Sheets..

Interesting you mention bedbug. I never saw hide or tail of one.

Probably because it takes about a gallon of bleach to disinfect a first assigned truck to make it ready to get loaded with the stuff at the house.

The last time wife and I left together we filled two trashbags of shop towels making sure we left FFE a disinfected and pest free tractor. No one details like we do.

 

Between the occasional motel 6 and the nasty couches in repair shops, the occasional spraying for bedbugs is a good idea
Especially BEFORE you move into a truck.
YMMV

 

If you have the money to spend, get a twin xl fitted sheet. Freightliner uses regular twin but petes and others use xl. Cheap ones will do fine. The trainers truck will have had lots of bodies laying on that mattress and if it might help you sleep just get it. My trainer raved about how good the sleeper looked with a clean sheet I just assumed nobody else ever brought one. The mattress was "well worn." Sleeping bag is essential as well as a pillow.

 

I always had the shop issue a new matress on hire. KW made the best ones I recall. They were like almost a half a foot thick sertas made for the bunk.

Of all the trucks we have been in that one was the best ever for both of us.

One more thing.

Do NOT. whatever you do... use a waterbed. It's going to mess with your inner ear and there you are ### hanging out the winder blowing across the highway sick as a dog. The reason being sometimes a storm front rolls through with sideways rain and wind strong enough to rock the entire row. Not just rock, but violently shake the whole row and if tornatic will try to lift a few too. That's a ride.

 

What's a good sleeping bag brand?

 

I don't know about brands, but what I did was look for the largest I could find. The one I found at Walmart was so big there was plenty of room to move around or turn over. Some that have "extra-large" on the tag, really aren't that large, so you have to be careful and check it out.

 

Not so much the brand, but cold temperature ratings and as big a long rectangle you can get. Something like 5 feet wide and 8 feet long. Toss two of them into the bunk. One for between you and the steel plate and the other is to sleep in. The more you have room inside there becomes a option for a second person such as a spouse if need be. We relied on bags made for two and they have the ability to zip together. Worse case scenario -30 in a 50 mph wind storm blizzard for potentally a few days in a cold dead truck, it might be worth it to save life.

Don't buy the pretty bags that look like a cocoon. You will be discovering pressure points that cause you to stay awake through the night. You will never be able to nest inside the thing like you are doing whatever it is you sleep in. I usually bury myself under everything with just enough for the air to move. Some people sleep on top of eveything and others in between.

You also want a UL Fire rating on the bag also. Remember that you are in a truck and if she burns you don't want that bag to turn you into a living torch for a few moments. I forget exactly which materials to avoid but generally try to be clean with no Petroleum grease, oils or whatever on your body when it's time to go sleep where possible that way it does not get onto the bag material and cause it to be even more accessible to fire.

Some will smile and think Im nuts. But remember I used a old style railroad lantern for both light and heat in a cold dead truck sitaution. It's a life saver a time or two when there is nothing to it but to light it, set it somewhere and hop in to rest and wait until the help gets there. Once or twice, set the reefer to 70 and hop into the trailer with the door ajar if there is no freight inside (Usually when you are empty you have a pretty good chance to slide off the road) The older LTL trailers were better for this because you can prop the side door in those days.