Back in the fifties, I don't think there was such a thing as I-81 and 460 from Christiansburg, VA to Princeton, WV/Bluefield was only two lanes. I lived 21 miles west of Covington, VA on Rt. 311. The majority of truck freight came from Staunton, Virgnia to Covington, then Rt. 60 5-miles to Callaghan, 159 12 miles to Crows, 311 8 miles to Sweet Springs, Rt. 3 20-miles to Union, WV; then 219 down to 460 at Rich Creek and then on west.
There were three noted trouble spots on this route; two turns that trucks often failed to negotiate traveling east the the hill at our house when traveling west when it snowed. If you missed the turn 1/2-mile above our house you took a dip in a large pond right at the edge of the road. The hill at our house was steep with a bad curve with too much banking and if you started spinning, you'd end in the ditch on the opposite side of the road. Then the solution was to call Buddy White from Covington and he would arrive in a beautiful yellow Autocar tow truck and take you over the hill.
One morning a bright red GMC hit the hill and wound up in the ditch. We had a 1951 Studebaker we hauled logs on. The straight-six that came in the truck was totally incompetent so we installed a 259-inch V-8. This dude told my brother that if he'd pull him over the hill, he would pay him well. Well, my brother bit. He hooked to him and pulled over but in doing so twisted the truck and put the fan through the radiator. The trucker paid him by telling him he didn't have any money but would give him a 50-# sack of potatoes, poor reimbursement for a ruined radiator.
That Jimmy was running a straight-six that I believe was gas-powered. It was just about the loudest and best sounding truck I ever heard. A mile down the road from our house was a long straight hill that required several shifts to get over. We'd be sitting on the front porch and I'd hear the Jimmy coming. "There comes the tater truck," I'd announce and my dad would always doubt me. He insist I couldn't recognize a truck by its sound that far away but I would never wrong. In about 2-minutes here would come the red GMC pulling a stainless trailer and up the hill he would go shifting about 5 more times. I loved to see and hear that truck even if he did hoodoo my brother but I guess he learned a good lesson. I thought you guys might enjoy reading this. By the way, who's going to Hershey from Virginia/West Virginia. I got room in the car for a couple.
Jay 1124
