Sleep and Idle...what's the truth?

Dynomite and Passin Thru are right, back in the day there was no A/C and you had to deal with the heat as best you could. The first 4 trucks I drove had no air and no place to put it, but they all had heat, well mostly, and I used it a lot in the winter, even if I did have to put a piece of cardboard over the grill.

 

Interesting,I didn't know they made such a thing.But there still is a problem,if you can't idle and leave that thing plugged in too long it could run your battery down and guess who pays to have your trk jump started,you the driver does.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Orion-02308-Dynamo-Rechargeable-Station/dp/B00DUQA3XU

 

you're finding all the helpful goodies,lol.

 

A little off topic, but I have a buddy that started driving back in the late 80's. He laid over in Florida one night and sacked out with the windows down because it was so hot. The next day he had a terrible itching all over and was covered in little red bumps so when he got home he went straight to the doctor thinking he'd caught something from a lady he'd been seeing whose morals were as questionable as his own. He took his shirt off and the doc said "Jimmy, there's nothing wrong with you. Those are mosquito bites!"

 

I went deep on 12v supplies because I thought I wasn't going to get an APU; I got lucky. I still use 12v for a lot of stuff (fan, cooler, light, hot water kettle, lunchbox stove)

 

It's hard, but it's the job. You guys are so soft. Set up a fan blowing OUT of the truck with another window open, that gives you air circulation. Not everything is going to be perfect for you. If your truck has an automatic start and shutoff, definitely use that. Your bunk heater set to the coldest setting WILL lower the temperature if it's that hot out. If you have a second bunk, remember that heat rises for the winter.

It sucks, and it's hard to sleep in high heat. But sometimes, you just have to man up and do what you have to do. I don't even have air on my truck. When I work, whenever I'm stopped, I have to get out and pour water on my head to cool down... Welcome to working.

 

Look. Y'all can reminisce all you want to about the"good ole days" of having no air or heat, driving 15 hrs, dodging scales to get the load on time etc. Fact is that was then, this is now. Yes, we are regulated more, a lot more. But along with that, technology has given us some benefits we didn't have back then. Yes, I said we. I've had to drive in some pretty crap trucks and did whatever it took to get the job done.

As the industry stands today, if you are an experienced driver with a decent record, you don't have to drive in those conditions any more. If you are, it's by your own choice. The drivers on here that like to live in the past, like to brag about what it used to be like, but truth be told, it's a better work environment now than it was then as long as you choose to embrace what we have now and still do your job. Of course less regulations would make it better, but you can give up that argument, you aren't going to win...