Help me sleep...

My first night I told my spouse coming out of Dallas on 287 for Kit Carson as goal for her... Im going to bed now. If we are still together and not dead or worse come morning sunrise depends on you. Just as you will depend on me later when your 10 hours is finished.

She did some thinking that first day. I left her alone to it. She did well obviously. But.. you really don't sleep too much see... something comes off and you gotta get up and tend to it because she simply did not have the... hunts for words.. the Marine doctrine experience necessary to solve a prickly trucking problem at the moment. Logs be damed.

 

I sometimes use Electronic Trance from Germany, sort of industrial so to speak. That tends to corral the mind a little bit and settle things down Itr's really mindless. 16 bars of this followed by 8 bars of that back to 16 more bars again...

 

I hired on to a reefer outfit right out of school. I made one trip, St George to Idaho, with another driver. My next trip was from St. George to Denver, then to Garden City, and back to St. George.
By the time I was back across the Utah state line, I was exhausted. Totally new, screwed up on when to drive and when to sleep. I got to the point where it was stop and sleep, or go to sleep driving.
I shut it down, right on the shoulder of I-70. Crawled into the bunk, and came wide awake. I gave it a half hour, and still wide awake. So started driving again. Within a few miles, I was trying to doze off. Back to the shoulder, and the bunk. Wide awake again! I don't know how many times this scenario happened between Grand Junction and Green River. Got into the truck stop in Green River, had a good breakfast and a lot of coffee, and was fine all the way back to St. George.
That was the first and last time I had a problem this crazy. Next run I was on track. But if I hadn't been able to get past this problem, I wouldn't have stayed in trucking.

 

I hear ya man.
Good thing you guys stayed intact with life as well as your wife. No offense to women drivers,
but I have seen 5 so far out there.
And.....well.....Yea.No offense ladies.

 

My team member told me that I would get used to it.
Yea sure ,not with him slamming brakes and me sliding hitting the harness.

 

I "trained" for about a year when I was with May Trucking. One of the "students" snored so badly I could not sleep that first couple of nights. May doesn't allow team driving while in training. When I said something to him about it, he stayed up all that night because he felt guilty.

It was sad but a reality that the situation was not conducive or safe. I asked to have him taken off of my truck and suggested they put him with a local driver that went home every night, which they did.

 

Then you need to you two sit down in nuetral ground (As in a truckstop meal somewhere out of that truck) and have a talk.

One of you do not understand the importance of serving the other with the very best quality driving. Which happens to be a optimum cruise for a big truck with the best ride, comfort etc.

Brake slamming for example, that tells me my trainer wants me awake right #### now dont eff around. Usually a hard brake for about 5 seconds which is enough to wake anyone. right now. That was one thing I taught the spouse. (*In addition to throwing things into my bunk... as happened the morning of 9-11 as the radio wailed the emergency tone)

Just to brake slam in bad driving, sleepy driving or outright careless driving is not cool. No one can or will sleep like that. No wonder there is no "Team" here suffering from that.

 

Hes a cruddy driver.Negligent.Doesnt plan well just an overall idiot.Mistake teaming up with him.Im a rookie but extremly organized.Hence why I went solo.
Nice comfy non moving bed from now on.Little less money but at least my life and patienc can stay in the proper place

 

You have been once burned then.

It will be (No offense) be very difficult to match you with a future team.

I see teams as very, valuable now and in the future. It's too bad Im not a company using them.

You also might want to check with your primary doctor for wellness check in addition to your adrenal gland function. If you are stressing about staying put while sleeping in a tractor subject to earthquake, storm winds people hopping on etc. your body might be unnecessarily going into overdrive. That needs to be looked at.

 

Overall im a lone wolf.
Yea my body is a lighter sleeper than it was some years back.
The adrenal function did worry me at one point,
when I would wake up at the house after only two hrs.
Turns out I was anxious about something.
So far at the house I sleep good,
So i believe it was the truck moving.
I sleep good in the truck now when I park too.
Your right though,I do need a wellness check overall.I stress pretty easily and probably have a high cortisol level.
That and coffee intake just works the adrenals more.
Im glad I take care of myself otherwise I'd probably already be dead.