Billie Joe McKay Trucking 1979 Pin

Billie Joe "B.J." McKay was an owner-operator trucker who travels the country's highways in a red and white Kenworth K-100 Aerodyne with his pet chimpanzee, Bear. In the pilot movie, it is stated that he had spent two years in Vietnam as a medical helicopter pilot, had been a captain, and earned the Distinguished Service Cross. He was a prisoner of war at the Hanoi Hilton for four months in 1973 after his helicopter went down over the DMZ. Episodes typically deal with B.J. uncovering or getting mixed up with crime in the area he's traveling through, and a local resident — usually, a young, beautiful woman — appealing to him for help.