Hanging out at truck stops for a better insight. Good idea?

It's all true..The truckstop and rest area parking lots all smell the same..A strong smell of ammonia.LOL..You'll see some drivers so freakin fat,its a wonder how they passed the DOT physical..it's a whole different world out here..Northeast driving isn't any fun..once up there,you'll long for the open roads out west..minus the snow and ice..

 

Not a bad idea but I don't really think you can compare a trip in the car to driving a truck, it's just not the same thing. 10 hours in the car wears me out and bores the heck out of me. Driving 13 hours in the truck is just another long, but easy, day at work. I really can't explain it other than to say it is not the same. Of course, this isn't really a good time to be getting into it anyway.

 

Oh yeah...been there dun all that...well except for flirting with the waitress..and its all true! BUT...ask any person who has raised a kid what parenthood is like. Colic...diapers$...doctors$...clothes$...homework...backtalk...driving lessons...a thankless job if there ever was one,SHEESH! What I wonder is why anybody whos done it once ever does it again..lol! But then ask me if I can't wait till I'm a nana too! Unless our name is Trump none of us has been promised a rose garden. With a good handle on life and the curves it can throw us and with the ability to fly by the seat of your pants,trucking can be pretty okay. For some of us its sitting at a desk or being in one place all the time that is a death sentence. Good luck,buddy!

 

The hell they do.

I've drove for almost ten years before I got a local job.I know what I'm talking about.

I'll meet you part ways and say that SOME drivers care about the way they look and may even bathe once or twice a week.They are the exceptions.

 

That's probably the thing that surprised me the most when I started. I've seen some who look like the homeless drunk under the bridge but the majority are clean looking, polite and generally good people. That shouldn't surprise me but reading this site and others led me to expect to see a lot more rude and dirty loud mouthed slobs. Maybe I run in the 'wrong' areas.

 

But to the O.P.Sure it couldn't hurt to hang out at a truckstop for a little while.Like a lot of other people have said though,most drivers are in a hurry.

If you do it right around the dinner hours, maybe you could offer to buy a driver a cup of coffee and pick/her brain. There are some good people out here.Unfortunately there are a lot of drivers who aren't worth rolling down a window for.

 

Might be better to stay on here and gain the information. Sitting down, walking/standing around at truckstop might get you run off, robbed, injured or even carried off by the police. OTR is #### near to the point of being another "dead end job". To many CDL holder's and not enough job's. To many driver's and not enough freight. As for injury, well too many people now day's getting hit by parking lot speeding, backed over or crushed inbetween or behind other trucks. Most driver's would look at you like your crazy or simply give a #### less about your questions or anything you want to know. Sitting in your car with a CB would be pretty much a waste of time. To much garbage on there and listening to the CB should be your first tale-tale sign of how crappy it is with driver's starting and talking ####, no one getting along, radio rambo's. I would just stay home and find the information here. Youtube has lot's of in cab video's as well as some of the daily chores in and outside of the truck including but not limited to.

Some of these guy's have trash piled dash high on the passenger side of their truck. It's disgusting. Have one park next to you while your polishing and I can promise you would rather stick your nose in the polish rag than smell the stintch coming from their truck when they opened the door. That's no lie because it's happened twice. Parking lot's and lazy SOB's that can't walk to the restroom so the pee in the lot then you have to get down on the ground and work on your truck or when it get's hot out leave's a smell that will knock you on your ### at times.

 

You know, if all you want to see are the bad things like everyone talks about, that is all you will see. Everything in this life is relative to how you CHOOSE to perceive it. How does a sloppy truck driver you see doing his thing keep you from enjoying doin your thing? I dont even understand how the subject of slobby nasty drivers even applies to this thread?!?! He wants to know what the life is like. He wasnt asking about a trucker's image. He can see that for himself. How about somebody give some positives? Why do YOU love driving truck? You are out there for a reason.