[arkjarhead]

Phil,
Trucks have come a long way since my great Uncle Herald first starting driving across that desert when he got out of the Army after WWII in the late 40s. He said they used to pack their radiators down with bags of ice to help keep the truck from overheating, and they would put ice somewhere else under the hood so they could turn of the fan (no a/c) and this would draw air across the ice and blow it into the cab. A homemade a.c I guess. He said it will still be so hot they would drive with one hand, and the steering wheel would get so hot if you put your hand on it where it hadn't been previously covered it would blister your hand. He also said the metal accelarator would melt a little dip in the middle of your boot and you could see where it had been.

He said alot of truckstops in those days had bunk houses as they called them where you could pay something like a dime and sleep inside under fans an a/c during the day and cross the desert at night if you had time to wait.He said the bunk houses were big rooms filled with bunk beds. Kinda like a military barracks. He said you didn't have to worry about your wallet being stolen either. It really has changed. He said they also had big open showers back in them days.