chapter 3

Graduation day came and she had her license. All she needed to do now was pass her sponsored ride and she would be good.
She received an email from Melanie congratulating her, and instructions for meeting with her sponsor Gloria. It also included a list of recommended items to take for the route. It would be a total of seven days going from Connecticut to New York, Ohio, Georgia, Virginia and back home. There would be a few other sponsored rides over the next month but then she would be on her own. And there was a bit of time in each state, maybe she could do some sightseeing. She could post pictures of her great American adventure and her friends and Tony could be jealous of her.
She read over the list, “snacks, huh, its listed here twice, must be an error.” She loaded her bag got a sleeping bag, all her electronics and hygiene equipment and tried to get some sleep.
Amber was prepared for everything, except for Gloria.
“Hey kid, you must be Amber!”
Amber paused for a moment or two too long before responding, “uhm yeah, Gloria?”
“Who else would it be? Come on, we haven’t got all day. Our first trailer is loaded, but I have to watch you do the initial inspection on our girl here.”
“Ohh yeah sure.” Amber was surprised because while she had been working to get herself in shape, Goria was another shape entirely. She was easily twice the weight of Amber and about an inch shorter. Her face was pretty enough, her brown hair had blonde highlights and framed her face so well. She had large earrings and her make up must have been done by a pro. But from the neck down her breasts hung on top of her gut, her exposed arms had some real flab to them and a fairly large rear end.
Amber shut all that out and got right to work on the inspection. She checked off every item, ensured the fluids were all topped off and all the paperwork was in order.
“Excellent, now get your stuff stowed so we can hit the road.”
Amber jumped up and found the bottom bunk open for her. She found several tie down spots and secured her belongings.
“Here kid, since you’re driving you can have this spot for your snacks.” Gloria gestured to a space in the center console, it was quite large. “Anything extra keep up here and you can switch out when we stop.”
“Ohh, jeeze, I won’t need that much space.” Aber unloaded her protein bars, a bag of chips and some candies.
“Ha, is that all you are bringing, rookie move. Don’t worry we will have places to stop and pick up more. No lets get going, we can get better acquainted on the road.”
Amber looked around again and saw three other cubbies all stuffed to the brim with snacks. They were piled high. Cookies, candies, crackers, chips, sodas, and a case of cakes. She looked back quickly at Gloria.
“Long trips you gotta load up. Helps to have a Costco card.”
“Right.” She turned on the truck and began to pull out of the lot. “Or some self-control.” She thought to herself as she pulled out onto the road.
“So, how long have you been a truck driver?” Amber tried to start the conversation off. She wanted to speak sooner but as soon as they started driving Gloria had grabbed a oacket of devil dogs and started eating.
“Right outta high school.”
“Really, at 18?”
“Yeah, sort of. I was in the Army for a few years. They trained me, got a lot of experience transporting all sorts of equipment in all sorts of trucks.”
“Ohh, that’s cool.”
“Yeah, I got out right after my tour in Iraq. There was a bomb in the road, hit my truck.”
“Oh, wow that must have been terrifying.”
“Maybe, knocked me out cold, messed up my back. Got medically separated, looked around a bit for school, but really, I just wanted to drive again you know. Worked on a couple of rigs for a couple companies then hooked up with this one. It’s nice I do a lot of the sponsor rides.”
Amber thought Gloria was done talking because she opened another packet of devil dogs. She took a big bite of one and said, “Probubly better I got out when I did. The Army is not big on big women.”
“Huh?”
“The Army, like most folks have a bad impression about heavy folks, they would have kicked me out as soon as I got back to the US. I was already a little hefty before my accident, then a whole lot of good food, and time off just kind of added more and more on. I was afraid I wouldn’t fit in my uniform. Haha.” She laughed between bites. Tiny flecks of chocolate cake fell onto her breast.
Amber noticed this slightly as she saw out the corner of her eye.
“Okay, turn up here, we can pick up our first trailer.”