whats life like on the road?

[tropolis]

how is it for you guys traveling across the country?

do you just drive and sleep pretty much? how much off time on the road do you have?

whats the best open road you've been on? open road meaning a road where you won't see anyone for a long time, possible hundreds of miles.


just whats life like on the road. trying to get a better idea. thanks.

[Meat Wagon]

Somewhere else on here I suggested www.newbiedriver.com for basic questions. They really have a lot of info about how it is out here. Your questions are pretty generic meaning there are a bunch of answers for each question depending what type of driving job one has.

Driving the interstates through the desert southwest gives you a certain sense of *open road*. As for not seeing anyone for hundreds of miles......
there's too many of us out here....won't happen. :wink:

[all18wheels]

lonely and boring.

sure, i get to see alot of beautiful country. but after a while, it all looks the same.

im lucky though, im only gone for a week, 2 at the most.

my hats off to all the true 48 staters that are gone for 3,4,5,6 weeks at a time.

when your wife calls and says the stove, or the air conditioning is not working and theres nothing you can do about it, it is frustrating.

sometimes, i get a sad, empty feeling when ive been out more than a week. i miss my home and my wife. i cant imagine how i'd feel if i had kids to miss too.

[dle]

www.newbiedriver.com has some good info on this.

It's mostly sitting in the same spot for hours on end. Putting up with 'stupid' drivers, shipping/receiving clerks, gaurds. Having to deal with paperwork on a daily basis. Seeing some interesting things, seeing a lot of the same scenery over and over. Your days are determined by your pick up and delviery schedule.

Another way to put it, long periods of boredom coupled with periods of physical work, coupled with periods paper work, coupled with periods of pure terror.

But of course whatever you experience will be based on your own personal experiences, comfort levels, wants, desires.

[TruckerChris]

I stayed out for 2 months last tour and I'll be coming home in August on this trip. It's very up and down. One second you could be having a great day on a 2000+ mile load and then your dispatcher tells you switch with another driver. Right then and there your day goes to hell and you hate it. But in the end everything works out and you're happy again. It's a love hate relationship.

[BigWheels]

I stayed out for 2 months last tour and I'll be coming home in August on this trip. It's very up and down. One second you could be having a great day on a 2000+ mile load and then your dispatcher tells you switch with another driver. Right then and there your day goes to hell and you hate it. But in the end everything works out and you're happy again. It's a love hate relationship.

You got that right!

Tropolis, like any profession, you have good days and not so good days.

Your attitude is the single most important "skill" you bring to any occupation. If you have a good (=positive) attitude about life in general, you'll tend to enjoy what you're doing more than if you don't have a "good" attitude about life in general.

[Chasing Daylight]

There is definately a lot of drive and sleep involved. Also a lot of sit and wait. But, if you hit your schedules right sometimes you can break the monotiny. Understand you'll never be a tourist on the road, as you generally can't drag a 53 foot trailer around to the tourist spots. But, you can make the best of your downtime by finding activities or good restaurants within walking distance or cheap cab ride of a truck stop. Thats about as good as it gets most of time. There are times when you get to see some great scenery and truly enjoy the ride (I15 across the Virgin River Valley at the NW tip of AZ is truly beautiful, I84 along the Columbia river in Oregon is very nice.)

As far as wide open roads, I10 in West Texas between San Antonio and El Paso sure fits the bill. Not the most scenic route in the world, but it's wide open and pretty vacant as interstates go. Another good one is US70 across the gut of NM from Portales to Las Cruces, a lot more scenic and really quite vacant.

[TK THE TRUCKER]

whats the best open road you've been on? open road meaning a road where you won't see anyone for a long time, possible hundreds of miles.
.

I took US 50 across Nevada as I had to deliver in western Colorado. It was winter time and there was nothing for quite a while. As my day came to an end I couldn't find a good place to park I finally came through some little town and then a few miles later I climbed a small mountain and on top was a little pull off, probably a plow turn around but I couldn't go any further. It was very lightly snowing all night and when I woke up there was a single set of tire tracks that went by. All night long and 1 car drove down that road.

Another road is one I travel quite a bit is if I'm coming west on I-40 I take 95 south out of Needles,CA into Vidal Junction and then west on 62 to stop by my Grandmothers house in Yucca Valley. There's a whole lotta nothing along that route especially on 62. However there is those dozen or so tank rail cars sitting out in the middle of the desert with nothing around for 50 miles. Whatever is in those I'm sure is rather nasty. 8) 8)

[Jumbo]

If I was having any more fun I would kill myself. That sucks that you guys have to put up with people with bad attitudes. I unloaded in Owensboro, KY Wednesday morning and couldn't believe that the construction crew helped me untarp and roll my tarps up. They said that they know that if we aren't moving we aren't making any money so they try not to hold us up any longer then they have to. Try to find that at a grocery warehouse.

[Phreddo]

all i can say is always have a little supply of food and beverage.
i ran out of hours in Montrose, AR. the only thing there was a laundromat with a toilet. otherwise i would have had to pee on the ground. all i had to eat was a couple oranges.

[gmh]

I agree with just about everything in here.

Always have some extra food.

Lots and lots and lots and lots of boredom. Thirty presets on the XM Radio is sometimes not enough. The idiocy on Ch. 19 reminds me of Usenet. Every interstate looks the same after a while. No state has four wheelers worth a darn. Every truckstop is a dump. Shippers hate you. Receivers hate you. Dispatch likes to screw with you.

But every so often... Things kinda click. And all is good.

[TruckerChris]

I agree with just about everything in here.



Lots and lots and lots and lots of boredom. Thirty presets on the XM Radio is sometimes not enough. The idiocy on Ch. 19 reminds me of Usenet. Every interstate looks the same after a while. No state has four wheelers worth a darn. Every truckstop is a dump. Shippers hate you. Receivers hate you. Dispatch likes to screw with you.

But every so often... Things kinda click. And all is good.

I agree 100%!!! XM has 170 or so channels and sometimes I can't find a thing to listen too... So I sit there with the radio off listening to my truck rattle and then I come to my senses and turn the damn thing back on

[Snowman7]

You dont really have free time. You're either driving, sleeping or waiting. Some scenery yeah but every highway looks more or less the same, especially in the dark. Try living, eating, and sleeping out of your car for a week. Dont go into any normal establishments, only truckstops and rest areas. And while your at the truckstop be sure to grab a shower and do a little laundry. Its not the glamorous lifestyle portrayed by Hollywood. Keep in mind the turnover rate is over 100% for a reason.

[lurchgs]

If I was having any more fun I would kill myself. That sucks that you guys have to put up with people with bad attitudes. I unloaded in Owensboro, KY Wednesday morning and couldn't believe that the construction crew helped me untarp and roll my tarps up. They said that they know that if we aren't moving we aren't making any money so they try not to hold us up any longer then they have to. Try to find that at a grocery warehouse.

Y'know - if you can, y' ought to send them a thank you note. Good deeds should be rewarded, and a little public 'thank you' can go a long way.

[pothole]

The next time you wake in the middle of the night to go pee. Get dressed and walk around the block first or walk down to the nearest public restroom. The next dump you take use a public restroom. The next time you get sick , pick a doctor about 200 miles away. Eat every meal for a week in cheap restaurants. Fire up the lawnmower and put it outside your window running full speed all night while you sleep. Pick a place and go dit in your car for 8 hours straight without moving.
Pass these tests and you may have what it takes to travel the beautiful country in an 18 wheeler.

[matcat]

I would have to say I70 going westward after the Rockies all the way to I15 is the most barren wide open interstate in the country, heck it even has a sign in Utah "No services for 110 miles" longest stretch of interstate with no services in the country, and believe me, there aren't. Also going up from Texas to Colorado, ain't much to be seen either, go thru a few small towns here and there, maybe see a few cars every now and again.

Like everyone else says, It's not very glamorous, and hoping to be a paid tourist is quite difficult, you can't always pull a rig into all the normal tourist destinations, and more often then not you will just be teasingly driving by them at the closest. I think I have only ever actually had the luck of picking up or delivering anything in the same area as a cool tourist attraction maybe twice, and both times no time to actually do anything. I did manage to go bobtail to the mall of america once, and by the way, don't ever do it That place is NOT designed for large vehicles in any shape or form.

Wanted to go to the Grand Canyon, until I found out that all the roads that do actually go there are restricted, of course you could pay a fortune to either ride a train or other mass transit method out to it, more then I had at the time.

I got to spend a 34 hour reset in Vegas, there is a truck stop 2 blocks off the strip, but not worth it when I lost $500 my first night there...

I love driving, it fits me and my lifestyle very well, but I would say it is NOT for many, only a select few really are capable of it. You will spend a LOT of time sitting around waiting and doing nothing, and then when you do have a nice long load, all you will want to do is sleep when you are not driving.

As far as how long are you out there, all depends on your situation. If you work local, you may work 8-14 hours a day, but get home every day and have 2 days off on average a week, you will also usually be making frequent stops, have a lot more hassles of smaller roads more often then nice big highways, etc. Work regional you may get a weekend or something similar a week home, and go out for a few days at a time, again you will probably have frequent stops, but not like local, and you will at least get to travel highways more often then not. Or you could go the over the road all 48 type deal, and get home maybe every few weeks, often with the big companies you will be out for a month or more at a time, but usually your drive time will be almost all highway, but also a lot of your time will be wasted on waiting around. But again every driver has different circumstances, but those are generalizations.

Unless you eat mcdonalds and canned raviolis everyday, you will be in for quite a shock food wise as well. I've tried both major methods of life on the road eating, both keeping and cooking food myself in the truck, and just eating out for all my meals, usually I would always end up reverting back to just eating out (but always keeping food in the truck though), just because after 11 hours driving you don't really feel like sitting down and taking an hour or so out of your day to cook a nice meal, and or just sit there and eat junk food.

There is so much to what it is like out there, that I don't think it can really be explained fully, it is something you have to experience to fully understand, I know before I got into it I spent months researching it, which was good, I understood a lot of things I wouldn't of, and it really helped me to prepare for the lifestyle, but didn't really paint the picture like actually doing it did.

[Ronin]

agreed matcat, It's not for everyone and it's something that defies explanation in a few ways. It's something that's hard to prepare for, no matter how hard you try.

[Morning Star]

I got to spend a 34 hour reset in Vegas, there is a truck stop 2 blocks off the strip, but not worth it when I lost $500 my first night there...

The last time I was in Vegas, I actually came out 58 bucks ahead, but I don't usually even gamble when I am there. I do however take full advantage of those cheap buffets.

[klleetrucking]

"matcat" said it very well about life on the road. If you have a wife and family prepare them for your abscence. When I first started, one of the worst things I saw at night was a TV through the window of a house at night with the family sitting around. 30+ years later, I'm still doing this crap, but don't regret a minute of it. Yes, the scenery can be awsome; Saguaro cactus in Az.,Mt. Shasta on I 5 s/b. GW bridge in NYC, not so good.
In this vocation, one must be very, very, good at being alone.

[Mr. Ford95]

One of the best drives I have found was 82 between Tuscaloosa, AL and Starkville, MS. Same with 45 between Tupelo and Meridian, MS. Drive down 82 and it will take you back in time. Feels like you just warped back to the late 70's early 80's once you get out of Tuscaloosa.