Very few tractor-trailers are adorned with what Jeffrey Perine calls his “scarlet letter.”

It is a sign near the door certifying that he has driven more than 2 million miles without being involved in an accident.

That’s 2 million miles without bumping into anything while backing up, sliding into something while driving in freezing rain or snow, or tagging a street sign while making a sharp turn.

To put it another way, he’s driven the equivalent of more than four trips to the moon and back; more than 80 trips around the world; or 1.4 million trips from the Lima Mall to the Allentown Road Kewpee — without having an accident!

“I’m pretty proud of that,” Perine says, noting he’s actually closer to 3 million miles now. “I’ve been on the road so much they haven’t had the opportunity to give me the award until now.”

Perine drives for Continental Express in Sidney, which honored him with a pile of cash and a free five-day cruise out of Florida. Right now he’d rather be cruising on asphalt than floating in a boat, so he gave the trip to his parents, James and Eleanor Perine, of Lima.

Perine has sat behind the wheel of a Freightliner rig for 22 of his 56 years. He can rattle off enough safe-driving tips to make Albert Einstein’s head spin.

“The CliffNote’s version of it is that I drive scared,” Perine said. “My eyes are constantly moving. I always know who’s in front of me, beside me and in back of me. I allow plenty of time to get to where I’m going and take my time getting there.”

He also respects the rain, snow and wind.

“You don’t gamble with Mother Nature. She plays a mean hand of poker and it’s only a matter of time until you lose.”

Perine didn’t get into trucking until age 34 when the open road pulled him from behind the counter of managing a fast-food joint. Since then he’s driven in every state in the continental U.S, hauling perishable foods and always wondering what’s beyond the other side of a hill or around the next bend. He makes it home to Lima just two to four days a month, or as he says, “just long enough to vote, pay my taxes and check my mail.”

His stories and opinions are many; his observations even more. Among them:

•“The Shenandoah Valley … nothing like it in the fall. There’s a pumpkin patch near Wytheville, Virginia, that’s 500 acres of pumpkins as far as you can see.”

•“I-64 in the Cumberland Gap near Morgantown, West Virginia, is the only road on the East Coast that warns you to watch out for elk and bear.”

•The sun setting over the Rockies. … John Denver was right: It’s a Rocky Mountain high.”

•The cleanest city is Minneapolis-St. Paul. There’s not even a close second.”

•The only city that scares me is Miami. It’s a disaster. They simply don’t know how to drive.”

•Put a blindfold on me and I can tell you where we are by listening to people’s accents. Sometimes I think America has more accents than debt.”

•“Kansas City has the best barbecue, New York City the best pizza, and you’ll find no better bratwurst than that in Wisconsin.”

•“Wyoming is the only place where I saw the wind blow over a freight train. I once sat idle in Rawlins for two days because 70 mph crosswinds shut down roads.”

•“I get a kick out of the state of Washington. It’s like one big retirement home for hippies.”

•“At night, there’s no better place to watch a baseball game than PNC ballpark in Pittsburgh.”

Suffice it to say, Perine bleeds red, white and blue.

“I just don’t understand why someone would want to travel overseas when we have all this to offer.”