Does anyone else have trucking nightmares?

Ive had a dream where i was going down a steep hill at night, 6 lane road with a traffic light mid way thru, couldnt stop, just kept going faster, and me thinking oh #### this will end badly then running the red light and get t boned by a passenger bus and a tractor trailer on the right side of tractor.

I also sometimes have death thoughts that can almost be felt, when im laying down trying to sleep. Be somthing like getting into a head on with another rig on a two lane, or running off the road for whatever reason and running into a tree.

 

I had a very vivid dream a few weeks ago that I lost my cushy local job and I had to go back OTR driving for a mega carrier (I won't mention the carrier of my nightmare here so as not to offend those who work for them). I woke up and still thought it was real for several minutes before I realized that I had been dreaming. Truly horrifying stuff.

 

I dozed off in a rest area for a quick nap.
When I woke up the truck next to me was just starting to slowly creep forward to pull out, scared the #### out of me because it seemed like I was rolling backwards.
I jumped up in the seat scrambling stomping on the brake because I though I forgot to set my parking brakes.

 

I've probably had the worst one. Dreamt I sold all my tools and leased on with a mega.

 

I had a dream recently where I was driving full-speed on the freeway. The traffic ahead of me came to a complete standstill with red brake lights in all lanes. I was loaded and couldn't stop in time. Messed up.

Another dream I had; I was taking an off ramp too quickly in my fuel tanker truck and felt the weight shifting in the back trailer. I was uncomfortable that a rollover was going to happen. I always wake up right after these things happen..

 

I used to have one that I was in the sleeper and woke up to the whole cab on fire and I couldn't get out. When I was home and it happened, my Wife thought I was having another Vietnam nightmare. One time in Pennsylvania, my Volvo air horn came on. I had a couple of seconds before I got up front and pulled the fuse for it. Still scared the crap out of me. To find out some Volvos horn wire would short out where the steering wheel came through. Smiles!

 

Nightmares related to trucking is something that stays with me in life. Ive long since made my peace with them and sometimes discovered that there might be a problem which could be fixed. But nothing related to mental health. That I stay way from. No shrinks. Parent send me to shrinks all my childhood and Ive resolved to have nothing to do with them ever.

With that said, there were two dreams that would get me, the classic mountain problem with no brakes. Come to find out medicines to loosen the muscles up in the legs at night helped with that. That was one of the physical issues caught and resolved by the classic no brakes on the mountain downgrade.

In fact in real life on certain grades in which it is safe to do so (Safe... what a oxymoron...) I would absolutely take the rig to 130 and beyond if I could get the fuel pump to get me above 2100 and stay there. There is not enough top gear in Christandom to maintain that fast going downgrade so I kick 'er into nuetral and feel that gravity get a hold and take it up to 140, reckoning by mile markers which at that point unwind quite rapidly I think 24 second to the mile. Even gravity maxes out and other than a touch of negative gravity on a 6% and two miles left to the bottom it's time to throw in the jake and get it knocked down back to 60.

I never tried that on anything steeper than 6% I have taken bobtails down 24% grades and those are so steep just physically standing next to the rig on your feet requires you to lean into the gravity (Makes sense?) almost to the point of falling over. That's how steep 24 is. There is one 9 to 11%er I would be tempted to let her go on but I suspect Gravity given that much of a potential would try to go 210 which I instinctively know cannot be survivable in a 18 wheeler.

Anyway if that particular story does not give you nightmares, here another.

I was on a straight stretch of highway in Illinois where nothing is supposed to happen about 30 minutes from McLean, one of my very favorite truckstops for cooking. There was a pickup that flipped in a construction zone, wet rain weather and traffic was cutthroat something happened to cause the truck to flip.

Anyhow the husband was ejected 200 feet ahead of the truck to land in the median and presumed dead on impact with at least one broken leg that was obvious from the angle it was. he was not breathing and his heart had stopped requiring CPR which was not given until a EMT Police man showed up with a breather mask to defend against mouth bourne transmittable infections. Who wants to kiss a man anyway? Ugh. But life requires air. Gotta get it into him. I don't think he made it.

Anyway the wife was partially ejected from the cab of the truck half way through the back window which was then crushed into the wife's obese body what with the remaining glass panes cutting her into half at the spine on the bottom and into the guts and intestines which were spilling out around her as her breathing, sobs of agony and body shaking continued to cut into her half. Slice, slice slice slice slice. EMT a long ways away.

Another driver was under the truck which was upside down holding her head up because below the head was 3 feet above the sloping grass off the shoulder. If you did not hold her head up, she would probably quit breathing, stroke out and or break the neck dangling backwards and upside down like that. No human should go through what she was going through.

Add that to the dripping of gasoline from the cap of the gas tank above the truck bed. Nothing is more motivating to try and get someone out of there than the potential for fire. What with the rain cooling things off and no exhaust pipe to drip into probably was our saving grace. The problem was you again needed jaws of life to jack the back window frame with it's two sawing panes of glass to free her which again was with EMT and fire unknown arrival time.

The woman was too much full of pain that was ongoing, increasing and not stopping. I think I witnessed for myself a possibility that her mind was consumed with the slicing pains and breaking to where it was probably trying to chemically convert the wages of agony into what I would consider equal to a Narcotic. And there was no way of communicating or anything reasonable in the way of talking to her. It's all screams and slice slice slice slice. Sawing on her spine at the bottom and slicing into the intestines pulling a few inches out at a time way below the fat layer which for her was about 6 inches thick below the skin in the belly.

Ive done battle with first aid, Ive seen people broken and cut or lose limbs and so on. No problems. But the episode of slicing in half both from the back and the front as that truck rocked in the rain and wind with no one able to do a #### thing, hell you could not knock her out. It was discussed if we could use a tire thumper to hit her in the head and make her unconsious or to put a sleep choke on her until she passed out by way of the cartoid pressure in the neck. The situation for her is a impossible one.

It would be months before the nightmares quit bothering me after that day. I think somewhere inside of me is a very basic and human desire to be able to enjoy life and not be in a position of being cut in half unable to do a #### thing about it. I have a problem with that.

I did check the papers in the area the next day to see if they both made it or not. I don't know if they did. The husband probably did not. But the wife? Well... if the EMT made it there and she still had ABC, Airway Breathing and circulation then she probably made it and survived being cut in half. Nothing too major that cannot be fixed. Except being sliced in half.

 

I have had plane crash nightmares for 20 years. Flown quite a bit , international, scary,scary planes in the Bahamas and Cuba.

Just my mind set I guess.

I watch why planes crash any chance I get.

Not a pilot but hope to be someday.

#### Airplane 2. Movie ruined me for life

 

Scary story

Here in SW Florida, on any given day I-75 will have a 5 car pileup with 2 dump trucks upside down 4 people dead.

Just the way it is down here when Jaun the tomatoe picker from Mexico yesterday is driving the stolen dump truck from Miami with duplicate vins and plates today.


There is sooo much stupidity going on down here with the old people and Donkey Cart drivers it is insane.

Best bud of mine has been one of the best EMT s ever in Washington and here .

He has seriously thought of getting out of it a few times from the wrecks he has seen.