Road To Children’s Heart

Truck driving is often seen as a job that is short on respect. But it does have its rewards. CBS News Correspondent Tracy Smith reports that since 1992, “Trucker Buddies” has helped drivers become pen pals with children.

Life is like a highway for truckers like Tom and Sandy Peters. It can seem empty even in traffic. But the two have found a way to fight the boredom of the open road with the help of people too young to drive.

The road warriors keep pen pals in the second and third grades at Lincoln Prairie School in Illinois. The truckers write them every few days. Once a year, they show up in person.

The children tracked the truckers’ routes across the country, learning geography, math, and science along the way. When the truckers visited the classes, the students were popping with questions.

"We learn more about the 48 states," said one student. "They go to [states] other than Alaska and Hawaii cause they can't go there with their truck."

The youngsters also get to visit the truckers’ home away from home.

"This is where we live when we're on the road," described trucker Tom Peters. "This is what we do. We got closets, TVs, storage areas up here. This is a bed."

What would one think would be most common kids’ reaction visiting a truck?

"They all want to blow the horn," said Peters.

His wife Sandy countered, "Tom still blows the horn, he won't go through a tunnel without blowing the horn."

"It's still fun to blow the horn," admitted Peters.

The kid-like excitement is what the program is all about.

"You look at things a little differently,” said Sandy Peters. “You do go places and you say the kids would love this."

The Trucker Buddy International believes that the program allows the truck drivers to sit higher in their seat and feel prouder about what they are doing and the kids look up at them as heroes.

But as much as they love their trucker buddies, most of these kids are not in it for the long haul. Bailey, a student, said he wouldn’t want to become a trucker. "I do want to see all 50 states, but not in a truck," he said.

Currently there are more than 4400 drivers in the program, but that number is not enough. Over 150 teachers are on a waiting list to be matched with a trucker buddy.