's Motd Saturday March 8, 2008

[Guest guest]

THE BATHROOM STOP

Saturday, 08 March 2008

Last Tuesday, I had to get up a lot earlier than usual. The sun wasn't even up as I put on my tank-top and shorts. See, I had to head out to Palm Springs from Los Angeles to teach a big exercise class for a really nice group of people who own grocery stores.Some of them owned little mom and pop grocery stores while some of them owned larger grocery stores and even a few of them. They all get together every year to look over and review nonfood items they may stock in their stores. I'm talking everything from cosmetics, to toys, greeting cards and even vitamins.I had to leave my house at 6:45AM because the traffic on I-10 to Palm Springs is notoriously heavy. When I walked out my front door to get into the car for my ride over to Palm Springs, I was greeted by the longest limousine I had ever seen in my life! No, seriously, that car stretched from my driveway and was so long, it ended in my neighbor's driveway! As I walked over, out stepped the nice driver who's name was ny.Nice to meet you, Mr. , he greeted me. I have fresh juice and water in the car for your ride over to Palm Springs.I was drinking lots of apple juice and water.After telling him to call me, "", I got into the car, rolled down the windows to let in some fresh air and turned on the radio. As I took in the scenery outside my window, I was drinking lots of apple juice and water. And, later, a little more apple juice. About two hours into our ride, oh-oh, nature called and I was in need of a restroom.ny, I called to the driver, uh, I have to use the restroom.There's a truck stop coming up at the next exit, ...we'll stop there, he told me.We pulled off at the next exit and sure enough, there was one huge truck stop there. ny carefully wedged the car in between two of those 50-foot long semis! Okay, there I am, at a truck stop on Interstate 10, somewhere between Los Angeles and Palm Springs. And boy, was I ever dressed for the part, right? I'm wearing a black tank-top with the word "SWEAT" spelled out in little crystals. And on the back, there's a huge red heart. , who designs all of my tank-tops, had made this one just a little long so you couldn't see too much of the candy-striped Dolfin shorts I was wearing underneath.There must have been about fifteen big rigs at this stop. And I have to say I was a little bit nervous getting out of that stretch-limo as all of the truckers stared at the car, waiting to see who was inside. And boy, were they ever in for a surprise.

ny came around, opened the door for me and out I popped from the back of the car. One of the truckers recognized me immediately and shouted over to me...Hey, Mr. , I'd like to meet ya'! I listen to your radio show on Sirius radio all the time!I walked over to him and as we were talking, another driver spotted me and exclaimed...Hey, ! I just love listening to your radio show and you've helped me lose 40 pounds!Truck drivers love my show and listen often, by the way. By now the floodgates were opened and, within a minute, I had six truckers congregating around me, all wanting to say hello and take photos. Not that I wasn't having a great time but I also had, uh..."business" to take care of.I really have to go to the restroom.Uh, excuse me guys, but I really have to go to the restroom. Can you all excuse me for a few seconds?Oh, sure thing , one of them said, we'll walk you over to show you where it is. As I walked into the restroom, one of the drivers shouted to me, Hey, , don't forget to wash your hands!Afterwards, I spent a few extra minutes taking photos with all of my new trucker buddies before continuing my ride over to Palm Springs. I asked them to call into my radio show tomorrow and I hope they do!I had a wonderful time teaching my class and giving the grocers one of my motivational pep talks. On the way back to LA, I steered clear of the apple juice, though! I only had a few sips of water to hold me over 'til I got home.You know, I'll always look at truck stops in a different way from now on. One thing I learned from talking with all of those truckers is that we're all just people. And that's true whether we drive a truck or drive people sweatin' crazy teaching a big exercise class. So today I want to honor all of America's truckers.

Keep on trucking, good buddies!Love,