Working as a truck driver can be a lonely way to make a living. Jess Graham, 41, of Snellville has made it home for Thanksgiving five out of the 12 years she’s been trucking, but she’s usually able to find somewhere to spend the holiday, whether it’s at her grandmother’s house in Michigan, or with one of her friends in the REAL Women in Trucking advocacy group.
On Thanksgiving in 2016, she found herself and her daughter seated in a truck stop in Wisconsin watching TV and dining on turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and pumpkin pie.
“She would end up with drivers on both sides of her just watching TV,” Graham said.
This year, however, is Graham’s first Thanksgiving without her grandmother.
“Without having her leading the family and hosting Thanksgiving, this is the first year that I haven’t even tried to make it home,” she said.
Graham drives a 1995 Freightliner FLD mostly transporting raw components for manufacturing, including anything from empty glass bottles to titanium white, a pigment that goes into white paint. She usually leaves from Atlanta and drives through the Carolinas to the Midwest, then back again.
Due to her nomadic lifestyle and the limited space in her truck, most of Graham’s meals come from restaurants or items she can store in her mini-fridge. On Thanksgiving, one of the best gifts she can come by is a homemade meal and a plate of leftovers to take on the road with her.
“That’s better than Black Friday to me,” she said.
Trucking has given Graham connections all around the country with other truckers who share the same experiences. They understand what it’s like to not know if you’ll make it home in time to eat a Thanksgiving meal, and they know how it feels when the invites stop coming.
“That’s harder than missing the holiday that you were invited to or planning on going to — it’s not even being invited anymore, like they don’t even tell you,” Graham said.
One Thanksgiving, she happened to cross paths with a trucking friend along I-44 in Missouri where they grabbed Subway together. Another year, a friend across the country welcomed her to her family’s Thanksgiving where Graham was treated just like another sister.
But her most memorable Thanksgiving of all was when she first drove her truck home to her grandpa in Southeast Michigan. He worked on big trucks and loved machines and motors, so when she pulled up in her truck, he ran out to greet her with a camera.
This year, Graham won’t know where her delivery schedule will take her until a few days before Thanksgiving, but despite the uncertainty, it usually works out for her.
“I do have a good memory every year,” Graham said. “No matter where I am, I can make that home.”
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