It's a Team's Life
Small Town Attitude
When I was seventeen I moved to the small town of Elkhart, from Arizona. I was from what I thought was a small town, Sierra Vista but it was not small compared to Elkhart. If you look on a map you will see that Elkhart is in the southwest corner of Kansas and there are not any cities of size nearby. A little about Morton County; County is 730 square miles, three incorporated cities, county seat is Elkhart with a population of a little over 2100. The closest city with a population of over 20,000 is Liberal, KS and is located 65 miles away on highways. The closest interstate was 144 miles away in the city of Amarillo, TX.
Elkhart did not have many conveniences and we learned to think ahead when we went out of town for clothing, shoes, furniture, appliances, and if we wanted a special ingredient for a recipe. If you needed a new pair of socks we had to drive 35 files to the nearest town during the day while they were open. One scary thing about going out of town was traffic lights... Elkhart did not have any in the city or in the county and they still do not.
We raised both of our girls in Elkhart and I believe this is part of the reason they have the attitude they do. When there is a job to be done get it done. We did not have access to be able to rent equipment we created what we needed. An example is our water well at the house went down. Using a pickup and other ingenious devices that Bob's stepdad came up with we pulled and repaired the well ourselves.
Both of our girls went from kindergarten to seniors in high school in Elkhart, as did over half of their class. The classes where small and each student was needed to participate in sports, clubs, plays, and any other event that came along. Parents were also needed to help run concessions stands, take tickets, and help in any way possible. We worked as a family when a job needed done.
We have since lived in an apartment and did not know our neighbors. In Elkhart we knew our neighbors, their kids, their parents, and also where they worked. Sometimes this could be frustrating as there was a lack of privacy, but at the same time we knew if a light was on at an odd time or a strange car they would question it.
When we first got into trucking we lived a few miles out of town on seven acres. The local sheriffs office knew when we were away from home and they would drive on our dirt road and around the house so it looked as if someone was there. They did this without being asked. This was another instance of neighbors helping neighbors.
It was unspoken but when someone needed help or if a catastrophe happened people came out of the woodwork to do what they could. When I broke both of the bones in my leg and had to be sent over hundred miles away to have it fixed all we had to worry about was me getting well. Family and friends immediately gathered up the kids, took care of our animals, set up a schedule of who would bring meals to the house, and who would sit with me till I gained my strength.
When a trailer caught fire that was hauling hay while on the way home other cars stopped to help him get the hay off of the trailer before it all burned. Of course being from a small area everyone had to see where the fire trucks were headed and we all ended up hauling as much hay as we could to his house and stacking it for him. We also all knew where he lived and where his hay barn was. The only hay he lost was the hay that burned. We all knew someday we might need help.
Some of the kids that went to school lived 25 miles away and those parents knew that if the weather got bad or if the kids needed something they could turn to their friends. Our girl's friends knew if they needed something from a place to stay, a place to shower, or help we were there and we had an open door policy. Sometimes we even found extra animals in the pasture, as someone needed a place for a horse to stay for a couple days till they could get it home.
Elkhart City Hall
During this past week I was reminded of small town values while I attended a birthday for a lady turning 80. The birthday party was being held at the city hall and even with the icy streets she had many guests. Thyra was not anyone famous she was a lady that had grown up in the area, raised her three children in Elkhart, and was turning 80. My mother in law, Carol and I attended and it was great. Over the years I had bought carpet from Thyra, attended school with one of her kids, and had been to events with her. Many of the people who were at the party I have not seen for over ten years but we all had Elkhart in common and the conversation flowed easily.
I was also able to stop by the theater that is being renovated and will once again be a theater and will have the ability to host plays. Many of us were surprised with the theater group formed at how well some of the farmers could act once they got off of their tractors. The theater has special meaning to us as that is where Bob and I met and also where we worked. Bob ran the projectors and my mother in law ran the concession stand and I took tickets. Both of the girls were at the theater as well and I would often have to go find a two-year-old Nicki, as she would follow someone that had just bought popcorn and would go sit with them. The new owners of the theater have started a Facebook page to track the progress of the renovation. Small things like this in Elkhart are very very big news and it is the talk of the town. Some are not thrilled that they are making a lounge that will serve alcohol where the projectors were on the top floor. Each step of the renovation is being discussed as well as going back fifty years to what the theater was like then. Like I said this is big news! If you would like to see the renovations still going on with the theater here is the Facebook page:
All of these values have followed our girls and us as we moved away from this small town. The attitude of getting something done and using what we have is still with us, work ethic is still alive and well. Helping our neighbor is still with us. It took many people to make Elkhart the best small town to live and raise our girls. Our lives have changed and where we live now we do not know all of our neighbors, we do not know the people running for political office, and we are not involved with the local activities. This is still strange to us, but do to our current jobs it is not possible to become familiar with everyone as we are not home often enough. When we are home we have lots of projects to get done and we enjoy the peacefulness of our country home.
Trucking is no different we can sit back and let life happen to us or we can get involved and enjoy life. The can do attitude is what makes trucking great as we are the ones that pickup the load and deliver it safely at the other end through snow, wind, detours, and road construction. In Expediting we are often expected to solve a shippers problems, from how to strap a small piece of freight into our box, to setting up display tables in department stores. It is all part of the job and makes life interesting and wondering what the next day in trucking will bring.
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| Old Theater | Facelift |
Bob & Linda Caffee
TeamCaffee
Saint Louis MO
Expediters since January 2005
[email protected]
Expediting isn't just trucking, it's a lifestyle;
Expediting isn't just a lifestyle, it's an adventure;
Expediting isn't just an adventure, it's a job;
Expediting isn't just a job, it's a business.