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# Ten-Four
- URL: https://dianaludwick.com/ten-four/
- Published: 2026-10-04T12:03:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T20:04:34.000Z
- Description: “Ten-Four,” a short nostalgic memory of a father's favorite Trucker code, written Sunday, October 04, 2026 poem 277 in a series of 365 poems written by Diana Ludwick in 2026.Photo: "Bumper to Bumper in the Clouds," by Diana Ludwick © 2026.
- Author: Diana Ludwick
- Tags: 2026 Poetry Challenge, Generational, Nostalgia, Of Place, Poems, Short-form Musings, 10-4, A-OK, Autumn, CB Radio, Eastern Seaboard, Empty Room, Exhaust, Fall, Family Road Trip, Holiday, I-95N, Navigator, October, Over and Out!, Sedan, Sunday, Waterlogged, #Migrated-1792872215677, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-10-24 20:03

I recall, on this day,  
those endless holiday road trips   
crawling in bumper-to-bumper   
snaking lines of tail lights,   
slug-like cars with blue-black exhaust rising,  
as we traversed from Maryland up the Eastern Seaboard  
following I-95 in search of our Thanksgiving turkey feast.  
  
Mom behind the wheel,   
she would call out directives to her navigator,   
my Dad.  
  
And he would reply   
with his whole chest:  
"10-4! Over and Out!"  
  
Citizens Band, CB radio code speak,  
he would remind us,   
every fourth hour in traffic.  
"Trucker Talk"   
he'd re-tred his words.  
  
Ten four.   
Code for:  
Message received.  
Short-hand for:  
A-O-Kay.   
  
On this waterlogged quiet Sunday,  
thirty years removed   
from being contained and constrained  
 in the family sedan,  
I find myself exclaiming to an empty room:  
"10-4! Over and out."