or reach over the top. I put my wallet,keys, pocket change,and the leather thing...oh yeah my belt, through the loops on my clean jeans and hung them on the hook on the inside of the door.

When I got out of the shower the first thing I noticed was that my pants were gone-nothing, just a bare hook. I put my dirty clothes back on and ran out, but there was no one to be seen. I got the truckstop manager, called the police, but found nothing.

Worse part was that I only had about 20-25 dollars cash on me, but the thief took that, my house keys, truck keys, car keys, fuel card, credit card, and a few silver dollars that I got in Reno,Nv. Leaves you with a miserable feeling to know that some lowlife no good bastard just stole what you've worked so hard for so long to aquire.

The local police department gave me a form to use for a drivers license until I got a duplicate one issued, and I went out to the truck and took the switch out. I found the main hot wire and stuck a paper clip from it to what ever wire made the dash lights come on, then another paper clip from that terminal to whichever one started the truck. Drove it back to Appomattox with the switch dangling under the dash and paper clips in it.

I even spent the night at the truckstop so I could walk the perimeter in the morning, hoping the thief had just taken the money and threw everything else away, but I found nothing.

I remember thinking then, and still do to this day, that I wish I had seen that arm coming over the top of that door-I would have twisted it off and shown them what the other end of it looked like. I just hate thieves and liars, especially thieves.