Attention all company drivers!!!

When I drove OTR it just seemed that I was either driving or sleeping. I never really did much else. And I was gettin lazy. I have a college degree. But i feel like its use it or lose it when it comes to smarts. I'm rusty now on finance, what i got my degree in.

There is a lot of stuff that I would think about and analyze while driving. But I feel like i would better serve society in another role. Like what if Albert Einstein just drove a truck, instead of becoming a scientist?

 

We would have some wild trucks!

Trucking grows on you. There was a time in the beginning I didn't like it. But once you get past that and you do, it's hard to stay away from it.

Einstein was a thinker. He would of been a good driver. Drivers have ways to self entertain to beat the boredom. 600 miles eventially feels like 100 miles.

Just like guys in prison can't stand it. Eventially they fall into a routine and become institutionalized. You become truckalized.

 

That's how I felt when I first started out, --- runnin' team in a cab-over for a company that kept us rollin'.
Two weeks out --- two days off.
I hated that.
It took me 'bout 4 days to get so dad-blasted tired that I could sleep through ANYthing, --- after that, 'round day five, I had it wired for the duration.
Then home for two days.
Day one is restin' and relaxin'.
Day two is gettin' ready to go back out.
And do the routine all over again.

When I got a solo gig, I went from an International cab-over to a well equipped W-900. From a short shift 9-speed and a 310 HP Cummins with a Jake, short wheelbase, easy to maneuver Big truck governed at 65 mph, but company policy was not to exceed 1,800 rpm or 55 mph --- to a longer frame, much longer nose, not so easily maneuvered Kenworth with a 13-speed and a Cummins with 'bout 450 -- 460 horses, and ALL the gauges on the dash. I looove gauges.

FinallY!
I could put my pants on while standin' up in the bunk area.
What a treat.

Next was a T-600, 13 speed, four and a quarter mechanical Cat with a moon-roof and doors with vent wings. (remember vent wings?)

I talked 'em out of puttin' me in a new T-2000 and, instead, lettin' me drive one of the recently retired Freightliner FLD show trucks, 13 speed, mechanical four and a quarter Cat turned up to 'round 460, ALL the gauges, bells & whistles.
OH!
Did I mention that truck was clocked by radar at 113 mph, and that's what the citation was written for? That driver said he wasn't flat out yet, --- he thought 'bout five or six more mph were still available.

When I'm drivin' a Big truck, I have the CB on, turned down low, but I rarely listened to the music radio while drivin'. I listen to the sound(s) the engine is makin'. Turbo spindlin' up an' down, tires hummin'. If somethin' is soundin' different I know right away and I try to locate the source.

When I first started drivin' Big trucks I didn't consider my shiftin' or backin' skills to be acceptable, --- I wanted to shift like those guys who transport expensive race and show horses or the tanker yankers, --- like a hot knife through butter, smooth.

I did so-so in the cabover, then excelled in the conventionals.
Float the gears up -- down -- skip -- flat road, incline or goin' down hill, ---- confidence. Rarely even a scratched gear.
I went from backin' bein' scary to even think about, --- dreading tricky backin' situations, --- to considering tricky situations a treat, a challenge, and another opportunity to practice my backin' skills.
(aka Show-off)

When you get to the point where the sights, sounds, feel, handling, of a Big truck are all familiar, and you get to where you're able to read the roads and the traffic and weather, and how to handle situations that arise, it instills a confident feelin' that over-rides newBee nervousness.
There'll be a LOT more days that go good than when y'all started.

I'm not hearin' the passion for finance.

YeaH!
Ain't that the truth?
There's plenty of time to think and analyze.
I like that part.
Solitary confinement --- with a view.
Some folks would rather not be all by themselves most of the day, most of the days they're out thar. They prefer to have others around them.
I like my own company, and I get along pretty well with myself.

I remember when I'd stay out for eight to ten weeks --- then take ten to fourteen days off, --- and I had used my voice so little that the muscles would be sore for the first day or so from lack of use.

Lemmie ponder that thought for awhile Bowman.
I might could figure out a way to make log books go backwards --- or at least make time almost stand still.

Relativity.
Don't leave home without it.

Just think, we could be dispatched at the speed of light for a long enough distance and orbit our destination until a door becomes available, back in -- back out --- into space headin' home where, upon arrival we will have aged 'bout 18 months, but folks on Earth will have aged 50 or 60 years. Whomever y'all said "see ya later" to, may not still be above ground. Retired, at least, I'm thinkin'.
Boy-0-Boy!
And we think WE got it bad?

It's twue!
It's twue!
It DO!
It DO! :smt045

That's right Bowman.
You managed to walk away once, ---
You may not be able to do that again, if there's a next time.

Well then, ...... YOU give 'em his road test.
Keepin' in mind that things Albert was involved with had a tendency to explode, implode, or otherwise cease to exist.
Just sayin' .........

Exactly!
Friends and neighbors will lament 'bout how difficult a l o o o o n g 150 -- 200 mile jaunt is, --- I just point out that's not even half way yet. More OTR miles in 4 to 6 weeks than many, if not most, automobile drivers drive in a whole year.

Mention a collection of over one-million mile markers in y'all's back pockets and get that one-eyed, raised eyebrow, :smt108 look of disbelief on their face.
Priceless. :smt112

"Truckalized"?! :smt107
I thought it was Truckinatutionalnomicsalized.
I like yours better. :smt045
Shorter. :smt108

:smt069I
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i actually liked driving the North East more than the rest of the country. I would get so bored driving across Iowa. But in the north east you take it in smaller chunks. You don't just drive 500 miles, you have to worry about getting thru NYC, then past Boston, and so on.

I also got more per mile for being NE regional.

 

Helphelp moe

 

Help, Help me Rhonda.

Help me get truckin' outta my mind.

:smt034:smt035:smt020:smt047
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Welcome to The Trucker's Report HardLuck.

 

i am new to this site, and i know that not everything i read should be taken as the "whole" truth, but I am getting some good info. Love this site!

 

It's twue!
It's twue!

Live
Love
&
Learn.

Welcome to The Trucker's Report ChefDevo. :smt006

 

HEY HEY NOW i live in iowa it is not boring in the winter when ya get the southern 4 wheel drivers in the ditch the big rig driver are 99.9 % smarter to stay where there at

now summer on the other hand you are correct sir it is boring

 

I'd like to see what they do about it how can they punish you for this oh well if they read my post my hubby can simply say he has no control over my web activities and considering he doesnt even i made a post they cant do much to him besides they lose him they lose one of the few drivers they have that will actually move freight not get it to the nearest terminal or truckstop then lie waaa im out of hours cant deliver screw the next driver in line with it I told him his dispatcher was a good guy just didnt know how to react to a driver who actually wants to run and wont complain bout every lil thing but i can b!*@# all I wanna sorry for complaining so much but been holding it in way too long on a good note though I hear they do right by their lease operators so he's considering it