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VY: So when you were driving back and forth, that was about a five-year period of time, is that right? What was that like? Did you meet different kinds of people along the way?

NH: Oh, that overcame my shyness. Because one of the problems, you're only seeing these people first time, you'll probably never see them again, and I'd get up there and I said, "Boy, I wonder if they're in a good mood." Because we'd have to deliver to the back, it's like a semi, back up into the produce area. If you come early morning, the produce guys got to have their wet stand, the lettuce and everything, and if you come early in the morning, the produce guys got to have their wet stand, the lettuce and everything, ready by opening, so they're working their butt off. And then here I come in with a load of a hundred plants or two hundred plants, and sometimes I'd get the cold shoulder. They'd look at me and don't want to answer me, "I have a delivery." Then finally, the way I would break it, because I had a route to finish, so I had a lot of things. I said, "Take your pallet, and I'll load it on there and make it easy for you to count, I'll put it wherever you want." And the guy would say, "Okay." Or I would say, "Is there a supervisor I can talk to?" That always did it. But that was usually only ten percent. Most of the people were nice, "Hi, good morning," all that kind of stuff. And I had to separate that from it a little bit, my personal feelings, like if somebody gets moody or something, forget it. This is just the way it is. [Laughs]

VY: You didn't take it personally?

NH: Yeah, at the beginning I did.

VY: Okay, so when you were driving back and forth, would you make stops along the way, or was it primarily one destination that you were getting to bring a big load to?

NH: Well, because I didn't work by the hour, I would often leave the night before, like ten o'clock. And I would sleep in the cab. Like, for example, when you go out to Redding, that's a five-hour run, then I had to go Sacramento after the Marysville area, quite a long ways. Then they didn't tell me, I could have left at seven o'clock when we normally started, but I decided I'd just sleep in the van, I mean, in the cab, and take my toilet kit with me. Unfortunately, that was one of the coldest nights. I pull over, it was so cold I couldn't go to sleep. I had newspaper to cover my butt and everything, it was so cold. So I drove as far as I could, and I ran out of gas, my truck. And I assumed there would be a gas station open, but they weren't open way out in the middle of nowhere in those days. So I walked to the town which was about five miles, I believe.

VY: This was probably in the '60s?

NH: Hmm?

VY: When was this, in the early '60s?

NH: Yes. And even the restaurants weren't open yet. I got there (walking) about seven. So I stood around there, and then I ate breakfast and I went to a gas station and took a five gallon can. And a five gallon can is heavy. [Laughs] I walked back. And a farmer pulled up and said, "Hop in." Said, "Where are you down?" I said, "Way down there on the freeway I've got a truck." He said, "That's okay." Took me all the way out there, he waited until I took the air cleaner out and started the truck, and he left. So it's incidents like that or going to town or buy a hamburger, it's a small stand, there's this girl, she's all bubbly, "Welcome," I look around, where's everybody, just me. Said, "You want a hamburger?" "Yeah." "Well, all we have is just regular bread, we don't have hamburger buns." I said, "Okay." But it's just her, enough to lift her spirits or whatever.

VY: Well, it sounds like people in general were pretty friendly and supportive.

NH: Yes. You get out of the city limits, that's the way I found, from your area, Washington and Seattle. Twenty years ago, anyway. [Laughs]

VY: Did you stop at truck stops during this time?

NH: Sometimes, but usually... later I asked for another fifty-gallon tank (put on the truck), enough to get me places.

VY: So most of the time it was more of a day trip, not necessarily...

NH: If I went up to Crystal City, it was overnight, I'd sleep somewhere. Oh, side note to that, they had (signs), smoked salmon or something, I didn't know what that was. It was usually in a bar, restaurant, so I pulled over, and I thought I'd take some home, I bought some, it's homemade and they sell it right at the bar. It was so good I ate everything up when I got home.

VY: It didn't make it home? [Laughs]

NH: I got home, but I got smoked salmon, but it was so good I ate it.

VY: Okay.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.