Cars and Stuff

Are you interested in trucks?

Let me start by saying I love my job. The life I live is for me. I do what I can do for many reasons, but the most important one is that I love what I do! So if this sounds like I'm complaining, I am not, that's just the way it is.

To me there is nothing better than a full moon night, with some heat lightning in the distance on a path that is all for me. On a night like this I had to sit and listen the rhythm of the tires on the way to solve some problems in my mind, writing a song, and really just enjoy what I do. To me this is why driving a truck, and nothing else! Sound romantic? I suppose so, but there is more to it than that. .
My average time out on the road is six weeks. When you get home, I will take a week off and then back out again. Now not all drivers drive in this way, some are home once a week. Practice common is that about three weeks and then return home for a couple of days. The industry standard is that you get one day off per week on the road. A work week consists of seventy hours. No overtime, and once you figure in all the hours are not paid, or to manage to hide their average workweek more like ninety to one hundred hours a week! This is only working time, but remember that you do not go home every night, you get to eat, sleep, and be a truck! The hours are long and very irregular. One day will be transported throughout the day, the next night. You can live to 03 am or 10:00 pm. There is no such thing as a timetable established when you are a truck driver across the field.

Many people think that we put the load on the trailer and go, we have a good trip across the country and offer our products. Well, the reality is that all pickups and deliveries are by appointments that we as drivers not set. There have been times where I've gone from The Angeles to North Carolina in 42 hours. That leaves no time for sleep, and before you ask – NO I do not take drugs to stay awake! I can drink much coffee, smoke too much power and take naps of 15 minutes ahead! Not all trips are, but if you are not getting that many miles on the can, and not keeping a dispatcher happy, they will not make a living. If you sit down and figure out what you do with the hours involved, you make less than minimum wage! This does not mean they do not make good money, I do. But time worked is not paid, plus the time spent away from home is half way down.

This is not a vacation, I have seen all 48 states U.S. mainland, all provinces of Canada, Northern Territories, Alaska, and the border of Mexico, all through the windshield of a truck. I've seen a lot. However, very rarely get to go sightseeing. Try to pull a cart 18 in a national park and see what they say or try to take a truck to the center and find a show for the park where, in most cases will not happen. Unless you have friends who are willing to come that collect most of their time is spent outside in his truck at a truck stop or terminal. Even personal time on the road is limited. You might think that could download the trailer and take the single truck to move. Well, today's trucks are tracked by satellite, every move you make is recorded, and the dispatcher can tell where it is located right up the block number. It is less of a problem if you own your own truck, however, as owner-operator has to inform truck mile runs to the government for reasons of road taxes, so you really do not want to rush a lot!

Most of America thinks that their products come from the cellar in the back of the store, but do not think any more than that. If you can think of a thing that has not been delivered by a truck driver please let me know, but I doubt you can. At some point a piece of everything that ends in a truck, and people and I are there to get where they need to go. Birthdays and holidays are nothing when you drive a truck. In 1997 I spent Christmas Day driving through Utah and Colorado, and Christmas dinner was at a truck stop. On Christmas morning I delivered my load, the receiver asked where I lived, I told him, he said, "Gee, too bad you were not home at Christmas, but really needed this product for sale after Christmas." And this all, they need it, your life is on hold. I came home at New Year, and that was when I got to celebrate my Christmas. This is not something that is not common, it is more common then anything.

Being on the road is usually the best part of this work. Once the burden is on the trailer, and you have made your way leaving the city in an open field, you can relax and enjoy what you do. Then there are times when you have to fight just to keep rolling. Last November, I was caught in a winter storm in the Midwest. I only had 10,000 pounds. in the trailer (which can carry 47,000 lbs.) After spending a good part of the night combating snow and ice, tried my best to keep the trailer behind me, I decided to call one night. After about four hours of sleep I went up and pointed west. The winds had picked up. Blowing from the north around 70 mph. I played hell trying to keep the truck on the road. About 40 miles from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where wind gusts near 100 mph, 70 mph, with a constant. There where 4 of us running together for some moral support if nothing else thing. As we all came to a corner bar to the right, a streak that affects us all hard. The truck in front of me was torn down, the two trucks behind me when knocked down, got the wheels 9 and returned to lose the 18 just in time to deflect and lose the truck was in front of me. I stopped the car and made sure everyone was fine and called police, then went to the bus stop next. I called my dispatcher and told him what had happened and that I was closing. I sat for 13 hours until the wind died down enough to go back. The client had asked me to try and make it on time, or assembly line stops. It is difficult to 13 hours of driving time, and everything is that I allowed my appointment time with five minutes to spare! This is one of many stories that they can say about the fight and defeat the elements. The other truck was running with were not so lucky! Have also been times when it was not so lucky, a night driver drunk I rolled my truck. I was lucky in the sense that I'm here to tell, and should not have been!

You might think that shippers and receivers are glad to see you. Not true! In most cases are treated like shit! If you happen to be at a grocery store will end up downloading their own load, removed from the pallet it was shipped in, and put in yours according to how you want to be stacked. Then you take it for a platform that corridor where are counted and kept it. Ask a bathroom, not allowed to use it, ask for a phone, once again not allowed to use it. The only thing that will allow them to do work for them. If you are five minutes late for an appointment, he was told to come back the next day. If you are on time, you will end up waiting a couple of hours for a door to return a. If more than 30 minutes early, are not allowed on the property. You are nothing more than cheap labor! Again, this is more common than not, and all the while you're there you have to keep a smile on your face and more with him.

You are also a target for many states. You are a great source of income. If you receive a ticket which is not likely to come back and fight it, so it is more likely to get a counterfeit. Tickets for truck drivers are three times more than other drivers. The average speeding ticket starting around $ 200.00 and go up from there. If you happen to be in California, starting around $ 1,500.00. Truck stops in some states may be the same way. This does not mean that there are no good cops out there. I have left more tickets so we want to admit.

If you still decide you want to drive a truck, truck driving schools are the only way to learn. There was a when the only way to learn was from another driver, and to be honest with you, I want in a place yet. However, road transport companies not hire inexperienced drivers unless they have some kind of school behind them. I do not recommend the schools have never had to deal with them, only their product, and in many cases do not come close enough to know where they went to school. So let me instead give you some suggestions. You can not learn what you need namely one week, two weeks or three weeks. The longer you are in school, the better. Look for a school that gives you driving so long as they have Book time. The knowledge book is good to know, but a book does not drive a truck, and in most cases the author of the book never has. Once you have completed school, and are contracted with a company may end up with a trainer for a month or so. After you are on your own. At this point I recommend you open eyes and shut your mouth. When you do not know, say so, then ask. If you think it is a stupid question, ask anyway. If the driver thinks asked a stupid question, ask another driver. If you can not back up a trailer very good, you have told someone. I was watching a driver is attempted a new copy in a very tight spring, with a Safeway store in Portland. After nearly an hour it still did not have the support base. I asked him if he I like to put it there for him. His response "I have to learn sometime, as it could be now." Tremendous response, I saw for sure that do not touch anything and finally succeeded on the bench. In the winter never drive beyond your comfort zone. If other drivers are passing through, let them pass. Or know what they are doing, or will end up in a ditch. If the drivers on the CB telling you to go faster, and the only reason I give is that they should go, turn off the CB. When you're in a truck stop, there is always some story told. As I said, shut up and listen. Do not tell yourself, you will look like a fool. I've been in this game for 22 years. The stories stay the same, saying only that people change. There are some good lessons in these stories, but there are a lot of shit too. You need a good ear for resolve. I can not know everything. I learn something new all the time, I'm not as stupid as I was before.

You can play the role of a truck driver easier – Get a wallet chain drive, cowboy boots, western shirts, and a large buckle that says Peterbilt or something, and a cowboy hat or baseball cap. But to be a truck driver is very different then what you see in the movies. It's hard work that requires much commitment, with very little respect.

Why drive a truck? It was a dream. Why I stay with him? I love what I do! Would I recommend it? Well, I guess I should talk to you to find out what makes them tick. It takes a special breed of person to be here. Nomad Party, part gypsy, and especially Solitario. Has too much time to think, so you need to feel comfortable with your thoughts. You have very little time to do so again you need to feel comfortable with your thoughts. What I do on the road is not a game, nor is it a great adventure. What I do is my life, my way, and above all, my dream! Drive the simple reason that then!

About the Author

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Peterbilt with 10″ stacks. “CAP TRUCKING”