“The Long Haul: A Trucker’s Tales of Life on the Road” by Finn Murphy

If you have met me once, you know I want everyone to find love and settle down with a partner. And if you have met me twice, you know I want everyone to love their day job, too. When I turn off the freeway in Larkspur and drive past the Hospice By The Bay sign where I work, I can’t wait to swipe my key card and get inside that building. I want everyone to experience that feeling of job satisfaction. This brings me to Finn Murphy’s book “The Long Haul,” about his life on the road as a long-distance trucker. He has been driving an 18-wheeler since he first dropped out of college in 1976 to join a moving company. His parents were not thrilled that he abandoned Colby College for life on the road, but Murphy knew he had found his passion and his calling. My friend Page heard Murphy interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air, and she immediately thought of me. I listened to the podcast, was smitten by Murphy, and ordered the book from my library immediately. Finn’s story is fascinating because he describes the behind-the-scenes life of a long-haul trucker, and the code of conduct and secret vocabulary used between truckers who move other cargo. This smacks of Kris Kristofferson in the 1978 movie “Convoy.” There is a hierarchy and sliding paycheck depending on what you are moving. Murphy, who is at the top of the pay scale, specializes in corporate relocations, which often involves moving an executive and his or her family across the country. The New Yorker Magazine called this book “an occupational memoir with an untold human story at its center. In crushingly hard work Murphy seems to be escaping from himself.” He tells quirky stories (like the time he moved a set of Qing-dynasty tombstones) and heart breaking tales (like the time his movers dropped a beloved family piano). But at the end of the day you are strongly convinced that Murphy’s life on the road is a never ending journey, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.