Packing List for Students

If you have trouble deciding, on your own, about a cooler... What will you do when all alone ?

Has anyone mentioned those clear plastic, compression bags ??

You can buy them at Wally World and online, like a big zip-lock bag for clothes. You squeeze the air out of them. Save about half to a 3rd of space

 

semi, I believe matt was asking if something that size would be appropriate for adding to his stuff in the trainer's rig, not if he should buy it for his own use later on...

I've seen posts about bringing a book along, I don't recall if it's necessarily after training, or in the trainer's truck, but I got a Kindle last year, and I LOVE it. Got the wi-fi/3G unit, and I've downloaded somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 books in the last year, with 95% or more of them being free. If you're an avid reader, the little e-readers are definitely worth a look...there are also basic games available, some free, some very cheap, some I haven't bothered with (I'm cheap that way)...and the reader doesn't take up much space, the batteries have long life....
I would much rather read than watch tv, so this works great for me. YMMV.

 

I agree with T-Lady 100%. Besides free downloads, some, not all, of the books can be cheaper than those at Wally World or Costco. I downloaded the Steve Jobs bio from Amazon for less than either of those places.

Good days to all.

BF

 

I know about the space saver bags used them before, and I was asking for a general input about that size of a cooler for the ones who have already been out in the field for a little while longer than myself. I personally think it's a good pick, but I wanted to know what the experienced truckers had to say about a cooler that size.

 

I've driven dumptruck locally for the last 10 or so years...I found a few things that made life easier when dealing with coolers in a day cab.
1) use a plastic soda bottle filled with ice to cool the contents of the cooler. Not only does this keep everything from getting soaked, but as the ice melts, you have a bottle of drinkable water...plus it saves tons of space over freeze-gel packs.
2) get a decent sized soft sided cooler with pockets/pouches. It's nice to have my bottles of ice/water in the cooler, and my little pouches of drink mix outside where they're easier to get at, plus it keeps clutter in the cooler to a minimum.
3) by "decent sized" I mean a cooler that will keep whatever you plan to munch and drink THAT DAY nearby. My last one grew legs and ran away with my son...it's divided on the inside into two compartments, which are accessible by two zippered flaps and little "trap doors" on top. This one worked really well, as I could keep cold foods on one side, and cold drinks on the other. The pocket on the front was great for non-food stuff...ibuprofen, extra pens, a small notebook, etc. It also has mesh pockets on each end, which is where I store my drink pouches (on the drink side, obviously), and any plastic forks/knives/spoons, napkins, etc on the other.

The bag is around 21" wide x 12" deep by maybe 12" high...just a rough guess based on faulty memory, since my son's not home for me to get accurate measure. It's large enough for at least 6 cans of soda and a couple water/ice bottles on each side. I've tried to err on the side of "bigger than I need" because in summer on construction sites it was nice to be able to offer a cold bottle of water to some poor schlep who's been sucking truck dust all day while flagging us in/out.
YMMV.

 

Take notes on best truck stops and waitresses. Sent many guys back on the road with homemade goodies!!!

 

Yup gals too!

 

Thanks for all the info here guys (and gals).
Took me 2 days to read all 60 pages lol. I'm starting 2 week orientation with TMC tomorrow, then on the road with a trainer for 5 weeks. Some of you have posted some real trainer horror stories. Hopefully I get lucky.

TMC is all about image and has strict appearance regulations. I'm hoping this will encourage my trainer to shower lol. I can't wait to get behind the wheel of a big rig again and I think this will be an great career.

Has any one had experience training specifically with TMC? I'm kinda worried about lifting the 120 pound tarps, but I'll be ok lol.

 

wondering what program you are using so i can look into it..

 

My wife is a lousy cook, so I'll leave that behind. I, on the other hand, used to cook for a living. I'll be sure to bring my dry rub ribs.