Photos of My America by Trucker Mike

Each photograph below represents one of the categories of pictures found inside this site. Click on the picture or on the name to go to that section of photographs.


Schneider was the first big-truck company I drove for. At that time, their whole fleet was International cab-overs and we were limited to 55 mph, everywhere.	An Isuzu diesel cube van that I delivered while working for Morgan Drive-Away, a now-defunct company. Note my car behind.	Paschall Truck Lines, of Murray, KY, was a good outfit to work for. They, also, used all cab-overs at first, but have switched to conventional cabs. This is at a rest area in TN.

I drove for Butler Trucking, out of Woodland, PA, for two years. The bulk of that time was spent in Ohio, western PA and NY, plus Ontario, Can. Shown here is a 1993 Freightliner tractor.	Fueling a Southwind Motor home by Fleetwood with my Kia being towed behind. These big RV's were easy to drive, but only got 6 mpg on average.	Watsontown Trucking. I had just backed into a tight dock in New Jersey. After this cab, I was given a brand new 2007 Volvo tractor with 420 miles on it. When I retired, March, 2009, the truck had about 250,000 miles on it.

Note: You can also use any of the photos from this site simply by right-clicking on them and saving them to your own computer. I can send you larger, printable photographs at your request and for a modest fee. Simply write to me at the address below.

New Note: In order to discourage spammers and to eliminate the thousands of junk e-mails I get every week via my web sites' e-mail links, I have removed the links. If you want to contact me, you will actually have to copy my address (see below) and paste it into an e-mail form. Sorry for the inconvenience.

truckermike@mikiemetric.net

	Over major highways and interstates, on the mazes of overpasses and underpasses and interchanges, on two-lane country roads, through mountains and valleys, by the seashores and across the plains, I drove and drove and drove. As I traveled, I observed this fantastic country: ridge after ridge of hills and mountains fading away in the distance; endless miles of tree-covered slopes with barely a sign of human occupation other than the road I drove on; many miles of flat farmland where the tallest things in sight were the occasional grain silos, power-line towers and the strips of trees between the fields; never-ending commercial stretches with their restaurants, diners, motels, strip malls, automobile dealerships and other businesses that lined the highways between one town and the next. I noticed the many ways in which people earned their livings. New automobile plants pop up in the middle of farm fields to produce Hondas, Mitsubishis, Volkswagens, BMW's, Toyotas, Mercedes, and other brands once thought to be foreign, but now being Made in America. Warehouses and distribution centers for major grocery and general merchandise chains appear everywhere, especially near small towns and in rural areas, supplying Wal-Mart, Target, Family Dollar, Sav-a-Lot, Food Lion, Kroger, Kohl's and many others. Lots of folks supplement their incomes with home-based businesses, as was indicated by signs placed in their front yards by the road: hair dressers and beauty shops, day-care facilities, automobile repairing, well drilling, horse boarding, psychic readings and fortune telling, selling used cars, breeding and selling a variety of different dogs, selling fish bait, tree trimming, home repairing and remodeling, etc. The same spirit of commerce was visible in the large cities where every nook and cranny, every stretch of sidewalk, seemed to contain some kind of business with the owners trying to catch their share of the American dream. I was often awed, amused or fascinated by the scenes around me: the wonders of nature, the industriousness of man and how the two forces connect and interact. I captured many of the scenes on film, often shooting the pictures with one hand as I barreled down the highway in my 18-wheeler. This web site is a collection of those digital images and my observations on the things I saw and experienced. If your knowledge of the United States comes from television shows, movies and magazines, you are only getting part of the picture. This is a big, big country with almost every kind of land form, a wide range of climates, and people from every corner of the Earth. And yet ....it is ONE country tied together by a shared appreciation of the freedoms we enjoy and by a multitude of national fast-food chains. This site will inform you about the many varied aspects of the United States - the people, the places, the occupations, the businesses and the features that are uniquely American. Because of the nature of MY business - driving a big truck - many of my photographs are of the businesses and factories of the United States: automobile assembly and manufacturing, mining and quarrying, warehousing and distribution, farming and ranching, and making products such as electrical components, plastic bottles and caps, vinyl windows, truck frames and chassis, dried beans, cardboard boxes for food products, pet foods, and grocery items in cans and jars. One of the many Sunset and Sunrise pictures on display. It took three photos to record this rainbow near Buffalo, NY. Weather and Seasons A fine example of the murals I have photographed around the country. This particular one is in Watkins Glen, New York. To see more, click MURALS.
Birmingham, Alabama, skyline.		Office buildings in Hartford, Connecticut.

A billboard seen along Florida highways.		Normal winter scene in Maine.

Road cut on I.68, western Maryland.		Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts.

Snowy rocks along I.93 New Hampshire. Also see Vermont.		Chemical plant by I.95, New Jersey.

Twin Towers from Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, New York City.		Solid Rock Church, I.71, Ohio.

Downtown corner, Emporium, Pennsylvania.		Jack-knifed Truck Wreck on snowy road.

Electric Power Line Towers in Ohio.		Sample of the Signs and Billboards section.

One of the Vehicles I drove or delivered.		Old Water Tower in Batavia, Ohio.

Arkansas railroad Bridge.		Sears Tower Building in Chicago, Illinois.

The aluminum Industry in Cressona, PA.		Vineyards, western New York State.

Visit the multi-faceted world of Mikie Metric.
Absolutely Ridiculous English Spelling	Basic English the Mikie Metric Way
Intermediate English Grammar Lessons	Greeple the Space Caterpillar and Other Stories