Desiree and I became phone-friends, and every time that we spoke, she was somewhere else and had a new idea or story or issue to share. She pointed me to her original story that she had written on her friend’s site, AskTheTrucker, about the issues she saw while getting her commercial driver’s license (CDL) and the problems she saw in the trucking industry, how the education process is broken and the student loan industry is corrupted. Her story, written in the comments section, equals thousands of words and was all done from a PDA that had become was her lifeline from the road for communicating with family, watching TV and becoming an activist in areas from trucking issues, political issues, animal protection and women’s rights.

Eventually she built her own site with the help and encouragement of friends and fans. Shortly after, Dan Rather came along and did an entire expose on the CDL problem, featuring Desiree. I don’t think that Desiree can possibly ever get any sleep. She sees the good and the corrupt equally with clear eyes and is not afraid to talk about conflict. She is currently championing widow-turned-activist Hope Rivenburg and her efforts to get Jason’s Law passed, protecting trucker’s safety after her husband was murdered in his truck for $8. Desiree is also promoting a grass-roots trucker organization called Truckers Against Trafficking that seeks to educate and gain assistance from the trucking community for ending human trafficking. She also heads up a Facebook Fan Page called REALWomenTruckers.

We were fortunate enough to get Desiree on OpenLine last Monday and although the usual callers were a little surprised by my guest choice, by the end of her call speaking to the issues and answering questions from other callers, we all learned a lot more about the trucking community and the issues it faces. Here is the call:

Open Line Show has had its first guest who is an auto industry big-wig and isn’t just a crazy car enthusiast who wants to stay on the phone all night talking cars – but let me tell you! Chris Preuss of OnStar is a car guy to the core, born and bred, and I bet that if he weren’t engaged to talk about OnStar and the current government/industry tussle over whether cell phones should be allowed in cars, he could be a candidate as a regular one-of-our-guys!

Preuss graciously accepted my invitation to appear to discuss in-car communications technologies and answer caller questions. Everyone got a chance to ask their questions and he answered them all! He even pitched in a few extra minutes at the end of his appearance to discuss the Chevy Volt, as he worked on first generation Volt development.

If you missed hearing it live or want to hear it again, have a listen below!

The Open Line Show had its official introduction in today’s edition of Autoline Daily!

Today on Episode 385 of Autoline Daily, BMW posts a first-quarter profit of $424 million. There’s a new proposal in Congress that would force the major U.S. banks to pay for any losses from the automotive bailout. Toyota says it needs to improve how it communicates with buyers and better educate them how to use their vehicles. All that and more, plus a look at a new show called Open Line, that gives you the chance to say what you think about cars and the automotive industry.

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Well, the North American International Auto Show–otherwise known as the Detroit Auto Show–has made all the news it’s going to make for this year. It was a rocky year for the Motor City, and in a way, it really showed at Cobo Hall in Detroit. The digs might have been better than last year (Chrysler was a series of unadorned cars on beige carpet in 2009), but the product reveals were notably less exciting. With the patient on the slab, we called in the best team of doctors we know … our … selves. Well, anyway, we’re here with the official RoAb postmortem of NAIAS.

Is the new Cadillac XTS worthy of being the luxury brand’s new flagship? Does the Volkswagen NCC bring anything new and exciting to the German marque? Will the Honda CR-Z finally be a hybrid that’s fun to drive? We debate all these and more. Plus we’ve got another installment of our new Meet Your Roadmates segment, a Stupid Car Trick and the triumphant return of the long lost Psy-car-logy.

Play RoundAbout Episode 19

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Featuring: Zach Bowman, Michelle Naranjo, Jeffrey Ross and Eric Trytko

Show Notes and Ustream video recording after the jump!

RoundAbout records LIVE on Fridays at 6PM ET/3PM PT. Visit RoundAboutShow.com and click Watch Live to watch our webcast and listen in on all the antics.

Show Notes:

Top Speed with Snow Tires
Ford Focus

Blind Spot: Drag racing golf carts

Psy-car-logy: ECO Anxiety

Stupid Car Trick: Ice damaged BMW X5 M

Meet Your Roadmates:
1992 Subaru SVX
2002 Nissan Quest
1982 Suzuki Samurai

Highway Hearsay: WTF Mazda RX8

My brother was 5 years older and adored cars. I just listened to him when we talked daily. Sometimes he would start talking about racing or just new cars and I would put the phone down and walk away to take care of something and would come back and he would still be talking about cars. I imagine that when I started talking about the Eames furniture that I found at a thrift store was just about as exciting to me as the last Grand Prix or NASCAR race he had attended.

After he died 5 years ago (May 30), I was cannon-balled through a process that burped me out with this freakish knowledge of cars; a subject I had previously claimed to not be ambivalent about as I had deeply and openly despised them.

I began working in the automotive related industry by accident. At first it was for survival. You know the I-can-do-this-because-I-have-to-in-order-to-get-by kind of way. Then, I began to see myself, years before, seeing an old Mercedes rotting in a field in New Mexico and lying awake at night wishing that I could save it from its certain death. There were many, many cars like that I lost a lot of sleep over. At the time I chalked it up to my romantic, artistic nature.

Nature or nurture? Currently, between my blended 4 parents I think that they have about 15 cars, including a ‘51 Midget, a Jag, a Mercedes, a ‘57 T-Bird and a feed truck. That is currently. Over the years we had a Jimmy (in bright orange), Z240’s through 300’s, a ‘67 Mustang, teeny Datsun pickups with a lift job and KC lights, Wagoneers, two diesel Mercedes, Rancheros (because El Caminos were too obvious), a ‘47 Willys Jeep (in which I would drive over saplings in fields as an 11 year old trying to learn how to drive). The front door of one of my childhood homes was painted to match one of our cars.

I have been absorbing everything about cars that I ever overheard. I didn’t read about them and I certainly never researched anything about them. Cars permeate everything in our culture so their sub-culture is pretty easy to trip over. Car salesmen, plied with the odd beer, will eventually tell you everything about their end of the world, good and bad. Everyone else doesn’t realize how much their cars take up their lives. From that “first date way” that people like to present themselves to the world to the very private part of them who will reveal their bad/good investment choices at dinner parties, everyone loves to talk about cars.

Then I began to ask questions. That was when my heart really fell for cars. Designers, engineers, dealers, people who provide services to dealers, professional drivers, photographers, writers, owners, buyers, sellers, environmentalists would all let out this collective sigh that they had an interested ear to hear their stories and how it relates to the automotive industry. The big machines of industry are made of humans after all. The trends, successes, failures and potential is best told by the people involved. The analysts have their own sites.

This world became what I live and breath. Giving in would be an understatement. This is my passion and sharing what I see and hear is my goal.

Michelle is quite knowledgeable in the car space. Even more so than myself, which I hate to admit. Jason Stagliano, Mota.net

Thank you for coming to visit my site. I hope that you enjoy watching it grow as much as I am loving making it happen.

XOO, Michelle