cooking in the truck

Dash taken apart - fuse found and replaced - found a plug in the back that is going to only for the oven - all is good

 

My trainer at Covenant Transport cooked some rejected chicken breast fillets on a charcoal grill while it was strapped to the catwalk. He used to much lighter fluid I thought the truck was going to catch fire. The guy in the truck beside us saw it and moved his truck, LOL.

I've often thought about using a saucepan with a locking lid, or a modified pressure cooker, secured on top of the Cummins valve cover to slow-cook a roast or something when I'm driving all day. I'm not sure how well that would work.

But somebody told me once that a truck driver published an entire cook-book full of recipes for cooking food with his engine heat.

It kind of reminds me of an episode of The Simpsons in which Chief Wiggum and Homer were cooking eggs on the engine in Wiggum's police car.

 

Lmao

 

im here to tell you it is easy to cook in your truck all you need is an inverter wired mounted under the bunk i dont remember what size we had then you wire it to your battery post under your truck we used crock pots and even an electric skilet then just wash your dishes in an ice chest that already needs to be washed for hot water use the coffee pot but make shure you keep the truck running for the crock pot you need a pundgie starped tight acros the top and set it in something so it wont make a mess if it dose spill but always set it in the floor

 

I had to get a friend to drive me about 50 miles yesterday to pick up some guy's truck. He was at a receiver and had a heart attack, so he's outta the trucking game for a while. I picked up a load and took it home, tomorrow I gotta run the truck about 600 miles, do a drop/hook and turn the truck in at the yard and hitch a ride home. We couldn't leave the truck where it was at, it wasn't a safe part of town.

While I was backed into the dock to pick up the load I'm gonna take out there tomorrow, I decided that since I know this driver is a "radical right wing extremist" like me, I should search for a gun and if I find one, get it out of there and figure out how to get it back to him without the company finding out. At least that way I could prevent a violation of his constitutional rights. He already has enough problems. I was even thinking about driving to the hospital where he was at and bringing it to him, or maybe his relatives if they've gotten there yet. (He's 600 miles from home)

I didn't find a gun, but what I did discover is that this guy is probably the most organized person I've ever seen. I could not believe how much stuff he managed to fit in this truck, yet the truck was CLEAN and looked like he'd just gotten into it a week ago... until you open the cabinets.

On one side he's got a TV and in the cabinet below that he's got a plastic thing with drawers containing spices, silverware, can opener, prescriptions, OTC meds, coffee grounds, coffee filters, etc. On the other side there's a microwave, but he made a special foam thing to put inside so the glass plate doesn't break. Below that are some drawers. In the drawers there was an electric skillet, electric crock-pot, and in the fridge he's got all kinds of food. I usually just use my fridge for drinks cuz the low battery thing shuts the fridge off on weekends. (I've got the truck on a charger to keep his fridge running.)

The fridge has a perfect neat little row of ziplock bags full of diced peppers and onions, raw meats, pre-shredded lettuce, radishes, both shredded and sliced cheese, pre-sliced tomatoes, ... this guy has it figured out.

I also love how he's got it figured out how he can keep his road atlas within reach without covering up the defroster vents like I do. He's got a 3/4" solid steel bar attached to the back side of the passenger seat, sticking out about 18" into the aisle between the seats (this is a wide-cab Volvo 680) and his atlas hangs from that rod, the rod goes through the wire coil that binds the atlas together.

He's also got his coffee situation figured out. There's a homemade box on the floor between the shifter and the passenger seat with what appears to be a plastic teapot, but it's actually an electric coffee maker. It was full of wet grounds and old nasty coffee so I dumped it out.

Then I noticed he'd also designed this incredibly simple yet ingenious thing that turns the open area under the bunk in the middle into a closed storage area. It looks like a pain in the neck but it's like a 5 sided box, open side up, that fits perfectly in that space, and there's a hinge attached to the front edge of the bed frame so when you lift on it, the whole box pulls out and flips up and becomes a little table. It's painted black and looks like part of the truck but I know this did not come with the truck because I've been assigned to a truck just like it. Same company, truck number only two digits above this one. (That's also how I can be 100% sure there's no gun in the truck, I know where all the hiding places are, LOL)

So in return for the learning experience this guy inadvertently gave me, teaching me how to fit an entire kitchen into a Volvo 680 and make it all tuck neatly away where everything is accessible, and seeing how he's such a neat-freak, I decided the least I could do was take his plastic tub full of dirty dishes and silverware into the house, along with his coffee mug (with stinky old coffee w/cream in it) and his coffee maker, and wash everything.

 

How you gonna call the man a snoop? He was just trying to save another driver a potential headache. I call that a good deed.

 

This guy is in one of the top hospitals in the country. Very expensive.

He's got about 2 million miles accident free, all with this company. He's not some shady guy that hasn't earned his trust.

I wanted to make #### SURE there wasn't any "contraband" in the truck that they could use as an excuse to fire him and cut off his benefits when he needs them most. I don't know of this particular company doing that, but I do know that businesses do that all the time.

Had I found a gun, or even something that's perfectly legal, yet embarrassing, like porn or jock-itch spray, I would have gotten it out of the truck and found a way to get it to him privately without the company knowing about it, prior to turning in the truck. But I didn't find anything like that. The guy is a total square.

Right now that truck is in the shop and the mechanics are going to be digging through it probably first thing tomorrow morning.

 

I remember riding in the truck with my grandpa and he would have one of those plastic cup holders on the outside (not inside) of his driver's window and would put the glass Coke bottle outside the truck driving in Michigan for about 5 minutes. He would give me a nice slushy Coke every couple hours.

Awesome thread BTW, just read cover to cover, great posts.

 

On older Volvos, when I was a rookie, a co-driver taught me about the "Volvo fridge". There's a gap between the windshield and the edge of the hood, and you can set something like a plastic coke bottle there and keep it cold in the winter. It won't totally freeze because there's just enough engine heat blowing through there, but it'll keep it cold. Once or twice I've had one bounce out of there on rough roads, but they usually stay put.