Coastie Going O/O at last

Coastie, were you in Oklahoma last night? I saw a little blue Pete that looked like yours alseep in a rest area at around four o'clock this morning

 

No rest areas? Why on earth not? I prefer those to truck stops myself - the parking is usually safer and they're not as crowded. The only downside is the lack of showers in most of them so I wind up switching to night mode, showering at 4am, and then finding a decent parking spot at about 7am when everyone hits the road. Speaking of....... catch you later friends and sleep well!

 

I'm sure it has to do with the area, and the schedule you keep too. In the last year, I've only seen one "maybe" lot lizard - she was looking for a "ride" and I happened to be sitting in the drivers seat with the window down while parked. If one actually woke me up banging on my door I might blow the air horns underneath the door on that side LOL.

I've had good luck finding a place to park in the midwest, seems to be an issue in the NE and Florida. As far as crime goes, I honestly don't get out of the truck at alot of the stops, and I do run self contained with a micro and a fridge/freezer - maybe I'm lucky in that way. I avoid large cities in general, and there are some I won't even buy fuel in. If trouble comes looking for me, I've got an app for that

Also, I always forget that on board recorders (Qualcomm) etc don't exactly allow for showers and meals (3 hours total breaktime - beh), and drivers that run them usually have a dispatcher to answer to..... Makes me glad to have paper logs and my authority, even if it costs me a ton for that privilege. The HOS obviously wasn't written for me - it's all I can do to sleep 5 hours when I'm on the road. If I ever have to run a QC unit, I'd probably quit soon after - I already have a wife and I don't need someone else wondering where I'm at and where I've been LOL.

I usually find a way to flip my schedule over and sleep in the daytime. Although it makes for a weird schedule, I prefer the traffic patterns at night when most people are home sleeping. Nighttime is also cooler, which helps for fuel mileage (along with traffic patterns). I rarely have a problem finding a place to park at noon in any truck stop, and when I drop and reload it's done at the end of my day so they can stall all they want.....

 

No shower??! Haven't you guys ever taken a GI bath?

Small wash tub (takes the place of the ol' pot helmet,) a gallon of water for washing (easily refillable at the evil rest area or truck stop,) towel, washrag and soap. Microwave a cup of water if you want it hot!

 

We always called them "######### baths"...