what to do when "calming down" doesn't work?

I traded off the old Taurus last year lol...

 

I don't get pissed off easy. but when I do I am very, very mean! usually I will just find a quiet place to be by myself and just relax. I'm at that age that I don't care what you think of me. that is your problem not mine! my shop is a hideaway for me. it relaxes me to tinker on my truck or my toys I have acquired over the years. I'm a workaholic by nature. that is relaxing more to me than arguing with some dumb arse.

 

I am the same way. neighbors swear i am running a junk yard. I have aquired quite a few projects over the years.

 

I take a few weeks off. Usually two. I usually pick a spot somewhere in the USA to take that time off. If Im going to have a time to myself and find that peace then by golly Im going to do it somewhere beautiful.

For much shorter time periods I seek out good company and run with them for a night. I leave it to you to consider what that might be. You would be surprised at how well your attitude changes before sunrise the next day.

But if you are truly murderous or homicidal over a problem with the truck, dispatcher, trainer or something at all that has you that riled... you need to consider that you are now in a dangerous situation. Take time off, park the truck at home or in the company yard and get away with your loved ones to decompress and don't come back to the road until you are ready to drive again. If the company you are with refuses to resolve the issue to your satisfaction (Hence an example will be a famous incident in which four trucks was needed to get me back home in several days from Norfolk... due to a #### shop foreman who did not respect me as a professional) you are probably going to be hiring on with someone else. If you do. I suggest you get involved with something different. Such if you were working Van and are sick of Van, go flatbed or tank. A complete and total change requiring you to be trained might lead to new discoveries of wonder and joy once again.

 

Drive with this attitude and you start looking for opportunities to help folks get home safely all the time.

 

You are correct. My company called it tank wagon but I just called it a bobtail. I filled many trap wagons out there. Sometimes I would hook up my trailer pump off a full load of dyed into a large tank. The bigger accounts had their own service truck and a big tank but most were small 550g and 1000g

 

I used to like to just go off by myself and go camping in either the desert or the mountains. Nothing like getting by yourself for a little "me time." I'd take my fishing gear, and my ATV. Sometimes I'd use both, sometimes neither. I'd be happy to just sit around camp and read a good book.
I haven't had the need to do this in many years. But during my second marriage, when my home life sucked, and my work life pretty much sucked, I took a lot of "me time."

 

My biggest problem in trucking was driving an idiot spec'd truck. I absolutely hated it. 65 mph....430 Detroit detuned to 350 hp. Hated calling a deskjockeys and waiting for them to make decisions on their POS truck.

Bought my own truck, my specs! Instantly wiped out 90% of the stupid out of daily stupid conversations. If I don't wanna go, I don't go. If I don't want to communicate, we will not be communicating. And the rig has 2X the power and 2x the forward gears!

There comes a time, however, that you HAVE TO get away from trucking. Too much of a good thing is still too much. I go to a motel and relax. I eat at nice mom and pop restaurants when I can. Hot day? Cold beer.

In my time on the road, I noticed that there's an extremely high percentage of bikers in this industry. You go into the restaurant and sit down. There's the fat geek sitting in the corner wth his video games. There's that loudmouth guy that everyone dreads. But...look at the other guys. Wearing denim jeans and boots and a neat T Shirt with the writing on the back. Will guarantee you that he's 1.) ex law man 2.) ex military 3.) a biker 4.) ALL OF THE ABOVE.

Why are there so many bikers in the trucking industry?

So I bought a bike. Felt naked on the highway. Unnerving at first, but then you realize that you just don't go out looking like whatever, you have to wear nice denims, nice boots and nice Ts with something on the back. So I bought new clothes, new boots...etc, and rode to my favorite restaurant. A waitress runs out and gives me a hug and tells me that she didn't know I had a horse. A real hug, not one of those Hollywood hugs where you pretend to like someone. I believe she may have even left nipple imprints on my shirt. No lumps, thanks for the mamaries. So, I'm sitting inside eating in this diner when some long legged (they went from here to Germany) lass with a little boy come in. She asks me if I mind if she took a pic of her 4 yr old on my horse. I laughed. We walked outside, I sat the boy on my bike, put the lid on his head, and mommy started snapping pictures. I told her to get on with him. I took a picture. She looked down at the bike and rubbed the tank. I started the bike for her. She was about there. "Looks like your son isn't the only one who loves motorcycles."

Finally got the chance to do what I've been wanting to do for years. A long motorcycle trip. Got out of the truck, and the steel toes and blue jeans. Got into the square toes and black jeans. Just rode for days. Different location every night. Different watering hole. You smell everything...especially the roadkill.

Every time I'd stop to fuel, some guy traveling in a car would walk up and tell me about his bike. And he would tell me that he wishes that he could do what I am doing. Just hit the open road and roam the country on the bike. I ask why don't he, and they always say that they're afraid. To be honest, I was terrified. All those years of trucking and terrified of running a bike on a long trip. Well, that's exactly why I did it. By myself. At my pace. I was scared. I don't like being scared. How could I ever be the man that I think I am if I don't do something that I've always dreamed of doing because I am scared? Can you believe that Six almost lost his Man Card?

Everything you learn in a truck, the trip planning, the pre tripping, the rhythm of the road, the signs, the cities and towns...they're all the same. But that transmission is shifted with that left foot and you put the hammer down with your right wrist. And that wind...and that engine. Simply glorious. Best therapy there is. I'll truck for a few weeks at at time, but I make absolutely certain to reward myself with a good long motorcycle ride.

 

When I was married I used alot of time in the garage , now that I'm single not near as much .
Coincidence ? Lol

 

Great read! By chance have you read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"? It's about a road trip on a bike and maintenance, but mostly about life and relationships.