Packing the truck for the first time

By the way, my transition to a sugar free diet took a few months for the most part. One thing I learned is that my sense of taste changed a LOT. I can't stand ice cream or Hershey's chocolate anymore. Even walking down the candy aisle almost stings my nostrils like walking down the detergent aisle. There's no attraction for me in sweets.

I never expected that to happen, it just did. I went with it.

 

I still like chocolate and a few other sweets, but i used to drink around 6 cans of mt dew a day sometimes more. Now that i have been off pop for a few years i cant stand it. Tastes like im drinking sugar sap...

 

Winter time I keep an extreme cold military surplus sleeping bag. that bag will make you sweat below zero.

 

Easy on the iced tea. For some reason, it's quite the diuretic. When my wife rides with me, I have to remind her not to drag hers along, as much as she loves it ~ no sugar, no lemon; just the tea.....and too many darn potty-breaks! Gatorade or powerade don't have that effect for some reason. Tea is almost worse than beer regarding needing to P .

(oh yeah; don't forget the blinker-fluid )

Kudos on your journey; how exciting, seriously! Be safe, drivers~!!!

 

.... as does she. but it's always an issue. she doesn't drink pop (soda, what ever YOU guys/gals call it, LoL) and she pouts when I make her leave her Peak Tea's at home. orange gatorade is her 2nd choice, no extra stops, either!

 

Take it easy on the clothes. It's pretty easy to do a load of laundry on the road if necessary. I have deliberately set up my road clothes to be single load compatable, no separating for me. Socks, underwear, pants shirts are all dark colors.

I like Duluth Trading company work pants. They have lots of pockets. I really like keeping my wallet in a cargo pocket so I don't have to sit on it all day or leave it in the truck when I need it out of the truck. They go well with Carhartt also and don't fade in patches like jeans do. You don't need to change pants every day. I have 3 pair and rarely use the 3rd pair in a week.

Ditch the cotton under cladding. Since I sun burn so easily, I only wear long sleeve t-shirts. Synthetic garments take up much less space and dry in a jiffy.

So minimize outer wear and maximize on lightweight underwear.

I also have splurged on merino wool socks. They offer all day comfort and minimize odor. Depending on your body chemistry and the type of work you do, you can easily get 2 days wear out of a pair (I only do this on days when a shower isn't happening, for obvious reasons). I like the Browning brand, the same as the firearms manufacturer.

The last thing I do before leaving the house is my laundry. All my work clothes for the week are washed, folded, packed, and one set laid out for putting on right before walking out the door. Everything else fits into one high quality airline carry on bag (except winter jackets). This includes a couple of long thermal underwear in the winter.

Rain gear stays in the truck. Most things are folded and packed. Rain gear goes in the hanging locker until used and then hangs on a hook in the cab until dried.

Walmart brand mountain trail mix is my favorite driving snack and I always keep one opened bag in the compartments over the windshield and another unopened bag on the truck. When the second bag gets opened a replacement is bought at the next Walmart stop.

My wife and I lived fairly comfortably this way on a truck and we only had a Koolatron plug in cooler and a microwave. No fancy refrigerator.

If you and your husband can tolerate sleeping in the same bunk (not an easy task), then you can pack a LOT of bins on the upper bunk. Otherwise, you'll have to allow for enough room to use both bunks for when you need to sleep at the same time.

Hair was a challenge for my wife. Then one day, while the truck was in the shop, she went to a stylist who knew how to work with the natural lay of her hair and gave her something that was much less maintenance. Also get a styling hat or two for those days when you don't want to sport bed head.

I hope this helps.

 

Good ideas DsquareD.

On the hair thing, when I started flatbed bad hair days were a given, what with sweating under a hard hat for hours in the Texas sun. I bit the bullet and bought a $20 clipper set at Walmart and started buzz cutting my own hair. Now I'm down to just short enough not to qualify as head stubble. Much more comfortable and the clippers paid for themselves in a month.

It's hard to have a bad hair day if you don't have much.