LAS CRUCES – Even during this once-in-a-century pandemic, we’ve all had to visit the grocery store. But how much thought have you given to the people responsible for transporting the items that fill your shopping cart?

Long-haul truckers are, obviously, essential employees during the COVID-19 crisis. A few weeks ago, I spent some time talking to one about his experience during the current pandemic.

'Over the Top'

Tony Lopez is 43 years old. He was born and raised in El Paso, where he has lived all his life. He has driven an 18-wheeler for more than 20 years.

He was drawn to the profession as a child, after seeing the movie "Over the Top" — the 1987 film starring Sylvester Stallone as Lincoln Hawk, a struggling long-haul trucker with an arm-wrestling side hustle.

“I saw that movie, and thought it looked fun — seeing Stallone going out to all of these different places. I remember telling my mom, ‘I’m going to become a truck driver.”

Tony was 9 years old. Fast-forward 13 years.

When he was about 22 years old, he found himself unemployed and unsure about the direction his life was headed. Then he saw a commercial for International Schools, a truck-driving school in El Paso. All of those childhood dreams returned; he called the school and signed up for classes.

Since earning his Commercial Driver’s License in 1999, Lopez has spent the past 20 years making a career on the road.

“I just love this,” he said.

The pandemic sets in

When the pandemic struck in March — prompting nationwide shutdowns of restaurants, schools and nonessential businesses — Lopez was between jobs.

“I was just hearing what was on the news, and then on Facebook I was seeing that truck drivers couldn’t go into truck stops to get food, or showers,” Lopez said. “So I started calling my over-the-road friends — and ex-students, because I also work for International Schools now — and most of them were saying everything was the same. Some said they were being asked to wear a mask.”

Lopez, who describes himself as a “big boy,” was concerned the pandemic would make it harder for him to find a hearty meal on the road. By word-of-mouth, he started to learn about places that had begun making extra accommodations for long-haul truckers.

“For example, I heard about a Whataburger in Clyde, Texas. There is truck parking there, and the staff would come out to take your order and deliver your food,” he said.

Transportation is essential

The pandemic has done nothing to lessen demand for those willing to haul our nation’s cargo. With his extensive experience, Lopez had little trouble finding work; he was hired by his current employer in April.

These days, his route generally keeps him on Interstates 10 and 20 — hauling plastics or appliances between Valencia or San Diego, California, and Dallas or Houston. When I spoke to him, he was nearing Van Horn — on the final stretch of a three-day run. He had been carrying empty water jugs to be filled at a plant.

Early in the pandemic, Lopez said many of the places he’d stop at had signs on the doors stating that customers were asked to wear masks. However, it wasn’t really enforced. That has since changed.

“Now, once you walk in, it’s like, ‘You need to wear a mask,’” he said. “I always make sure I carry masks with me.”

Lopez’s route, for a time, was taking him through several so-called COVID-19 “hotspots” — including in Texas, Arizona and southern California.

“In Odessa, Midland and Pecos, nobody was wearing a mask when I first started,” he explained. “That has changed.”

Hitting home

In time, people Lopez knew began contracting the novel coronavirus.

“It’s scary because, all of a sudden, you start hearing about people you knew, or know, who have tested positive for COVID-19,” he said, explaining that four of his acquaintances have contracted the disease. “It’s starting to get real.”

For Lopez, the true impact the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus would have became clear in late March when the U.S./Mexico ports of entry were closed to nonessential travel.

“I thought, ‘Uh-oh. This is getting serious," he said.

While the hauling of freight hasn’t stopped, Lopez has noticed a marked decline in oil transportation.

“The parking at the truck stops isn’t packed like it was last year,” he said. “Especially in the oil-producing areas in Texas.”

He’s also noticed a change in California traffic.

“Driving in California — in the Los Angeles area — the traffic isn’t like it was before. You can just ride along like it was any other small town. Before, it was bumper-to-bumper, stop-and-go. Now, the only time the traffic stops is if there’s an accident.”

Small-town America vs. cities

“In smaller towns, there’s an attitude like, ‘We all know each other.’ And I’m thinking to myself, ‘You guys need to be wearing masks,’” Lopez said with a laugh. “I’m coming in from out of town. You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. In cities, they’re a little more strict.”

However, some of the precautions he’s witnessed in larger cities, he said, don’t seem to make a lot of sense. For instance, Lopez recalled going through the drive-thru at a fast-food restaurant. It had a container — in which he was asked to place his money or debit card.

“I’m like, ‘You’re still going to touch my card. You’re still going to hand me my food.’ Or they’re wearing gloves, but not changing them after every transaction. Or they have an itch, and they rub their eyes.”

Going home

“I’m staying with my sister and her three daughters, my mom, my stepdad, and also my daughter,” Lopez told me. “We all live in the same house. My stepfather is 80 years old, and my mom is 70.”

I asked if he had concerns about returning home after being out the road.

“Yes,” he replied. “They know that, when I’m out on the road, I’m taking precautions — staying in the truck, and not getting too close to other drivers. Most of my runs are about two and a half days. I’m not going to the showers; I just wait until I get home. You just don’t know how they’re cleaning them. You don’t know how well the towels are cleaned.”

When Lopez returns home, the first thing he does is to head for the shower.

“I peel off my clothes and throw them in the laundry,” he explained. “Before, I’d hug my mom and kiss my daughter. Now, I just want to take a shower first.”

Tony’s sister works in the medical field.

“At first, she was the one telling us, ‘You guys need to be taking this seriously,’” he said. “She said she didn’t want to be too strict about it, but that we need to be real careful. Like I said, my stepfather is 80, and my mom is 70. But they love to go out to the stores. At first, my sister was telling them, ‘You ain’t going out.’ But they were going nuts. They were getting depressed. Eventually, she started saying, ‘Please, just be careful and wear a mask.’”

He'd urge his aging parents to just stay home.

“And they’d say, ‘Well, that’s easy for you, because you’re always in the truck,’” he said.

Long-haul truckers as essential workers

“Despite the pandemic, everything is running the same,” Lopez told me. “I don’t see any differences. Things have to keep moving. When people go to the store, they’re expecting that they’ll find the things they’re trying to buy.”

Lopez believes the important role truckers play is often overlooked because of how they’re perceived by motorists.

“The reason we don’t get noticed is because they see us as people who don’t take showers, or as people who are just in the way — people who are just going slow on the freeway or getting in the way,” he told me. “Instead of thinking, ‘Oh, he’s doing an important job.’”

When people are shopping at their local grocery stores for items they need, they aren’t typically thinking about how they got there. They don’t often think of the sacrifices long-haul truckers — and their families — are making to ensure shelves are well-stocked during the global pandemic.

“I used to be two months out at a time,” Lopez told me. “And I remember walking into my house and feeling like I didn’t know my family. I would be real quiet, and seriously felt like, ‘I don’t know you guys.’”

Next time you’re in a store, give a little thought to how those goods got there. And the risk that the drivers took to get them there. It’s time we start respecting our essential truck drivers.

Damien Willis is a reporter and columnist for the Las Cruces Sun-News. His biweekly column focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis in Las Cruces and around the region. Have a story to share? Contact him at dwillis@lcsun-news.com or @DamienWillis on Twitter.

This story originally appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News on Aug. 17, 2020.