For the Love of a "Cuh-Fuh-Luh" Truck

We went to Indiana last weekend, to participate in a Memorial Service for my father-in-law, Robert F. McGill. My son Greg and his family arrived Wednesday night, so he and his two older boys, Nathan and Eli, made the trip with us.

Nathan will turn 7 years old this week, and Eli is 5. They had a great time in Indiana. We stayed at the home of some dear old friends, Jack & Barb Norton. A railroad track runs behind their home, and the trains were visible. Both boys have been Thomas the Train fans for a long time, so seeing real trains from the back yard was special. On Saturday morning, I overheard Eli talking to his mother (who stayed back in Joplin). He said, "Things here are just great! I wish you could be here with us!"

We had the most fun, however, on the return trip. We (the adults) were tired, and perhaps a little punchy, which made our trip back across the Mississippi River that much more fun. We (the adults) were concerned that the boys could see the Gateway Arch, or perhaps the Mississippi. Their (especially Nathan's) attention was on something else.

Now, I must try to set the scenario. Both Nathan and Eli are reading. Eli (5 years old) reads some from a Dick and Jane Reader. Nathan reads quite a bit, and usually can sound out words that he does not know. That's where the "Cuh-Fuh-Luh" truck comes in.

The Cuh-Fuh-Luh truck is actually a CFI truck (Contract Freighters, Inc.), based out of Joplin, MO. CFI was purchased recently by Con-Way Truckload. Con-Way Truckload moved their base operation to Joplin. In fact, Emily's parents live directly behind their massive office. There are literally hundreds of Cuh-Fuh-Luh trucks visible at all times.

When Nathan sees "CFI", he sees it not as a "CFI" but as "CFl" (capital C, followed by a capital F, followed by a lower case l). He would be a good Hebrew scholar, as he has no trouble reading things that have no vowels, such as C-F-L. He just read it phonetically, adding in the most common vowel sound in American English, the schwa sound (שְׁוָא). Thus, CFI becomes CFL, which becomes Cuh-Fuh-Luh!

So, back to the story. We were coming back across the Mississippi River, and wanted to point out the Gateway Arch, the river itself, Busch Stadium, etc. But, those things held no interest. Nathan was thrilled because a Cuh-Fuh-Luh truck was behind us. When I started to pull away from it, he told me, "Grandpa, slow down. I want to see the Cuh-Fuh-Luh truck!", followed by "Grandpa, you're driving too fast! Slow down so the Cuh-fuh-Luh truck catches up with us again!"




Greg got out his digital camera, but the battery was weak. Nathan wanted to take a picture of the truck. As Greg passed the camera back, Aunt Charissa took a photo of both boys (Eli and Nathan) with the truck in the background. Then Nathan got his hands on the camera. We weren't sure that he knew what he was doing. At one point, he told us that he was shooting a video of the Cuh-Fuh-Luh truck. Nathan took the bottom photo. The truck looks far away (I was driving too fast!), but if you click on the photo, you will be able to see that it really was a Cuh-Fuh-Luh truck.

I will never look at a CFI truck the same way.