Thinking about quitting...

What that translates to me is that you don't "want" to be a driver. If you did, you would do whatever it took to get where you wanted to be. Even if that meant driving nights for a while. Best to just hang it up. McDonald's is always hiring.

 

Lol so it's not just me.
The stories are getting longer and more outlandish.

 

Which is high bar.

 

Huh?

 

Meaning the bar had already been set pretty high.

 

Sorry, bad joke.

I love my coffee, but I don't think energy drinks and that are doing much good either. I think they rob you of good sleep when you should sleep, and leave you with less the next day.

The biggest thing is to keep your mind active. Think about something but not to the point of distraction. Who lives in the area you are driving through, what could come around the next corner, try to see someone in your mirror before they see you. Maybe some high energy music. Getting started with long driving periods even in the day can be rough in the begining.

Sleep cycles tend to come and go. You will get really tired all of a sudden, and then it will pass. It helps to get out and walk, or run, around the truck to get the blood moving again and wait for it to pass. If it dosn't pass then there is a problem somewhere.

 

I see your dilemma in the form of the attached triangle, except, you can only pick two options.

 

Oh,...Pepsi Cola is Work.My uncle lasted about 6 months...by then (he was too hobbled to work).DollyING and "twirling" two co2 tanks thru the parking lots,not to mention driving from KC to St Louis and back every day.If your gonna Quit...I'd do it Now ...before you get stuck.Honestly the Only promising thing you Mentioned was "going to Saia." That's what I'd do (if you can).45 hours a week,"hit 7 or 8 docks",then do 5 or 6 pu's.Pro stickers on every pallet.Organized company.JMO

 

Energy drinks?

Oh no don't go there. In my time we had caffinee pills. Uppers essentially. Tolerance builds. Until 40 pills in a box swallowed with a gulp of coffee to wash it all down did nothing. Except the time I slept on 95 with my eyes open not caring that Im coming up on people. That was the end of that. I was only 21 at the time.

When I quit that company I wrote to the owner who asked if I was independantly wealthy. I told him stop hanging day cab people out to wait all #### day in Norfolk after arriving there at 4 am and sit and sit and sit until like 6PM. Then another 5 hours to baltimore against the worst of rush in DC.

There used to be a farm off us1 off 95. I used to park next to a pond there, jump in. Hop out of that cold water shaking it off like a dog. THAT woke me up long enough to get past quantico, dumfries and that awful WW Bridge. Then back to sleep I go. Ugh.

I discovered ginseng. In gum form. Pop that into your mouth and BOOM. WIDE AWAKE.

until the old heart goes out of time and stays out of time enough to make you feel really bad. THAT was a scary night in the ER. The ER staff wondered what in the world until they found the ginseng wrapping in one of my pockets. AHA. SIlly boy don't do this crap, no wonder youre sick. Look at this EKG chart.

8000 dollars in billing woke me up faster than that gum 4 weeks later when got it in the mail. UGH.

I don't even want to consider what is in those energy drinks these days.

Ultimately if I am sleepy and having trouble keeping it white line fever between lines, I'll stop and nap really light for exactly one hour. I do nothing but concentrate on Mr Watch and sleeping light for just that long.

There is a difference between a nap and allowing yourself to sink into REM sleep for 10 hours which will make you late then fired for a service failure. That one little hour has managed to save lives now and then in my time. But sometimes Ive lost jobs when I slide into REM sleep anyway. The body requires sleep.

Driving sleepy is worst than driving drunk. Keep that in mind always. Ive had 30 Police pound on my tractor because I am parked in a no truck parking zone across from a 76 in CT. What they get when mr monster wakes up with just enough brain cells to understand one sentance.

MOVE THAT RIG INTO THAT LOT OFF MY STREET BEFORE I WRITE YOU UP. Preferably bellowed by the biggest bull with the most stripes on him.

It's moved. What a wake up call.

That was in the bad old days of Northeast LTL long time ago. CT police has been more than patient with me many times. Sometimes I think they treat that yelling as a form of stress busting themselves. To compete and see which of them can scare the kid in that tractor bad. (And don't tell anyone, but they can be really scary...)

=)

 

30 cops umm..... Ok sure.