Looks Like We Got Us A Convoy

Back before I had an iPhone, before I had a 286, a Commodore 64, a Vic-20, an Atari, or even cable TV, I had a CB radio.  I guess it wasn't mine; it belonged to the family.  But I sure used it a lot.  During the 70s, and well into the 80s when I started driving, my family had a CB radio in every car, and one big one in the dining room.

It was on all the time.  We talked on it before school, after school and right before we went to bed at night.  Everyone I was related to had a CB handle.  My dad was "Winemaker", mom was "Green Onion", my brothers and sister were, in order, "Goldilocks", "Nightcrawler", "Bookworm", "Pepper" and "Dopey".  I started out as "Dribbler" but later changed it to "Pretzel" after I found out more people associated my handle with a slobbering kid than a basketball player.

We talked to my grandma "Granny B", my aunts and uncles, and any random truck driver who had his ears on.  One of the few rules was to stay on Channel 13 unless the static got really bad.  And, stay off of Channel 9.  That was reserved for police emergencies. 

When I was 11, my life was made complete when I won a radio that I could also use to listen to CB radio traffic. 

I was never particularly artistic, but I turned it up a notch because I knew what prize was at stake.  With that radio, I was able to hear "Convoy" on WMAQ one minute and real life truckers the next.  It couldn't get any better than that.