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OAKDALE, Calif. — At 90, Joe Rocha fondly remembers the days when truckers used flashlights to communicate, engines had to be cranked by hand, and it took 29 hours to drive from San Jose to El Centro in Southern California.

Today's truck cabs look to Rocha like the inside of an airplane cockpit, with a dashboard full of buttons and switches. Everyone has a cell phone. And instead of puttering along at 30 miles an hour, trucks can travel at speeds more than double that.

Rocha climbed behind the wheel of his first truck in 1938. The Oakdale, Calif. resident officially retired in the 1980s, at the age of 66.

Six months later, Vincent "Fritz" Hummer, the co-owner of Hummer Trucking in Oakdale, asked Rocha if he'd like to help out occasionally. Rocha was a little bored with retirement, so he said yes.

A couple of hours turned into a couple of days, then a couple of weeks.

Twenty-four years later, Rocha still shows up at 9 a.m. every workday at the office of the family-owned trucking company and checks the schedule for his route.

Douglas Hummer, the company's operations manager and son of its founders, said he believes that Rocha is the oldest commercial truck driver on the road in California.

"No, I haven't found any other drivers older than me," Rocha agreed, nodding his head under a tan cowboy hat, matched with a pair of brown cowboy boots, blue jeans and flannel shirt. "I think I'm the oldest."

Confidentiality rules prevent the California Department of Motor Vehicles from naming the oldest active trucker in the state.

But there are just seven drivers ages 90 to 99 with commercial licenses, so that means "it's safe to say he is one of the seven oldest, which is still pretty amazing," said DMV spokesman Steven Haskins.

Of the 24 million commercial drivers in the state, 634 of them are ages 80 to 89, Haskins said.

All drivers 70 and older have to renew their licenses in person by taking written and vision tests, Haskins said.

Commercial drivers must have a medical examination every two years, regardless of age. The DMV reviews the results of the exam to determine whether the driver meets federal medical standards.

Those who harbor stereotypes about elderly drivers should climb behind the wheel with Rocha, Douglas Hummer said.

The nonagenarian has a perfect driving record, according to the Hummers and DMV records. Rocha doesn't wear glasses and can drive better than most younger truckers on the road, Douglas Hummer said.

Hummer Trucking was started in 1958 after Vincent Hummer was discharged from the Army and announced to his wife that he wasn't going to take orders anymore. He wanted to haul livestock around the country.

His wife, Dorothy Hummer, wasn't happy. She had hoped he would return to his well-paying job at a nearby plant, but instead she had to adapt to being a trucker's wife.

"It's horrible, uneven hours that can last six or seven days a week," she said.

In the 1960s, Dorothy Hummer decided to join her husband on the road, defying convention at a time when few women were behind the wheel. The company would do it again when it brought Rocha out of retirement.

Dorothy Hummer learned how to drive a truck and the duo built up the business. It was so un- usual for a woman to be a truck driver that she'd often sail through toll booths for free because the operators were shocked to see her behind the wheel.

Dorothy Hummer kept driving until she was eight months pregnant. Another driver warned her that if she didn't take a break, her baby would be born "with a gearshift in his head."

When her son turned 18, he told his mother that she didn't need to drive trucks anymore. It was his turn. The three Hummers still work closely every day at the business, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in May.

Today, the trucking company has 17 drivers.

Among them is Rocha, who doesn't feel a day over 70.

And he'll keep on driving "as long as I can."