Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

I would love to put the challenge out there to anyone, and yes I mean anyone, going on vacation to drive as a trucker would have to. I challenge you to take a “logbook” with you and mark your hours of starting time, fueling, etc.

Do you think you could get there as fast? Do you think you could get there as safe?

These are some of the things that I took into consideration as we traveled across the country for Spring Break a few weeks ago. We planned our course (oh yes routing the whole way to see “scenic” things not normally on the “truck” path!) and set out on our adventure.

I vowed to stick to the driving time that my husband would have to. How hard would that be to adhere to? Piece of cake right? WRONG! We wrote down our beginning mileage (oh yes I AM that big of a nerd!) and I calculated what time I should be where. I wanted to stick to our “schedule” so we could fit everything in we had planned.

Traffic was a plus, there were no major incidents, accidents, or delays so we did have that on our side. Especially hitting some of the major cities before or after rush hour. But then, I soon realized our eleven hours of driving was just about up and guess what? We were not where we needed to be for that day. Did I push on? No, I felt guilty. I wanted to drive within legal hours out of respect for the truck drivers out there. If they are going to be safe on the road, then it is my responsibility as a four-wheeler to be responsible on the road as well! So we stopped!!

I even took my fueling into consideration. Our little pit stops along the way. And you know it’s sad when you stop to get gas that you look for a truck stop because you would rather go into one of them because you feel like you “belong” there instead of a regular gas station where everyone is just oh so cheery (yes, sarcasm!).

I have to say we did really well with sticking to our schedule. Even though we did not get to where we needed to be the first night, we somehow ended up early the next day (good weather I do believe!). However, the trip home was something different with me being sick.  There was definitely a lot of trading time behind the wheel then! That is why you all have my respect. I just do not understand for the life of me how you can do it while being sick, other than the fact that you take pride in your job and know you have to support yourself/family.

I wish for one vacation period time, that everyone would take the “truck” challenge and try to travel as a big truck would. Limiting themselves to 11 hours of driving, then HAVING to take a ten hour break to better appreciate the things on the road. Instead of driving until they drift all over the road (which we saw a lot of and I refused to pass those people!) because they are so tired and just want to ‘get there’ at any cost. If only they knew what they were putting at stake, not only their lives but the lives of others because they are too foolish to stop when they are tired.

I think if everyone would do this for just one family vacation, maybe, just maybe, they would appreciate a trucker just a little bit more.

But then, that’s me being hopeful that someone would just realize what you all do for us and how important you are to our everyday lives!

Be safe!!