Good Points about Driving a Truck

As promised, here is a list of "Good Things" about driving a truck.

1. Nobody is looking over your shoulder all the time checking out everything you do. You have the freedom to plan your trips and schedule to your wishes as long as you deliver on time.
2. Even though there is some manual labor to unloading the trucks at times the job is quite easy. 98% of the job is just driving. The rest of it is dropping, hooking trailers and of course a little bit of paperwork.
3. You get to see your continent, which includes your country, Canada, and Mexico. I have seen so many places that I otherwise might have never been to if I had not driven a truck.
4. You get the heartbeat of America. You get to see "the other side of life", what people live like in other sections of the US, Canada, and Mexico.
5. If you really want, you can take your fishing pole along with you and stop at a creek or river and go fishing along the way.
6. If you team drive with a friend or your spouse, you can make more money and have someone along to share the experience.
7. Songs like "I love a rainy night", and "On the road again" have a lot more meaning to them if you drive a truck.
8. Vacation means staying at home since you have already traveled the continent all year long and need some "time at home".
9. You can have all the comforts of home with a nice sleeper cab. You can add a DVD/VCR/TV and carry along your laptop with a broadband card for those times when loads slow down and you have time to enjoy the amenities.
10. Cell phones make it easy today to stay in touch with your loved ones. If you get a nationwide plan with shared minutes you can call your loved ones for free any time of the day. They are only a phone call away.

Rolling Advertisement?!?!

Off I-26 near Prosperity, South Carolina there is a new truck stop where I stopped and grabbed some lunch. When returning to my truck I could not help but notice how the new sign appeared to be mounted on top of the flat bed truck sitting in front of it. Of course it was not sitting on top of the truck, but I could not resist the "picture perfect moment". I thought about those trucks that run around with advertisements on them and then I laughed.

The truck stop has only been open for a couple of months and has a Wendy's in addition to a convenience store. I really liked the new look and feel of the store along with the fresh blacktop. It was nice to stop at a truck stop that did not smell like urine. Give it time though, the lazy truckers who cannot walk into the restroom at night to relieve themselves will soon change that. I still cannot understand why they would not want to keep places they stay at night clean and odor free.

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Statistics for my year of driving

I have logged a grand total of 111,133 miles driving a semi-tractor/trailer during my first year. At this rate it will take me nine years to get to a million miles.

My average monthly logged mileage is 9,801 miles. The least miles I have driven in a day is 9 and the most miles I have driven in a day is 681.

I can drive from New York City to Dayton, Ohio in eleven hours.

It is easier for me to list the states and cities that I have not driven in/near than it is for me to list all of the states/cities that I have driven in/near. There are eight states that I have not driven a semi in now:

Washington, Oregon, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arizona, Maine, and Idaho.

I am in my third tractor since I started driving. The first tractor leaked rain through the windshield so badly it had to be replaced, the second tractor reached the magic mileage to retire it, and the tractor I am in now is hanging in there, but I don't know for how long.

Driving in a car is a piece of cake for me now. I have so much room left over in my lane when I am driving a car that I don't know what to do with it all. I even feel that way when I drive my Ford F-350 dual rear wheel pick up truck.

I just renewed my Commercial Drivers License (CDL) since they used the expiration date from my personal drivers license when I got my first CDL. Now my license will be good for four more years. I also took the test for double and triple trailers and had it added to my CDL. I "Aced" my HAZMAT test.

After I took my tests, I tried to get my CDL renewed but the BMV system was down. I decided to drive from Huber Heights where I had taken my tests, down to Centerville, which is close to where I live, to see if the BMV system would be back up and I could renew my CDL. When I got there, the system was up but it went down while I was waiting for them to process my license. I decided to leave and go back later in the day. When I returned, the system stayed up long enough for me to get my license renewed.

Hot Air Balloons

The last time I was in Indianapolis at the Operating Center (OC), hot air balloons were aloft in the sky over the OC.

Got Jesus?

This was the writing on one of the Church signs I saw as I drove across the country. The exact wording was:

"Got Jesus? It is hell without him."

Life Saving Sand!

You don't want to play in the sand. At least not in this case. The yellow barrels are loaded with sand to buffer the impact of wayward vehicles that run off the road and towards the concrete pillars supporting the bridge. You will see a lot of these showing up on interstates across the country in an attempt to save lives. You can find them in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and other states across the country.

My Over The Road (OTR) Pet Peeves

Below is my list of pet peeves about driving OTR which I have developed after a year of driving a semi through this great country of ours and Canada.

• Lack of Interstate/Highway Bridge Integrity
• Lack of parking for Semi Trucks/Trailers
• Rude Customs Officials
• Slow Truck Stop Employees
• Narrow Lanes
• Orange Barrels and Pylons
• Red Traffic Signals
• Illogical Speed Zones
• Speed Traps
• Bear Packs (several cop cars) sitting in one Median
• Slow, Heavy Trucks in Hammer Lane Going Uphill
• One hour wait for a clean shower to be available
• Pushy, Rude Drivers
• Agricultural Check Points
• Detours
• Lack of road signs identifying road I am traveling
• Lack of municipality, city corporation signs on interstate
• Rush hour traffic
• Metropolitan traffic
• Clueless Merging Drivers
• Drivers who don't shower
• Rude Warehouse Receivers
• Alley Dock Parking
• Dropping/Hooking Trailers in Rainy, Hot or Freezing Weather
• Two hour rest notification that shows up an hour or less from actual hard stop time
• Paper Log Books
• Work Load - It is either Feast or Famine
• Pay -vs- Time At Home - More Pay means Less Time At Home and visa versa
• Maintenance Scheduling
• Breakdowns

That is all I have time for right now. If I think of more, I will update the list later. I will also create a list of favorable things about driving OTR the next time I log in. It is not ALL bad. There are good things about driving OTR.