I am considering early retirement from my current corporate position and starting a second career in truck driving. In doing my homework I'm reading alot about the truckers subculture at truck stops. This is something that is not really known by new drivers until they are out on the road, such as the truck stop lizards, drug dealers and wheel cleaners. Is this something that is a problem for drivers or is it something that you have to seek out?? I've read stories that truck stop lizards will knock on your door in the middle of the night looking for a score. As someone who has always wanted to be an OTR driver should this be an issue that I need to be concerned about in making my decision to drive?? I would love to hear from the experienced drivers out there to tell it like it is.

I can tell ya that back 30 years ago this stuff was going on. It's nothing new and I wasn't a truck driver back then. It's just something people didn't want to "see"

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"Tude"

" A good attitude will get you through almost anything"

I guess it depends on what you want to do at a truckstop. In my case, I pull in, fuel the truck, park it, maybe go eat, then I go right to sleep. I don;t have time to fool around with the "truckstop culture" or much of the stuff going on around me. I have never encountered a drug dealer at any truckstop, have spoken to a grand total of 2 lot lizards in the last 10 years, and have never seen a itinerant wandering wheel polisher at any time. I use the truckstops as exactly what they are, a place to stop my truck and sleeep. And a lot of times I don;t even sleep there, instead tucking myself away in a rest area or a corner of a customers lot or some other location.

I know there are drivers who think that their life revolves around the truckstops, and they spend a lot more time there than I ever will. But that;s a choice everyone makes. I get paid for moving the freight down the road, not for hanging out in the truckstop. Every minute I sit in one is a donation of my free time. And thta applies whether you drive by the mile or on some other payment method.

Use them as refueling and eating stops, and you won't find that you have any problems or issues with them. The lot lizards and other truck stop denizens only gather around the ones that call to them anyhow. If you don't go out of your way to interact with them, they won't be involved with you.

And by the way, the lot lizards I have seen are not ladies of your deepest fantasy. Unless you are really into ladies that are hooked on crack, unwashed, middleaged, and in general poor health, you aren't going to be attracted to them anyhow. We aren't talking Hooters girls or Playmates down on their luck.

The impression I was getting from reading all this information was that these low lifes are a menace to drivers. All I would use the truck stop for is fuel, food & sleep. The story I read in the Dallas newspaper kind of started me thinking that maybe this might not be a good choice for my second career.

The way I see it, just MHO, there's risks in every area in life. Truckstops are the least of my concerns in being a driver. Violence is simply increasing all over the world and we take a risk getting behind the wheel of any vehicle, we take risks being in our own homes too for that matter. I wouldn't let truckstops be the deciding factor of whether or not you want to drive a truck.

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"Tude"

" A good attitude will get you through almost anything"

Again, as I have seaid on here before, people talk about the interesting things, not the mundane parts of the job. Lizards, and other denizens are much more interensting to talk about than the times you pull into a truckstop and absolutely nothing happens. I can spin you along tale about the deer I hit a few weeks ago, but have nothing much to say about the 600 miles of that trip that preceeded my encounter with Bambi. I can tell you about the 2 times I have been pulled over on a scale, but can't muster up a word about the many times I have driven right past it. It's simple human nature to talk about the more interesting bits of life.

If a TV or paper does an article about life at a truckstop, they always concentrate on the sordid bits, because that's where their bread and butter is. people don;t want to hear about the guy that fueled, ate, slept, and left. There's no drama in that, and no ratings. people talk about the driver that has an accident, and never say a word about all the drivers that go down the road without putting a scratch on the truck.

These eople are only menaces to you if you allow them to be. They hear the word "no" when they are offering their services a hell of a lot more than they ever hear "Yes". if youlook for them, you will find them. There are some truckstops known for being sleazy and problems there are more than problems in other places. You learn to avoid the bad places, of which there are relatively few, and go on your way without being bothered.

If you are able to walk past the Salvation Army Xmas bellringers, and tell a girl scout that you don't want to buy any cookies this year, you should have no problem saying no to a lot lizard.

Dont forget about the guys running around the lot trying to sell cologane.

I was at a NJ TA the other day(BTW, it cost $12 to park!!!), and there was a woman on the cb calling herself the cleaning lady, she said $25 for a cleaning without shampoo, lol. She sounded like she really was a cleaning lady, but then when asked about services, changed her tune pretty quick

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EX-CRST Driver, but I would recommend them if you wanna actually work and not #####!

While DFW does have a problem with some of their I20 truck stops they are by no means an objective paper. They have been blasted repeatedly for their one sided biased reporting on trucking.

Just remember there are always two sides to every story.

Sure you'll be approached by panhandlers of all sorts but not on a daily or even weekly basis. Or at least I've never been. Probably not even once a month.

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Aw ya just should ask her how much she'd pay YOU to clean yer windas and polished yer chrome.....that would got her goat and shut her up

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Well, one of our first times out, we had to sit in SC for about 18 hours and, while Mike slept, I talked to the guy in the next truck over with a cute min pin in it. While doing so, we got approached by a rim polisher and said no. Then we got approached by a lot lizard and also said no. (Probably helped that they thought I was with this guy so they didn't really bug ME)

My point is, both went away without a problem. If I'd be INSIDE the truck reading a book (like I was earlier) or sleeping, I'd never have encountered either.

We stay at truck stops often (close bathrooms with heat and showers for me!) and have never had a problem. I have heard there are some you just don't want to go near but don't know where they are and, so far, no problems.

I wouldn't let truck stops deter you from becoming a truck driver at all.