Spare keys...

Crashed early last night, so now I'm up early... having a cuppa hot chocolate before going back to bed, lol. Truth be told, sometimes I drink a cold beer at zero-dark-thirty, then crawl back to bed, but today I opted for hot chocolate, and it's mighty tasty. Anyway, I noticed one site member goes by the handle 'LostMyKey' and that reminded me of my own "idiot-proof system" for preventing lockouts at the worst possible time. Of course, I had to learn this system the hard way, but with the help and advice of some older hands, I finally got it down to a science. Whenever I started driving for an outfit, I cut additional keys at the earliest opportunity... usually three of 'em, so I had four all total.

One key would remain in the ignition, particularly during winter & summer when I wanted to keep the heat or A/C going... this was back when APUs weren't quite so prevalent, you understand. Another key was put on a chain or fob, and I would generally use that to get back into the locked truck after being away from the rig. A third key was stashed in my wallet... the wallet didn't always exit the truck with me, but it was a good place to stash a backup key. The fourth key would go under the hood, wired or zip-tied back by the firewall or some other unobtrusive location, then taped up with electrical tape so it didn't look like a key, 10-4? Now, some tractors had hood latch releases in the cab, but for those with standard hood latches, a key stashed under the hood was often a lifesaver.

I can't tell you how many times I had to pry viewing ports out of the shotgun door before I developed this system, usually on the fuel island at 0300 in a freakin' blizzard, after my truck door locked itself... those pesky Freightshakers were known to pull that trick on drivers. And one time when this happened at 0300 on a Pilot fuel island in Bentleyville, PA, the view port had one of those hard plastic seals instead of a soft rubber one, and I was in a hurry to cross the state, so I asked the fuel desk clerk for a hammer so I could smash the view port... there was nobody else around, so the clerk followed me out to watch me smash the glass, lol. Cheap thrills in Bentleyville, I reckon... but I vowed to find a better way to deal with such situations, and I ultimately developed the "idiot-proof system" I've already mentioned.

Perhaps this advice will help a hand just starting out, and spare that hand the frustration and embarrassment of being locked out, lol... and trust me, these lockouts only happen at the worst possible time, never in a nice convenient location, 10-4? Oh, yeah, for those truckers who don't have standard hood latches, find some other spot to stash that fourth key, maybe under the catwalk or in some other unobtrusive location. I never really liked those magnetic key boxes, as they can be dislodged with a hard enough bump, and some of those bumps in road work are heller hard, lol. Wire or small zip-ties work better, just don't forget to tape the key afterward so it doesn't look like a key. Enough said, hope this helps some hand... CHEERS!!!

P.S. You mods, if there's already a thread on this topic, feel free to move my post, and thanks in advance...

 

Yes, good point, thanks for the input... I was focused upon the "idiot-proof system!"

And now I believe I'll crawl back to my rack and catch a few more ZZZs...

But I'll be back later to post more trucking pics... CHEERS!!!