What Thing(s) Improved Your Trucking Experiences

Jobs that fit my temperament better is probably the top thing. I need to be home, and I can't stand feeling like life is passing me by.

Podcasts. Books on tape. Things to keep my brain working.

I constantly felt like I was underachieving, but then one day I was making more money than my friends with degrees, and then another day down the road I was making double what a lot of them were.

(All that means is I buy dinner, BTW. Don't be that guy.)

Tech...my trusty phone does it all. Play a podcast, put it in gear and roll.

Gear...my boots are nice. I like those. My flashlight.

But mainly my jobs.

 

Tankers! Definitely the last 12 yrs gave me a new attitude to driving again

 

listening to the advice of the old timers helped a lot.

used to get corrected if you messed up and then you learned.

today everybody knows it all after 5 yrs or less and gets mad if you try to help.

case in point; don't needed your written directions, boomer, I got me a cell phone and GPS. calls me next morning, I'm lost you need to tell me how to get there.

HA HA nope, I hung up.

 

I was doing ok untill @wore out got in the game ... then he bought a tour bus recruited @Oxbow and 6 or 7 others and started a trailer park tour them trailer park gals just throw rocks at me now

 

Finally getting the nerve up to change companies..I always went with one bird in the hand and two in the bush and stuck with the one bird. That was settling for lower pay. Things are a whole lot better but not quite exactly where I want to be. At least my next move won't be so hard. Before trucking I stayed at the same job for nearly 30 years so changing wasn't easy..

 

Cellphone replaced payphones.
Electric cooler and DC oven helped me spend a lot less on food and eat when I wanted.
Smartphone and widespread cell coverage replaced DXing using the AM radio.
Podcasts replaced hunting for something on the AM/FM or transferring audiobooks onto VHS
GPS reduced getting lost, except when it got you lost.
Disc brakes and effective engine brakes took the worry out of steep grades.
Tanker customers treated me like a human being, compared to dry van and reefer customers.
Trucker Path replaced my 2 interstate truck stops directories.
Power inverter and microwave
Scanning and sending BOLs, PODs, documents from my smartphone rather than truck stop fax machine
CAT Scale app, never have to park, block trucks, walk to get a scale ticket
Bringing my dog with me for a few years.

 

Being able to pick and choose what I want to do every day did wonders for my attitude. Sure, there are some days when I have to be in the office but they're not constant.
If I feel like running a 'Cat and there's some little job that fits the day, that's what I do. Same with the grader, or a log truck, or the self loader, or the rgn, or one of the tankers. Some days I do nothing at all. Those are getting to be my favorite.
It took fifty years to reach this position. No matter, it still puts a grin on my face

 

Yeah I don't rub it in anyone's face at my company but I know of at least one dispatcher that doesent like my leisurely way of running since I payed off my truck .

 

I run way too hard, but I do it to enjoy my free time. Much easier to enjoy those long weekends backpacking, fishing, hunting, golfing, etc, when there's $$$ in the bank.

 

Straight pipes.