Driving through Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Ohio... YAWN!

 

I'm retired now but the last driving job I had was a dedicated M-F and home every day. Sounds good but I rarely got home before 7:00PM and by the time I ate, went through the mail, showered, etc., it was at least 10:00PM.
To get to work on time, I had to get up at 4:00AM. It wasn't that bad in the summer but nothing like crawling out of a warm bed in the winter and finding it was snowing and 20 degrees.
When I was OTR, I hated driving one day in the daytime and the next at night. It seems I never got enough sleep.
Nothing like coming to work after time off and getting a load that goes 30 miles and takes 7 hours to get unloaded. That was Gordon Food Service in Springfield, Ohio.

 

Practically, everything!
Remember that bumper sticker-"I'd rather be sailing"? :lol: :wink:

 

then educate them, lol. hey seriously, you talking about the ones that are new, or just the morons that will never understand how to back or shift the gears. Only things I hate is the ocational, 300 mile load with an apointment 3 days away and as hometime draws near, the loads slowwwwwwwww wayyyyyyyyyyyy downnnnnnnnnnn!

 

My job scares me- not the work itself, but the fact that it is solely my responsibility(self employed for the 1st time in my life), and so far it is going SLOW- spinnin' my wheels basically. My last option if this continues to nose-dive is sell everything and go OTR w/hubby; not too sure if I could handle it though.

 

Of my 19 yrs. exp., 4 1/2 yrs. were OTR. I quit mostly because I had trouble with my sleep patterns jumping around. Made good $$ pulling a chemical tanker, but they were keeping me out longer and longer so I pulled the plug & ran regional for awhile, now finally local again.

During my OTR years I have been hit 4X while parked at a T/S (another aggrevation). :x :x

 

Meatwagon said:
If you are sitting in your parked truck and you think someone might hit you while they are backing up, do you blast your horn and wake everyone else up? I've heard that some truckers shut down their CB while backing up because of the distraction.

 

I guess I'm an exception to the rule, if things are tight, I keep it on just incase I might get to close to that truck on my blind side. Never had anyone use it but beter safe than sory, ya know

 

Twice I was in the sleeper when I got hit; the other 2 times I was away from the truck. Otherwise I would have given a long blast of the airhorn. When backing I usually left the CB on just loud enough to hear it except when there was a lot of evening trash talk. Then it went off. The hits I took were all small "incidents" but still left a mark of some kind on my truck.

I hate truck stops and would stay at the receiver's yard whenever I could. If I had to stop on the way I sought out the small dirt lot truck stops first. Usually not as crowded. I scheduled myself so I could be at a truck stop by 4 or 5 pm to at least have a choice of parking. If I was at the receivers with no other activity around I didn't leave marker lights on but if in a busy truck stop I left them on all night as a point of reference for the drivers backing in or pulling out beside me. 8)

 

Meat Wagon said:
1.) Did you have to report it to your company and exchange paperwork with the driver who hit you? Do you have to notify the police?

2.) Great suggestion - I've added it to my checklist (once I finish CDL school).