How many nights are spent away from basic services?

It is once you've done it I suppose. Keep in mind I've never even driven a big rig so everything is new to me. Right down to all the crap a trucker has to deal with.

 

It's really all dependent on a number of things, but I'd say it usually comes down to the driver. Some drivers are just prone to running to a receiver and shutting down. I did it last night. No worries - if I needed it, they had a portable #### house on site.
So, how you're going to run plays a role in this, too.

 

I stay at shippers and receivers all the time. I have food, water, plastic bottle, heat, cool...everything I need. I just need to hit a restroom sometime before 2 the next day to keep everything working properly. I use baby wipes for my shower. As long as you get all of the bacteria off of you...you will not stink.

 

A tip about the panhandlers I use and works well, when they ask for money I tell em I don't carry cash just plastic (which is pretty much the truth). On the really hot days I'll offer them a bottle of water out of my truck, I get 2 of the big 35 count cases from wal-mart and keep them in my cargo hatch chilling them as needed in the cooler.

Have yet to see a lot lizard. Kinda disappointed actually. Not that I want one, I'd just love to have one knock on my door this past week while my GF was in the truck with me.

I can park my truck anywhere and be fine. As long as I can do the 2 every 2 or 3 days (I know it's weird) I'm good. Got enough food and drink to last a good week stranded somewhere.

 

I think you might benefit from a fiber suppliment there digger. But as long as you're regular I suppose. Good luck out there man.

 

Don't get complacent with this. Everyone has their bouts of irregularity. Wasn't but a week ago, I thought I was doing alright. Left the Petro in York, NE and headed south. Started getting the telltale stomach cramps (the sort which tell you "something wicked this way comes"), and got the the can at the Wally World in Belleville, KS just in the nick of time. That one was too close.
And these things literally just come out of nowhere. Wasn't a hint of the horror yet to come when I left York, then it just hit me like a ton of bricks.

 

Also helps to be careful about where/what you eat. I used to be one of those individuals who would root around at the buffet at Petro. I had to stop that, though; besides not being all that healthy, I noticed that something about the food they serve there will have me sitting on a toilet within the hour, guaranteed.I now avoid that buffet like the plague, especially if I'm only stopping for a meal in the middle of a run (I figure it would hurt my progress to have to stop again in the middle of a trip due to an ill-timed bowel movement).

 

I myself, prefer to stop for the night at a Walmart. Getting a shower is a daytime thing and I think truck stops are just too d@mn nasty. The fact that I ride with a dog has something to do with that also. Once a night I'll get up to walk him, and besides the oil and diesel spots there is usually a foul smell left behind by the less thoughtful drivers among us. If a driver looks around there are other options than truck stops.

 

For me, I find that baby wipes work well in a pinch but only for a day or two. Anything after that, and nothing short of a real shower with soap and water will do; they do call them baby wipes for a reason, after all. Would be interesting to see someone invent something similar, but a little stronger, for adults. They'd probably sell like hotcakes with the trucker and U.S. Army infantry types (or anyone who often has to make do with limited/no access to basic services on a temporary basis).

 

Marie Calendar's Fresh Mixers, Hot Pockets, Jimmy Dean's Breakfast Bowls, the occasional Hot Pocket.... it's pretty much routine for me. I eat once a day (sometimes twice if I feel like splurging), and I have a sit-down meal once a week. These things just happen sometimes.

Now one thing I am extremely wary of anymore are the taco trucks that run around the Raleigh-Durham area (well, anywhere, I suppose, but RDU when I was doing C&D hauling was the only time I ever bought food from any of them). And that's all because of a little something I like to call the "tacos carnitas fiasco".

Yeah, that's a pretty common use for them (I was a medic, but assigned to infantry units, so I did more the same as what they did).