Husband/Wife Team to start with Covenant

Getting Organized on the Truck has been an ongoing learning experience for Ron and me. At first we just copied bits of the setup that our trainer had on his truck. He was a minimalist, so that usually doesn't work for a lady. Very simple things can make a huge difference in your day to day dealings. Simple like "having a pen handy at any moment" "a special easy access place for your sunglasses" "an inexpensive clip board to hold your BOL, Seal manifest, cover sheet and receipts" "A STURDY cup holder for your coffee and water!!" "an easy access pouch for snacks while driving" "Quick access to your Highly reflective safety vest" and the thing you will use EVERY DAY... the 3.5x5.5 Mead FIVE STAR ruled sheet notebook for every bit of new load info... (VERY important to document everything!!!)

Another thing that is especially handy is the sturdy over the back seat organizers. We bought one for each seat. These are great for keeping your map book, scissors, ink pens, sharpies, coffee stirs, spoons and forks, extra safety vest and we keep a bottle of mouth wash for those times when you have to wake up and get right to work. (Gotta conquer that morning breath!!!)

Another thing that is a must. We have two. The CD oganizers for the sun visors. This is wonderful for keeping your cds of course, but also for having one pen ready to go when you pull up at a vendor. We have a zippered notebook right in the door with our Cover sheets and seal manifests in sets. They are ready to go. I printed our names on them with our truck number and anything that is repetitive to save time. (it gets old writing the same thing over and over)

The stacking plastic drawers are wonderful tools to organize your food supplies. We measure our cabinets and found narrow stacking drawers that hold our condiments, plastic utensils and snacks. We also have one small drawer that holds personal items like keys, change and toothpicks. One TIP (learned the hard way) Don't just lay your phone and important papers on the ledge of the cabinet. The truck is notorious for shaking and nudging items right off their resting spots. While I was sleeping, (well not actually WHILE I was sleeping) I put my phone and a couple of other items on the ledge. When he stopped to fuel, he noticed my phone in the trash can. It had worked its way right off the edge. We didn't realize until later there were other items that had fallen in the trash, so we had to say farewell to those things. I'm just glad he saw my phone. I put everything in a drawer now.

The larger plastic stacking drawers can go up on the top bunk. We turned them sideways to keep the drawers from sliding open when we stop and go. These are for our everyday clothes. We keep it simple with jeans and tshirts. We each have two sets of shoes, kept behind the seats. I keep a shower bag at the foot of the bed, ready to go when its shower time. Ron grabs the shower toiletries bag and a change of clothes and I grab the shower bag and the ALL important flip flops. Never shower without them.

Then there is the ever wonderful 12volt Coleman fridg/cooler. It fit just right in the Cascadia. It works beautifully keeping lunch meats, yogurt and drinks cold. We have had good success with it. We also found an Emerson microwave that was under 1000 watts. (Works with the 1000 watt inverter) It took three trial and error test runs before we found one that functioned just right. Great for soups, reheating coffee and hormel meals. And of course, my favorite... The Mr Coffee One cup Keurig brewer. It is under 1000 watts and there is no waste with the Keurig K cups. The Pilot coffee can get pretty expensive after awhile. One thing we do that is always nice is brew up a cup of coffee and have a danish while we are having a live load. (A little tip... Make someone's day.... Share a packaged honeybun with a gate guard or a fork lift load operator) It leaves a sweet impression. pun intended.

There is one thing we haven't quite worked out yet. It is the charging issue. You know...the cell phones, the mifi, the GPS (that's another interesting blog!!) I've been looking for a practical charging station that is sturdy and will tame the mass of cords. I certainly would welcome any suggestions.

Well there you have the ongoing fine-tuning of our getting organized. Don't think we will ever quite have it mastered, but what we are doing is working pretty well for us. The bottom line is making things run smooth while we are out over the road. We want to keep rolling hard and planning for that all important retirement that is down the road. It's a nice goal to strive toward.

Ok, I'll stop for now. Guess I took two many Super B Complex vitamins today! LOL
Until next time....

 

Great ideas with the dry-erase pen!! Why didn't I think of that? That would definitely solve the fumbling for the book. And that would solve the little echo from the sleeper berth..."did you pass the fuel stop again?" LOL!
Jotting the fuel exits down would definitely be a plus for me. Never thought about drawing the placards, but that is a great backup plan. Really good TIP! We're going to incorporate that. THANK YOU Double Yellow!

 

We have been Using this dry-erase tip for a few days now and it is wonderful! Thank you for sharing.

 

One of the things Ron and I have learned from this forum is to seize opportunities.
Recently, we had to have our front (two part) windshield replaced due to quite a few large and small chips/cracks we sustained from the salted roads back during our snow and ice experience. At first, I was a a bit bummed that it would take four days for our other part to come in at Safelite. But then we realized just where we were. Concord, California. Near the Bay area. Ron has been a die hard fan of the Oakland Raiders since he was a little boy, but had NEVER been to Oakland. How is that possible?! We had to remedy the situation.
So, we rented a car and off we went to Oakland. What a joy to see him at the statium of his favorite team. He took pictures of every Raider emblem he saw. We also found a little Italian restaurant called Toscana Ristorante. We enjoyed everything we ordered and they made us feel right at home.
ALSO...We will definitely do business in the future with Safelite. They were extremely polite and helpful. What a great bunch of fellas! If only every business was conducted that way.
....until next time....

 

That is great! So good to have the NEXT time you go to a repeat location. Thanks Rocks!! It has now been 7 months OTR for us. We have learned a tremendous amount about driving OTR. It has been great to meet others like you Rocks. Thank you for sharing!