Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

I didn’t know what else to call this post. Its about Haiti. As you know, there was a terrible earthquake there last week – another one this morning. Many thousands have lost their lives. People are in need. The entire country appears to be destroyed. And day after day on the front page of every newspaper you view the images of devastation. Today was the first day I didn’t see anything about Haiti above the fold on The New York Times, due to the coverage of the special election in Massachusetts. But Haiti will be in hearts and minds for many years to come.

Or will it? Pat Robertson, the popular televangelist, says that the destruction of Haiti was a result of a pact it made with the devil. “They” brought “it” upon themselves. A big trucker favorite, Bubba The Love Sponge, says we should forget “them” and take care of our own here. Rush Limbaugh, another popular entertainer with truckers, has advised the American people not to give aid/money to the Haitian people because President Obama is using the Haiti disaster to improve his standings with blacks here in our country.

I would say this – based on my own very unscientific poll of truck drivers from Windsor to Detroit to Baltimore to Pittsburgh down here to Baytown TX – that 70% of “us” have an extremely negative (angry) opinion of Haiti and will NOT contribute to its relief. 20% will do “something” to help out and 10% just don’t care at all. Drivers have a lot of VERY disparaging things to say about a country that is only about 700 miles from our shores. Corrupt, violent, disorganized, poor, uneducated, lazy, etc. are some of the words being used to characterize the country and its people. The vile CB chatter refers to Haiti as “Voodo” land and Godless where criminals and drugs thrive.

I must admit, personally, that I reacted negatively as well when I heard the news. Haitians? Sorry. I am human. One night I prayed to God to please forgive me for my callousness toward Haiti. I thought of Katrina and all the suffering I’ve seen driving around the United States now and in past years. I thought of what I’ve been hearing – that maybe $.40 out of every dollar that anyone contributes to “relief” agencies might get to those who are suffering. And I reminded myself of our own severely strained financial and military resources – and the failure of other nations like Communist China and Russia to offer assistance to Haiti or anywhere else in need.

But, I can’t stop being an ethical and moral man. What happened in the past is the past and I feel we must offer help where help is needed. And I see the faces of the Haitian children. They should not have to suffer – pact with the devil or not. It doesn’t matter what color people are, what language they speak or what flag they live under. I know that some Haitian father, like me, who drove a truck around Haiti delivering stuff, just like we all do, has a family that is in great need right now. He doesn’t care about politics – he was just trying to get along paycheck to paycheck, like us. He needs help and his family doesn’t care where it comes from as long as they get it.

I can’t go a few hours without food – I hate not having a soda or juice or water near me all the time  24/7 – and these people have lost everything. It’s a nightmare. They need basics – food, water, shelter and medical care. So I ask that you do this. Yes, Americans need help. I agree, we must take of our own. But, for those working, like us, we can match dollar for dollar what we give. Two birds with one stone kind of thing. Win-win. Send $5 (more, if you can afford it) to the organization of your choice that you feel confident will help Haiti – maybe your church is the best place – but then also give $5 to your local homeless shelter, meals on wheels – it doesn’t matter – to help our folks here. But now is not the time to turn away- forget what Limbaugh, Bubba and Robertson say, and do the right thing, please. Because that’s what truckers – Americans – do. Close the great divide.

A great resource for taking at closer look at the charities involved can be found here: http://www.charitynavigator.org/ – Life On The Road is NOT recommending any charities to donate to, but suggests you contact the following for additional information: UNICEF, the University of Miami’s Project Medishare, American Red Cross, and Save the Children.

Reporting from Clovis, NM – Cooks Cafe next to the Love’s T/S on US 84 – in the 60’s style dining room are gathered cattle haulers, milk transporters, flat-bedders, a Wal-Mart driver and a few Swift folks sitting by themselves over the in corner. Tonight – the Sunday special – is “real” turkey and stuffing. Not the fake Petro kind. Too much for me to think about along with the cold weather and cloudy skies. It really feels just like Thanksgiving. And I’m NOT ready for turkey day. Holy SAD – seasonal affective disorder – aka depression. Got to watch myself. I could slip into a blue “funk” real easy right now. I order a steak medium rare. I know that will definitely make me feel better. From my chair I can watch the very busy BNSF rail line across the street. On and on go the rail cars loaded high with foreign ship containers.

Well, the group discussion tonight is our esteemed President. Like the ref that throws down the puck for the hockey action to start, I mention the recent letter I received from the IRS questioning my “trucking expenses” deductions and just this weekend the letter I got from some government agency asking me to pay off my student loans NOW. When the carrier I drove for a few years ago went out of business and left the Mrs. and I very high and dry, I had filed and was granted a “hardship” payment plan. Yes, I’m a college graduate, but the degree was and is useless to me attempting to get a job during this and the last big recession. My CDL was my ticket out of a desperate $8/hr warehouse job. After years of trying to pay off the loan and the government taking every refund and stimulus check, seems they’re, along with the IRS, out for blood. And like many other truckers, I have no more to give. I wish they’d go after AIG instead of me. I’m still waiting for the bailout of the common middle class guy. I guess I shouldn’t hold my breath. Read the rest of this entry »

Most drivers don’t even get the courtesy call. I did. It softened the blow. My dispatcher said: “What do you want me to do? There is no freight to Florida. There is nothing I can repower right now. I see nothing at all.” This is worst Southbound freight has been in a very long time.

At the time of the call, I was in North Carolina parked next to 1100 acres of feed corn, lots of miles from the nearest interstate. It was as close to Florida, where I live, as I’ve been in a month. I was as close as I was going to get. At this gas station with a large dirt lot, there were plenty of two week old pre-packaged sandwiches and flat fountain Pepsi for sale to let me wait a day or two for a load home. But I could tell from the e-mail that I was getting from my dispatcher that getting home this holiday just wasn’t in the cards. So much for the best laid plans of men and mice.

“Well, then find me a decent run that delivers Friday so I can get something else for the long weekend. No tarp and no extra stops”, I said. It was only a few seconds later that I got a trip to transfer aluminum shapes – no tarp – from nowhere NC to somewhere else in the middle of who knows where in Michigan. The 3 day weekend I had planned for my wife and I, the shopping, the haircut, the movie, the preparing the response to the IRS and the visit to the knee doctor – all out the window. It would just all have to wait, like all the the times before. Such is the life on the road.

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Every so often I like to reach beyond trucking to bring you a story that tugs at the emotions of drivers. I did that a while back with the Susan Boyle post. Well, a women who was kidnapped almost 20 years ago was found being held in a hidden “compound” in Antioch, CA. According to The New York Times, “The woman, Jaycee Dugard, was dragged into a car on her way to a bus stop as her stepfather watched helplessly from the family home in South Lake Tahoe, CA. The police could find no trace of the car, or Ms. Dugard.”

“On Wednesday, the police arrested Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy, and charged them with the abduction. Garrido, a convicted sex offender who was on federal parole for a 1971 rape and kidnapping, has been arraigned on more than two dozen counts of kidnapping, rape, false imprisonment and a slew of other charges.The police said that he had apparently fathered two girls – now 11 and 15 – with Ms. Dugard. The County Sheriff told reporters: “They were kept in complete isolation. None have ever gone to school or a doctor.” On Thursday, agents from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies were combing the compound. Ms. Dugard’s mother, was told on Wednesday that her daughter was alive and apparently in good health, and she flew to the Bay Area on Thursday morning to meet her.

As reported in The New York Times: “The Sheriff offered a blunt assessment of his department’s performance, saying it had not adequately investigated a 911 call in 2006 reporting that Mr. Garrido was a psychotic sex addict who was housing children in tents in his backyard. In 2008, during an unannounced visit, an even larger team of investigators checking up on sexual predators also failed to notice the secretive backyard area behind an eight-foot fence.The Sheriff added: “Organizationally, we should have been more inquisitive or curious and turned over a rock or two, There were absolutely no excuses.”

“Ms. Dugard, 29, and her two children had apparently lived in a collection of ragged tents and sheds secreted behind the Garridos’ home, a ranch-style house in a ramshackle neighborhood in an unincorporated area outside Antioch. While officials said that they were shocked by the secret compound, neighbors said they had known that Mr. Garrido had structures behind his house. But they had no idea anyone was living there. “I knew he was always strange,” said Diane Doty, whose back fence was adjacent to the compound. “But I never saw the girl.”

And this story is getting stranger as further details are uncovered. For more details about the case, please go here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/us/28abduct.html?_r=1&hp.

Photo credit is: NYT – Carl Probyn, via the Orange County Register/Associated Press

is that the question? There was a time early on in my truck driving career that I would do, let say, questionable things, in order to get freight delivered on time. Most recently, I indulged in my old technique of consuming a 64 oz diet coke at 7 PM to keep me and the truck roll’n until about 4 AM. At that point, I knew I was back in Florida with plenty of available rest area parking. I took advantage of that fact and was asleep by 4:15 AM in a safe place. But I hate doing that – plus it took me two days to recover and stabilize my biorhythm.

So this brings to mind those energy "shots" and "energy" drinks. The one I see in my face at truck stops everywhere is the little 2 oz. – 5 hour Energy "blend." Then there is the larger 8 oz. or so Red Bull energy "type" drinks aka Monster, Full Throttle, Amp, Red Line and Spike Shooter. The creators of these super caffeinated drinks sell $3 BILLION of them a year.

According to an article in The New York Times: "The drinks include a variety of ingredients in different combinations: plant-based stimulants like guarana, herbs like ginkgo and ginseng, sugar, amino acids including taurine as well as vitamins. The main active ingredient is caffeine and the content varies. A 12-ounce serving of Amp contains 107 milligrams of caffeine, compared with 34 to 38 milligrams for the same amount of Coca-Cola or Pepsi. Monster has 120 milligrams and Red Bull has 116. Higher on the spectrum, Spike Shooter contains 428 milligrams of caffeine in 12 ounces, and Wired X344 contains 258."

"In March, The Journal of American College Health published a report on the link between energy drinks, athletics and risky behavior. The study’s author, Kathleen Miller, an addiction researcher at the University of Buffalo, says it suggests that high consumption of energy drinks is associated with "toxic jock" behavior, a constellation of risky and aggressive behaviors including unprotected sex, substance abuse and violence."

I recall having to make an early steel delivery in downtown Chicago. It was cold. I was tired. The guy I worked for was an idiot. As the snow began to fall I shut down for the night and decided to do the remainder of the trip early in the morning. The alarm went off at 3:30 AM. OMG. I walked into the Pilot and purchased a Red Bull and a Hershey Bar. I’ve never drank radiator coolant – but I imagine it takes like Red Bull. About 20 minutes after beginning to drive, I began to have an out of body experience. I felt like I was separating from my skin. My hair was vibrating. I was actually looking down at myself driving from above the truck – just like I was hovering above with the roof missing. Somehow I got to the receiver, who, of course, didn’t need the material I was carrying – I was unloaded 5 hours later – still very much wide awake peeling myself off the walls of the cab. I never did that again.

There is a relatively new drink, they call it "energy juice", aka – Big "Ol Trucker. The link to their website is: http://www.bigoltrucker.com/main.html – I have not tried this particular brand. If you have, please let me know. And if you like, dislike or have an opinion on these energy drinks or shots, we appreciate your opinion. I personally prefer to stay away from all of them. I’m a one cup of coffee a day truck driver. I also try, as much as possible, to remain on a fixed more “normal” schedule. I know that is difficult for many drivers, especially the reefer guys and gals who have late night or early morning delivery appointments. Whatever you do, I ask that you use these drinks carefully and responsibly. And if you experience any strange effects after drinking one of the beverages – like "toxic jock" – consult with your health professional immediately.

The New York Times article can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/health/27well.html – Photo credits are: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Energy_drinks.jpg, http://www.learnit.com/samples/Fireworks/Fireworks%204%20New/part%202/drinking_coffee.png

There is a point in every OTR truckers life that he or she must get away – far away – from being on the road. A person can only take so much of everything “trucking” that is thrown at them. That being the rules, regulations, personalities, safety and fuel managers, truck stops, rest areas, stupid drivers, shippers, receivers, brokers and so on and so forth. Enough becomes enough and it just becomes time to park the truck and walk away, if only for a week or so.

So with that thought in mind, I had waited well over three weeks for my company to figure out how to get me home. I was not aware until the very last minute that this was even going to be possible. And the stress of that alone was enough to almost push me over the edge of whatever sanity I had left. You know what we all go through sitting around the house waiting on a load – well reverse that – sitting in a truck stop somewhere waiting 3 days to get a load home, knowing full well that the QUALCOMM could beep with a trip going in the opposite direction from where your loved ones are expecting you to be.

OK so I got home – completely wasted. Fast forward 24 hours later. I’m sitting in the “aft” deck smoking/bar lounge of the Carnival cruise ship Sensation sailing toward Freeport & Nassau in the Bahamas. And like the true iconoclast that I claim to be – in complete defiance of American foreign policy – I’m puffing a truly remarkable Ramon Allones, a premium cigar produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company. No toothpicks here baby.

Have you ever gone on a cruise? Thank goodness for two incomes. That’s the only way we could afford it. Leave Sunday – back at 7 AM on Thursday. Did someone tell you that you gain weight on a cruise because of all the food. That’s pure nonsense. Because if you’re not eating – baked Alaska, tiramisu, shrimp, duck, lamb or the many other delicacies offered, you are walking – everywhere. If you’re the “typical” trucker – not accustomed to getting out of your butt numbing Bostrom seat – you will get blisters on your feet. Between your stateroom to anywhere on the ship – on shore to your tour to the beach to the bus to the taxi in and out of the casino to the spotless odor-free bathrooms or the gift shops and back to the dining room – you will have easily walked MILES! A 5-10 mile walk a day would not be exaggerating how much you will walk. By the last day I had dropped two belt holes. By the way, the drink pictured to the left, from the famous restaurant Senor Frogs, is called a “Blowjob.” I have no clue why, but it was really good!

I will be telling you more about truckers cruisin’ in later posts. But before I close, whatever cruise or cruise line you choose, you will get completely immersed in the experience. This was my second cruise – we have another one booked for next February – a three day cruise to nowhere. You will meet people from every city and country in the world, waited on hand and foot, sleep in the most comfortable bed with the finest linens, eat incredible exotic food, hear absolutely no discussion about the economy or how the Democrats or Republicans ruined whatever – all while your floating hotel silently glides through the clear blue seas at about 13 knots. And finally, if you stay away – like I said in my last Christmas post – from the chrome shops and save a little each week in an envelope, you too can easily discover your own total immersion.

*** I took all the photos in the post. The first one is on the beach at Freeport. Most of the island, also known as the Grand Bahamas, was damaged by two major hurricanes back in 2004. There is still extensive damage throughout the island and poverty is quite evident in many of the sections we drove through.  The second photo was taken about 5 PM at sea between Freeport and Nassau – most of the sunbathers had gone below to change for the first dinner seating at 6pm. The third photo is the drink I spoke of. The fourth and last photo is the “animal” towel that is left on your bed when it is turned down every night while you are at the shows. A different animal every  night. You also get two chocolates and your ice bucket is refilled for a nightcap.

A while back, I did a bunch of truck stop reviews for another blog which, unfortunately, was deleted. A lot of great material was lost. What prompted me to do this post was yesterday’s visit to the T/A off I85 in Spartanburg SC. As I saw the terrible condition of the parking lot and the inefficiency inside the travel store and restaurant, I though it would be good to pass along my thoughts. I would invite all of you to please write about your experiences fueling, eating and shopping at the many truck stops across the country. Let’s pass the word about these places – good and bad.

In the past week, I have been a customer at three T/A’s from PA to OH moving West and then South to SC. You might say that the further South I drove, the worst the facilities and service got. It all culminated here in Spartanburg. Across the street is a Pilot, which has a Wendy’s, but I needed a real sit-down restaurant. A buffet would have been perfect, because all I wanted in the 100 degree heat was to serve myself a large fresh salad. Cucumbers, beets, chopped egg, celery and onions were dancing around in my mind. I had delivered my load a day early and that was going to be my reward. Topping it off with an icy diet Coke and my day would be complete.

I parked right across from the fuel pumps. Off to my left was a huge pothole. That a picture of it. This unsafe "encumbrance" right in front of two of the fuel islands is completely unacceptable. As I said in an earlier truck stop post, the manager should go right down the street to Lowe’s/Home Depot and buy some pre-mixed asphalt and fill this hole – now – today – immediately. There is just no excuse for this. It is just plain and simple – poor management. And willful and careless neglect. And T/A says they care about truckers. Right. And it typified the overall condition of the parking lot. Tom O’Brian, the President and CEO can afford to send his senior editor, Dave Kolman, of T/A’s company rag – Road King - to play UPS driver, but cannot repair his parking lots. I’d say his priorities are seriously misguided.

So I walk past, over and around all the holes and go inside. This place is old. I go back to where the restaurant is, and darn, no buffet. No salad bar. And drivers are sitting at tiny booths looking bored, not served and drink-less. This isn’t good. And then there is the sign" informing patrons that their credit card machine is not working. Huh? Get it fixed. Give customers a bill and have them go to the fuel desk where the "machines" are working. This is absurd. I walked out of the T/A and looked up and down the street at the myriad of choices I had for dinner. I took a nice walk to Bojangle’s for fried chicken and dirty rice. Love the biscuits! Their sweet tea – oooo! Dessert at McDonald’s. And I used plastic to pay for everything without a problem. After a nice walk, I went inside the T/A for a second look. My opinion was not changed. I needed a black fine tip gel pen – out of stock. Now I’ll have to go over to the Pilot. I noticed two folks that looked like managers riding around in a golf cart outside – they might have been Idle Air folks – but drove past me AROUND THE HUGE POTHOLES!

Despite T/A "remodeling" some of their locations, I have seen little or no change at many of their other locations – and certainly Spartanburg is no exception. In terms of repairing their awful parking lots, upgrading food quality and waitress (server) service – it’s just not happening. The other night at the Lodi OH T/A – the waitress service was terrible, what drivers call – hit and run. "To drink? The buffet?" And that’s the last I saw of her. She seemed completely disinterested in the patrons at her tables. No drink refills, brought the bill only when prompted to, no extra napkins – no "Is everything alright." This was one of those very rare occasion when I didn’t leave any tip. The food, by the way, was just ok. And once again, this all points to poor management. What T/A needs is STILL just a lot more, how shall I put it, "Country Pride."

PS/Next morning 10am – ALL 8 fuel islands are closed. Blocked off by trash cans. I walk over to one of the Comdata card readers. The sign says all pumps will be closed "for about an hour due to a systems upgrade." They should put a larger sign out on the street telling drivers not to waste their time coming into the T/A and fuel at Pilot. I thought systems upgrades are typically done at 2am when most people are asleep?

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aejonze/2341946944/

As far as I know education is NOT guaranteed under U.S. Constitution. Neither is health care. I’m not going to throw out a lot of numbers about how much our government spends on education, but it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of a TRILLION dollars. That of course, comes out of the money we pay in taxes, primarily property taxes. In Florida, where I live, approximately $12,000 dollars per child per year is spent on education and the construction and maintenance of schools. It has been reported that it costs taxpayers about $100,000 to provide the children of illegal aliens, who don’t pay taxes, with a K-12 education.

I was, only briefly, a student of the public school education system, having attended K-10 in a New York City private school. My parents thought it unsafe to send me to public school. They were right and spent a lot of money on a quality education for me, while also having to pay taxes to educate every other child. Only much later when we relocated to a suburb of NJ did I attend a public school. My experiences there were terrible. My son also attended public school and was a honor roll student in high school. That was until a terrific program that had him in smaller classes with one on one instruction got cut. At that point the education “system” failed him as it did me. He would have been better off it he had stayed with me in the truck and been “home” schooled.

I don’t have any more kids to be educated. I really don’t give a damn about the “socialized” education system that we’re forced to pay for in this country. Like my parents, I now have to pay to educate other people’s children, including those who reside in my country illegally. I’m tired of it. Primarily because my government, who can’t seem to figure out how to provide health care to millions of people who need it, doesn’t give me any options. If I don’t pay for education, since I have nobody to educate, then let me contribute to providing everyone with health care. I should have that option. I should also have the option of something like this – checking a box on my 1040 that allows me to give $5, $10 or $25 more to provide BETTER care for the elderly through Medicare/Medicaid.

This discussion, by the way, was had by myself and four other OTR truckers at the T/A off I-90 in Harborcreek PA. We missed Everitt Mickey, Linda Sunkle Pierucki, Porter Corn and Terry Smelser. Although I’m a company driver, the other guys/gals in the group were owner operators. And we’re all concerned about, not education, but how the heck we’re going to receive medical care the rest of our lives. We’re all closely watching what’s happening in Washington. As I said in an earlier post, this “issue” has been “negotiated” since Truman (tried and failed) to made it a priority back in the 40’s and 50’s. That’s over 40 years of hot-air from our government without a workable solution. How pathetic. And a lot of people have died because of it.

Photo credits: ecology.scizone.info, http://www.fitnessbetterhealth.com/images/health-care.jpg, sfs-group.co.uk,

Passed through Knoxville, Nashville and will spend the night in Memphis. What miserable – boring looking places. Maybe it’s the 55/65 split truck/car mph thing? How stupid is that? I have put Tennessee in double secret probation along with Virginia. And one of these days, I’ll actually get off the interstate to see what all the hub-bub is about Nashville.

So, I’m driving along though dreary Knoxville. I’m listening to some Christian station. The Oakridge Boys are assuring me I have a reservation in heaven if I do this and that. OK – no problemo. I’m “giggy” with it. Then, all of a sudden, the skies open and the rain comes down in buckets. Heavy lighting. Did I say something wrong? Then, without any warning, my passenger side window “rolls” itself down. It’s a power window. I swear I never touched anything. Then both the left and right rear view mirrors start going up and down on their own, like birds flapping their wings.

Well, I gotta tell ya I was freaked out. And the water is pouring in. My log book now looks like a Salvador Dali etching. And I wonder just what the heck is going to happen next. Every 4-wheeler is sliding all over the place, braking and trying to pull over to wait out the sudden storm. Every second for a second I can see to my left and right as the mirrors do their dance. Then the window goes up. Good. But then it goes down again. And the rain water starts coming in everywhere. With the window open, in addition to the rain, hot 95 degree humid air is blowing in. And there is loud whistle like noise from all the air passing through something. Sounds like its coming from a retarded – sorry – mentally challenged – parrot. I’m getting one huge stress headache.

Friends, this is Kenworth engineering at its finest. I know that if I cannot “capture” this moment, when I pull into the dealer in Memphis tomorrow – yeah you guessed it – they will find NOTHING wrong. Just like three weeks ago when the bunk air blower went on and off and on by itself. Of course, it was working fine when I got to the dealer. They “checked” it out. Yeah right. They found nothing wrong. I told you. Waited 7 hours. Got the keys. 10:30 PM that night climbed in the bunk. NO AIR! I grabbed the night service manager before they closed and dragged him into the truck to show him that IT DID NOT WORK.

Read the rest of this entry »

Linda Sunkle-Pierucki and I have been giving you updates on the rest area closings in Virginia. Be aware that these closures occur beginning the week of July 20th. If you are a OTR truck driver, you had better take a few more minutes before you start out in the morning pre-planning where you intend to stop, if you’re going through Virginia. There are currently about 40 “real” truck stops throughout the state. But, like the Love’s off I81 at exit 84 in Max Meadows, a few are remodeling their facilities or doing work on their parking lots, and have fewer truck spaces than normal.

I want to focus this post on I81, the 324 miles of interstate heavily used by trucks 24/7 that begins in the North from the West Virginia line and ends South at the Tennessee border. The Welcome Center on I81 in Tennessee is actually the only rest area since leaving West Virginia that has ample safe truck parking day and night. And there are no restrictions, as exists in Virginia, on overnight parking. Many only allow 2 hour parking. I began my day today at the Pilot in Hampton NJ. That location, by the way, is also presently being remodeled and is frustrating as heck to get in and out of and parking is limited.

Now permit me to take a slight diversion – and let me ask you a question. You manage to graduate high school with a 2.0 GPA. You make it into the local community college. Perhaps you enter the military and have a short and undistinguished record. You get out and work in a small local golf shop – until – in better times – there is an opening at the Virginia State Police Academy. With me so far? Good.

You manage to get through the training without shooting yourself in the foot. You’re assigned one of those shiny “used” 2006 Dodge Charger patrol cars with a “HEMI.” You get one of those wide brimmed forest ranger hats and a shiny badge. And for the next 20 years you sit under a tree, in the middle of I81, waiting for some schnook to come flying down a hill at 68 miles a hour. And after you retire, you get to to work for OOIDA in Missouri sitting (once again) under a tree doing whatever OOIDA does. How does this all sound to you? Did you say idiotic?

Well as Shakespeare wrote, therein lies the rub. Because my friend, Virginia is idiotic. Never a friend to truckers, it has become the latest State to pass through and park your rig in TN or WVA or anywhere else but there. Today, every “trooper” or whatever they call themselves in Virginia, was out trying their “worst” – hiding in the bushes, under trees or behind hills, in their feeble attempt to collect revenue to help their State from going bankrupt. And judging from the constant flashing lights coming from cars going in the opposite direction, everyone knew where they were. But, these “troopers” (who should be on commission) know that after the 20th, innocent 4-wheelers and desperate truckers will be speeding down I81 just to get to the state line to pee and poop. 

And that my fellow Life On The Road readers is the pathetic state of Virginia. And I, for one, have placed them, in my book, on double secret probation and will avoid at all costs stopping or spending my money there. And be advised, slow down – the speed limit on most of I-81 is 65 mph. Don’t feed the bears!

PS/If you plan to drive through Virginia here’s some help: http://www.wikihow.com/Hold-in-Pee-when-You-Can%27t-Use-the-Bathroom

Photo credits: http://www.vsp.state.va.us/Employment_Trooper_Recruitment.shtm, www.walletpop.com/…/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_81_in_Virginia, http://www.starpulse.com/Movies/Animal_House/gallery/ANIMALHOUSE033/, www.everyday-education.com/