Driving OTR with US Xpress

If you know it well, then you can atest to the cricket corpses strewn about, flattened by all the trucks.

 

But if I run into him, maybe I could be a co-author on his next book: "Crickets Under Foot" or something.

 

For me, idling, hasn't been a big issue. Fall, winter and spring are usually not an problem, because the nights are cool. I, like most, prefer it cool when I sleep. In the summer when it's warm, I idle. If anyone questions me, I tell them it's 85 out, I'm idling. No one has ever said a word to me about it.

Sometimes, as Craig pointed out, I also find myself shutting down where you can't idle. Some of the small TS's in New Jersey won't let you idle. So if it's hot, I'll run the AC on full blast, turn my truck into an ice cube, and then shut down. It'll stay cool enough so I can fall sleep.


Hearing aids......I dread the DOT physical, but I've never failed one (taken 5). I wear 2 hearing aids. I suffer from what the doctors call "asymmetrical hearing loss". Basically, each ear is screwed up differently, and they can't figure out why. My 2 sets of hearing aids are tuned differently. The set I drive with has been fine tuned to help me pick up noises in the truck, on the road, artificial speech (cell phones, GPS, etc), geared toward the working environment. While the 2nd set is dedicated for human speech, and clips out the background noise.

When I take my DOT exam (the whisper test), If a man gives the test, its not a problem. But if a lady gives the test, I find myself adjusting the volumes or even mixing the 2 different hearing aids to pass.


When I was tested this time, she turned and faced the wall. I'm the one that should have turned around............the mic's are in the back..........duh.



The hearing aids have been the most expensive portion of my driving career. More than double the cost of the tuition for CDL school.

 

I'm liking this guy.