Trucking in a Foreign Land By: Megan Cullingford Man, am I excited about this issue. We put our all into every issue, but sometimes, an issue just really stands out. And this is one of them. Check out the front cover. Go ahead—look at it again. Each month, we at Trucker’s Connection strive to create front covers that are eye-catching and that illustrate one or more articles. It’s probably the most obvious thing that makes Trucker’s Connection stand apart from the rest of the field of trucking magazines: having an editorially-focused front cover so you can see right away what content is contained inside. And our content is designed to educate you, make you a better driver and/or owner, help your trucking lifestyle improve and sometimes, to simply entertain and inform you. In this issue, we have a main article that is two-fold: it is informative and eye-opening and it’s also just plain interesting to read. And as such, it made the cut as our front cover selection. “Driving Africa” is from the perspective of a man who’s driven on both continents: Africa and North America. It’s something few of us will ever do, so to see the comparison through the eyes of someone who has, makes you realize just how fortunate we are here. Sure, truck driving is tough here, and it’s also tough there. But in two completely different ways. So while we continue to work on the way the U.S. is operated, seeing how things run in other countries should certainly make you appreciate the good old U. S. of A. And looking at just trucking specifically, you see vast differences. For instance, you think weigh stations are bad? How about having to drive so slowly because the roads are treacherous and then having to worry about bandits who can now easily jump right out and snatch you from your truck and take what they want? Or if you think police here unfairly target truck drivers, how about having to carry X amount of bribe money to pay off the “authorities” just so you can continue to drive legally, as you have been all along? Yep. We may have our issues here, but I’ll take them any day before I’d move to another continent and have to worry about sleeping under my truck at the border crossing or holding hands with strangers just to make it safely through the night. Rather, I’ll just continue to count my blessings here every day. Read all about “Driving Africa” on page 42 and send your viewpoint to megan@truckersconnection.com E-mail your viewpoint to: Megan@TruckersConnection.com