After retiring to Snowflake about 10 years ago, former commercial truck driver and instructor turned author Dennis Fox began compiling 53 years worth of stories from his life for his first auto-biographical novel, Five Million Miles of Truck Driving Stories.
“I began driving in the early ‘60s, driving a furniture van across the United States,” says Fox.
In the beginning, the transportation systems still largely consisted of two-lane highways and Fox shares his unique perspective of watching the country grow from the cab of his truck with the reader.
In his travels, he witnessed the changes in local communities as Route 66, which he was fond of, became a city street in Holbrook and Winslow as it was bypassed in favor of Interstate 40.
Throughout his career Fox, “drove every type of commercial vehicle there is and hauled just about everything our society uses.” As he drove, he chronicled his travels with photos and notes. “I’ve got stories from every company I’ve driven for,” he notes.
With all those miles travelled, he also had some wild and crazy adventures, including a few near death experiences. Once, in a frozen rainstorm in Manitoba, Fox recalled that a Cadillac spun out of control in front of him and ended up stuck backwards under the trailer. Although injured, the occupants all survived.
Fox’s book is available at several local libraries, including the Snowflake-Taylor Public Library, and may be purchased in book or eBook/Kindle format from Amazon, Google, and Barnes & Noble.
