Respect for Truck Drivers

Here's a little story to give you an idea of how much respect truck drivers have earned. You'll notice that this story is a touch out of date, since it's main point hovers on it being hot in a factory in Delaware.

There's a shipping office in a steel company in Delaware. It's around the back and kind of difficult to get to. Once you get there, and you go inside, you'll notice that it's air conditioned. Well, at least the part the office workers are in is air conditioned, not the part the drivers wait in.

There's a sliding window between the driver's hallway and the office itself. This allows a driver to see the clerk, and hand paperwork back and forth. Next to that window, on the wall, is a window unit air conditioner. With the back side facing the driver. Yes, that's right... the hot air from the office is pumped out... not outside, but into the area the drivers wait in!

- Trevor.
Branch, MI
2007-10-27

Some Truck Stops Have More Services Than Others

When I left my shower room at the Flying J in Hope Hull, Alabama the other day I saw the janitor's cart sitting in the hallway. This is normal. I also saw a large squeeze bottle full of a blue liquid. Its spot on the cart was labelled, very clearly and in nice handwriting, BOWEL CLEANER.

- Trevor
Branch, MI
2007-10-27

Trip In Review (I'm Finally Home!!!)

Wow. I'm finally here! I intended to tell you all the places I went and all that - But I think I'll just sum up: I went East as far as Boston, South as far as Miami, North as far as Seattle, and West as far as, well, Seattle. And I did it a lot of times.

So, here are some pictures and stuff. It's been a while, so there are a lot.


This is kind of an addition to the private showers post. Here is one of those showers I mentioned. It's a small one, most are bigger now. This one is a Flying J shower.







Well, it made me laugh. It's on the floor of a stall in a rest area... and it's an Immodium wrapper.

Yep, that says "God Hates Graffiti"


The sign says "This register is only for Drive-Thru orders." I guess not at this one, but at most McDonald's, the drive thru is actually outside.















Yeah, but how much for just, like, a regular one?


My favorite picture of the entire trip.



Mostly they did, but there was still writing on the walls.


This sign, in case you can't make it out, says, "Restroom Temporarily Closed. Lobby Open." I probably shouldn't tell this story, but I will. Thank you to the state of Pennsylvania for causing me unbelievable distress. There were no signs coming up to this rest area, or in it, to indicate that my time would be better spent finding another restroom. I had to park almost a half-mile away from this building, and hobble all the way to it. And then, I had to hobble back and look elsewhere. Thanks for the 45 minute hellish interlude into the middle of my night you low-life jerks. Since then, I've realized that maybe the "Lobby Open" part of the sign meant that I should have left my deposit there... I mean, that would make as much sense as the rest of the situation.


Me too.



I like inventions. Especially seatbelts.




I swung through the house one day, left the next and delivered my load about 150 miles away, then returned and left again the next day. Austin (and JJ) came with me on the delivery trip. I guess JJ wasn't being cute, 'cause I don't have any pictures of her. :-)

Most of you reading this blog know that I think government is worthless and that we would all be better off if it went away. I think that applies as much, if not more, to highway safety as to economics and other areas. But here, they're doing something right, and I think if I'm going to rail against all the stupid things they do I should give kudos where appropriate. So, thanks, Ohio D.O.T., I appreciate the new signs. Oh, I should mention that I first saw signs like this in Washington. And for those of you who think I'm going soft, I am aware that if highways were completely privatized, the signs would not only probably not be needed, but if needed they would cost a small fraction of what they cost now and would be paid for by people who want them, not by people who would rather spend their money on other things - like popsicles, for instance.


Sometimes this is the view from a truck driver's windshield. Still think it's a good idea to dart in front to try to save fifteen seconds?!? :-).




I'm thinking this must be the Santa Claus lane from the song... dontcha think?

This is Kesia, and that is the Pacific Ocean.

That's Kesia on a rock.








That smashed up black truck over there is the subject. He flew by me and right up to the back of the person in front of him, darted into the right lane, sped up to get right on the tail of the person in the right lane, stayed there until the guy on the left was past him, then darted back behind him, stayed there until there was room (almost) to squeeze around that guy on the right and continue speeding off. About twenty minutes later I took this picture. You never know what "woulda" happened, but I'm guessing he "woulda" got there faster (like, ever) if he'd relaxed a little bit. It's not driving fast that (usually) causes things like this. It's driving like an idiot. Here's exhibit A to support my position.

Did you see any green, bug-eyed monsters on your trip? Ummm... no, not any green ones.
Kesia on Cabbage (Cabbage is the name of the mountain, at least, that's what the drivers call it), with a load of onions (not pictured), and Pendleton, Oregon way off in the background. Wildhorse casino is over there too. Too bad we didn't have time to stop, they have a cool child play area. Danielle and JJ each got to go there, but Kesia didn't get an opportunity yet (we had to average 850 miles a day for 3 days to make delivery of this load on time. That doesn't leave a lot of time for dilly-dally).






These two trucks parked about four spaces over from each other right in front of me one day. I think I need a Tonka truck on my trailer.

In'n't she cute?

Do you ever get held up in a big traffic jam and think you are the one having a bad day?

I don't know what happened, but this guy in my mirror was right across the road from that other truck. I think even he could say, "Well, yeah, this is bad, but I really just feel bad for that guy over there."



Ok, a new feature: "Quiz Show". This is how it works: you guess what that is in the picture.

I'll wait.

Ok. You guessed? If you said, "Well, Trevor, I believe that's a Ziploc bag full of urine in a rest area parking lot." Then you win.




This guuy crashed, and went so far off the road that it's easier to drag him into the adjacent parking lot than back onto the highway. Cool, huh?

I hollered for Kesia to come up and look at this power plant. She said, "Cool! it makes clouds!"




I went to sleep one night, and when I woke up, there were these two trucks in front of me. The one on the left is Austin's Trucking, and the one on the right just says "Austin" in big letters on the trailer. Weird, huh?




Did I just drove by the Cozy Cone????!!!??? This place is in Holbrook, Arizona, on old Route 66. And I thought those Pixar folks were just clever. :-)

Ummm...


The End.

- Trevor.
Branch, MI
2007-10-27

Stuck on a Bumper

Saw a bumper sticker on a Jeep in Reno, NV:

Nevada. Don't much care how you did it in California.

- Trevor.
Girard, OH.
Saturday, Oct. 20th.
(Happy Birthday, Katy!)

Trucking Math

Two recent incidents come to mind.

While getting loaded, I mentioned to the guy, "They told me I'd be getting 45 thousand pounds, but it doesn't look like this is going to be that heavy."

He replied, "Well, they're about a thousand pounds a bunk, you'll be getting twenty bunks, so... we'll be pushing thirty."

Another time (earlier, actually) I was talking to a driver while tarping, who said it was about an hour and a half to the state line... he didn't know how many miles it was, but he knew he could go about a hundred miles in an hour, if he, you know, set the cruise at about 70, 75.

- Trevor.
Girard, OH
Saturday, Oct. 20th.
(Happy Birthday, Katy!)

Construction Speed-up

On October 11th, I went through a construction zone, and got through *faster* than I would have had there been no construction. It was surreal!

Here's how it worked:

They were working on a road near a four-way stop, and had it closed to one lane, so that traffic from each direction had to take turns. In order to keep it from getting crazy, they had a person directing traffic at the stop sign. I got to the construction at just the right time to get waved through the stop sign. There were about 4 cars right in front of me that all would have had to stop, and I would have had to wait my turn too, but since there was construction - I didn't even have to shift!

Of course, I spent more time writing this blog entry than I saved, so I guess it's a net loss. But nonetheless remarkable.

- Trevor.
Girard, OH.
Saturday, Oct. 20th.
(Happy Birthday, Katy!)

Spanglish

When JJ was in the truck with me recently for her trip home from Grandma's, I said something to her in Spanish. She said, "The only thing I know about that sentence is you didn't say anything about shoes."

- Trevor.
Girard, OH
Saturday, October 20th.
(Happy Birthday, Katy!)

Truck Stop Showers Are Private

I've heard some talk, and it sounds to me as if a lot of "the public" is under the impression that truck stop showers are locker-room type, like a lot of naked truck drivers all showering in the same room. They're not. They're private shower rooms. I just thought you should know.

- Trevor
Girard, OH
Saturday, October 20th.
(Happy Birthday, Katy!)

Finally - a little breather

Well, it's a breather, but it's not really a good thing. It means I'll work this whole week and make less than the price of dinner for two at a decent chain restaurant. I do get to have a few hours to myself every night for the next four days - if only I could be at home during those hours.

Anyway, I'll probably post a couple times in the next few days, so cancel your plans and stay tuned.

- Trevor.
Winslow, AZ (nope, just in the parking lot, but there is a corner not far away...)