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Grandpa Charlie Woods Truck Stories |
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January 20, 1888 to June 14, 1969 |
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February 23, 1903 to May 3, 1995 |
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The first story I have of Grandpa Woods days in trucking took place in the late 20's. He was driving a 1928 INDIANA truck pulling a semi and short pull trailer. He hauled bales of cotton from Oklahoma to locations in the Houston and Galveston, TX area. On one trip he met another truck that either sideswiped him or turned and clipped his rig. The result was several bales of his load falling down and crushing the cab of his truck, trapping him inside. The other driver didn't stop so it took quite awhile for him to free himself from the wreckage. Though injured, he was able to drag himself up on a bale of cotton til someone came along to help. Think about it, there wasn't much traffic then, and getting hurt a long way from home and family was a very serious event.
I don't have any pictures of this particular truck, but have found a few pictures of INDIANA trucks. If anyone has any information on this brand of trucks I would like to research the company a little more. |
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These two pictures of a 1927 INDIANA were given to me by my Dad. On one of his trips to California he visited the Hays Truck Museum at Woodland, CA. There is a link to the museum on my links page. |
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How would you like to run cross country in a rig like this? |
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The picture below is a 1932 INDIANA from the Ken Goudy collection featured on the Hank's Truck Pictures website. You will find a link to their site on my links page. Take time to visit them. |
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Sometime in 1931 Grandpa bought a new Chevrolet truck and built a semi trailer to haul between Oklahoma and the Houston, TX area. During these years most families were struggling through hard times. Grandpa told about outlaw gangs that tried to use this against truckers. They would place something of value by the side of the road, usually some type of food item, knowing it was hard for someone with a large family to pass by any kind of windfall. He said if you stopped your truck the bad guys would come out of hiding and try to take your truck, cargo and anything else of value.
Another tactic they used was to wait near a gas station or diner and while the trucker was away from his rig for a break they would climb up on the truck and hide. Later when the driver was in a secluded area or climbing a hill they would jump down to the running board of the truck and try to over power the driver. This actually happened to him one day, but when the robber tried to take his truck Grandpa fought him so hard the bad guy gave up and jumped off. He thought Grandpa was going for a gun, but what he actually was reaching for turned out to be a soda pop bottle.
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This page will be under construction for quite some time so check back for more stories and old truck picures. Please use your back button to go back to TOM'S TRUCKIN' or use the link at right to see Dad. |
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Click here to go to my Dad's story page |
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