The dinner is the problem. If I eat another one of these tv dinners I'll puke though I found a good one yeserday in Louisiana. Some Cajun thing, tasted like real home cooked food. I went into the Walmart in Oklahoma today and looked for more but they didn't sell them here. You don't cook in the truck do you? It seems like you eat out a lot. For the money I'm spending at Walmart every week (and Meijers last week, never been in one of those before. Place was massive) I might as well eat out every night.

Hackie sack was huge back in the day but I wonder if it was just up there? I don't know it seems like a lot of things I just assumed were everywhere was just up there. I know you worked in the Government so maybe you travelled a lot but before this trucking I never even went to California. Springfield seemed like the end of the world to me. Until not that long ago really what the hell was Walmart? All I knew was Bradlees and Lechmere.

You'll find that most stores will cater to the local culture and only sell what the people want. New England seems to be the only place that bars will serve ginger ale.

I have settled into eating dinner every night at either a restaurant or Subway. Between eating fruit and vegetables during the day and a good meal at night I'm under 2,000 calories or less if I eat a small Subway.

I have like 50 cans of canned chicken and mixed fruit as a backup if I'm stuck some place off the beaten path. When you drive a flatbed be prepared to be cut off from civilization many many times. I've learned how to clean myself up, wash my hair and look presentable. I've gone many times for 3 days without a shower. Not like I'm doing anything other than driving so I'm not a basket case. When people on the side of the road in there front yards and cars start waving at you, you know your cut off from the rest of the world.

I have traveled A LOT. With the government, regular job and working on the cruise ships there are very few places I haven't been. Most times I only ventured in as far as the port so I never really experienced what the port was really like or the culture.

I traveled so much at one point, I was on the road 25 days out of the year. It got to the point where I would no longer rent a car. I took a cab from the airport to the hotel, ordered room service and didn't leave until the next morning when I took a cab to the customer site.

The best places that I visited when traveling was when I was invited home by some manager to have dinner, watch TV and screaming kids running around.

I delivered the fertilizer to the farm yesterday and hung around to watch them mix it up. It was pretty cool how they took these 7,000 pound bags of stuff and put them in a hopper and mixed it up. It went directly to those massive watering things you see out in the fields.

Once again, the customer was waiting for this stuff, told the broker and the broker did not pass on this info. I told the owner of the farm I was dicking around the whole time coming here stopping off looking at trains, walking around and generally goofing off until Monday morning!!!! I told him next time to get the phone number of the driver and talk to them directly.

Some of you might say, why didn't I call. Well, it doesn't work that way. You just don't call up some company and ask for the owner. It's someone else within the company who needs what you have and chances are your not going to find out who.

I always tell the broker I need a contact at both the shipper and receiver. There's rarely been a load where I didn't talk to whoever was waiting for the product on the other end to confirm appointment times, verify the parking situation and the egress, etc. Maybe things are different in the flatbed world.

no_worries, that's not really what I meant. There was no problem with anything and I would have called the receiver the day before had it not been for the fact that the town was so small they didn't even list an address.

I dicked around so much I could have been there 2 days earlier. I guess my point to the owner was that if he really needed the stuff he should have asked for a phone number for the driver and talked to them. The borkers don't have a clue some time and a call from the owner plays heavily on how I perform.

The farm I delivered too grows potatoes and ships all over the U.S.. He told me to give him a call when I'm in town and he'll load me up.

I sat for one day outside Walmart in Alomosa CO and was sad to leave. It was a nice quiet spot and next to my favorite store. In and out, in and out. Oops, need a screw, better go to Walmart. Time for cereal, need milk, time for Walmart. I'm surprised they didn't call the cops thinking I was stalking the place.

So, anyways, I did get a call the next day as usual. They asked if I was empty and of course I said no but was unloaded in 15 minutes and may already have a load. Why, do you have something better I say?

I get the load going back to Mass about 30 minutes from home and a decent rate for me. I need to be home soon as I'm moving my mother. The load is only 11,000 pounds and takes up 20 feet but paid as a full load.

It was out in the middle of nowhere and a load of sound proofing panels. I spoke to the owner which was a lady and she was very nice. I guess another driver showed up before and already had a loaded trailer and there load was going to hang over 1 foot. Her contract says nothing else on the truck. I guess the driver was pissed and left. She told me I could pick up another load if I wanted. I guess she liked me. :)

Everyone in the shop came out to talk to me when they heard I got hit with a rock. I felt like a politician in a debate with one question after another about trucking and the rock. Nice people, all real blue collar types. No brains, they do one thing only and that's it. They go home at 3. Buy a 6 pack. Blow up beer cans with M80's then go out to some crap hole club with a piece of junk band and dance there brains out to every song. Life is good. All nice people for sure. Wish I was sticking around, I would join them!

So I'm off and loaded and the load is going 2,200 miles in 3 days and needs to be there on Friday before 3:30. I told everyone there is no way I can do it. They balked about it but nothing they could do. If I would have picked up a day earlier I could have done it. That other driver who left was there the day before but they didn't take into consideration they just lost a day.

The owner asked if she could pay me more. I said no. I just plain couldn't do it and would fall asleep at the wheel. She said to call her when I'm in town again and she would load me up.

I'll tell ya one thing, eating apples, oranges, pears and bananas on the road during the day takes a toll on your stomach!!!!! Then have something normal for supper and watch out. The fruit and normal food go at it like Fight Night.

Isn't fruit high in fiber....

Truck with no bathroom...
In boonies.. with no where to stop
Fiber high diet....

sounds like a disaster waiting to happen...

then again.. in the boonies... at least 3 hours before the next car passes by...... :roll: :oops: :D

Are you kidding, that trash can with the toilet lid seat has saved my ass 1000 times and is worth it's weight in gold.

Just had the Chinese buffet. I figure I only had 500 calories since I went up to refill my plate 5 times. Sounds right, huh?

Steve wrote,
"In and out, in and out. Oops, need a screw, better go to Walmart"


Now Wally World has gone too damn far,....putting the local hookers out of business.

Lol...I wish...Price check on isle 10.

Alamosa CO is out in the middle of no where and this Walmart is standing room only by 8am on a Saturday morning!!! I went through the main town and all the shops have gone out of business. I picked up a local paper and lots of homes for sale under $25,000.

It is a shame these small communities allow Walmart to come in and build their super stores. They come in and devastate local businesses. They bring in lower prices, in some cases, inferior products and no personalized service. Sam Walton would turn over in his grave if he knew what his company was doing. He said that he would never go into a small community and build stores. Of course, he also said that he would only sell U.S. made products in his stores. :roll: Small business can rarely compete with their buying and marketing power. Unfortunately, a lot of their prices are not that much lower than can be purchased elsewhere. They have the perception that their prices are much lower. That is not always the case. I rarely buy fruits and vegetables from them. I can usually get better pricing and fresher fruits and vegetables from a local produce market. When I travel and want fresh fruits and vegetables, I try to find a local produce stand. Of course, that is not always possible, either. Unless I need something on the road, I only go to Walmart when I can't get what I want somewhere else.

It's too bad in one way but that's the way it goes. Myself, I love Walmart and would much rather pay a cheaper price for just about everything I buy instead of more money at smaller stores and driving around all day from one to another.

I grew up in a fairly well do to neighborhood when I was growing up. It seemed that anyone who owned a business lived within 1/4 mile of us. Kmart did not put them out of business. It was the fact that there store was opened post WWII and could afford to pretty much make next to nothing because everything was paid for and owned by them. For someone to come along and buy an established business like Fini's Shoe Store would require more than $500,000 for the store, machinery and contents. The same was true for all the other old timers ready to retire. It wasn't like someone like myself could come in with a loan of that size and make $1,000 a week and expect to pay the loan and live.

One of my loves in college was Economic History. The death of a town and it's community is inevitable for 99% of all towns. I'm sure many of you have already seen this happening to your parents street. As an example. You grow up on a street with your parents and move out. As the years go by your parents do not maintain the house due to health and money. Before long, it's time for them to move to Florida or a nursing home. The house is sold for much less than it could have due to the disrepair. A little lower class is able to move up a notch into your neighborhood. This starts the ball rolling and others move out before more of the undesirables move in. It's a snowball effect and not long before the middle class street is now lower class. This cascades into town and a loss of business. The crime rate goes up, the taxes go up to pay for the increase in police and it's all down hill from there.

Just in the short time I've been trucking I've seen many towns that have died on the road and by the looks of them, 30 years ago it must have been Mayberry RFD.