Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

11 days off. 7 paid. That’s how long I was NOT a truck driver. And boy-oh-boy how truly sweet it was. I knew I had reached the “other side”, when driving from Orlando to Lakeland FL, I pulled onto the interstate not caring about anyone else, going a comfortable not so fast 45ish, then looking into my rear view mirror and seeing a giant 18 wheel grain hauler right on my “6″ wondering just what the hell I was doing. Too bad smelly over-worked under-paid FL truck driver! Waz da rush? Wanna go 80? Tough!

Ah-ha! So this is what it feels like to be a civilian 4 wheeler. I’m lov’n the whole “thang” and even better was seeing Love’s, the “J” and T/A along with the weigh station near Tampa, and not giving a flying wazoo about any of them. I just creeped along at 60 mph in a 70 mph “zone” and soaked up the feeling of being a self-actualized driver doing what I darn wanted to. I almost – just for the heck of it – put on my left signal light and kept it on, for let’s say – oh – 15 or so miles. Ah, maybe next vacation.

Alright. This morning I took a nice looong warm bath. I needed to soak my ‘ole bones to get ready to defy all OSHA “regs” and climb on top of steel and pipe loads that could fall over at any moment. I got out of the water and stood there, after air drying myself off just like Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry Maguire – just that I’m much more handsome of course – wait! – what is that smell? Ooooo, it’s me! All Dialed-up and squeaky clean from head to toe. Not a spec of anything under those fingernails. Took my over a week to get those suckers clean. I just relished the moment, just like I did my carefree driving adventure on the interstate. I must be nuts to leave all this – to go back on the road – again. To put up that never ending nonsense. 11 days ago when I got home and looked in a real mirror I said – holy you know what – I look horrible. I scared myself. 11 days at home, on my own terms on the interstate and on the seas – I look ma-ve-lous – simply marrr-vel-ous!!! At least 5 years younger and THINNER!

Oh well. Truck all packed. Ring ring. My dispatcher. Are we ready to go? Oh yes. I’d love to stay, but there are bills to pay & future cruises to look forward to. Beep. QUALCOMM has a trip. Oooo. That was fast. 1250 miles. Pipe to Harvey IL. Tarped load. But wait. What’s this? Tarp pay $30? What happened to $40? And the per mile rate – what? $ .02 less? They must be kidding? E-mail time. Heeelloo dispatcher person – waz up? You say everyone took a “cut” when I was away? Oh really? And what’s this other message on my Blackberry? Oh “they” hired an outside “consulting” firm to call drivers and ask them their opinion of operations? Is that what my “cut” is paying for? And what? Oh, you don’t want me to deliver it – just repower it in Birmingham?

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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.

This seriously annoys me.  I happen to have several family members who would have benefited tremendously with this technology.

We have been watching ultrasound surgery successful used abroad for years now. It was invented in China, where it has now been used thousands of times to destroy cancers in solid tissue organs like the pancreas and liver that are still considered inoperable in America. Any tumor that can be imaged with ultrasound – those in solid organs, not those with voids like the lung – can typically be destroyed with China’s breakthrough ultrasound surgery. It works by heating up the tumor with focused ultrasound energy, just enough to kill it without effecting surrounding healthy tissues. The dead tumors are simply absorbed by the body, so that no incision is required and all the traumas of these formerly very painful and difficult surgeries are completely avoided. The patient can go right home after surgery, experience no painful recovery period at all.

The reason we don’t have this in the US?  Er.  Excuse me.  It was INVENTED in the US.  South Carolina. China only developed it.  So why can’t we benefit.

The FDA.  Food and Drug Administration.

The problem is that bureaucrats know they won’t get blamed for the tens of thousands of needless pancreatic, liver and brain cancer deaths caused by their malfeasance, but they will get blamed if they let through even one new medical procedure or drug that kills someone.

So.  Chicken little sitting on his fat rump in a government office who’s afraid.  He’s willing to let tens of thousands die cause he won’t take a chance.  The American Way right?

The American Government way.  American Enterprise is willing to take risks.  American Patients are also.  Wouldn’t you?  Even liberal hollywood types like Farrah Fawcett  are when it’s their life on the line.  She couldn’t get appropriate treatment here in the US so she had to go to Germany.  (didn’t help, she still died, but it’s the principal)

You would think that American’s MIGHT be able to approach a “Risk/Reward” relationship with some modicum of responsibility.  But nooooooooo…the nanny state decrees otherwise.

Sadly.  This is just one of literally thousands, if not millions of similar situations.

The Solutions to our health care problem? It’s a big problem.  It took a while to get to where it is.  The main culprits are the AMA, the FDA, and the American Trail Lawyers association.  However it would help were we not  so risk averse.  Be willing to try something new.  Or at least get out of the way and allow folks who want to try those new technologies  to do so.

Also Sadly.  ObamaCare is a giant leap..in the other direction.  It’s set to install hordes of faceless, pitiless, uncaring bureaucrats to decide what you can or can’t do.

It’s also going to kill off the old folks.  I don’t want that cause I are one, or will be soon.   But that’s another post.

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,

Back before the Democrats destroyed the economy I was in a war.  Some of you might have heard of it.  Viet Nam it was called.  The conflict.  Back then the enlisted folk didn’t get much in the way of money.  By the time all the deductions came out of my paycheck there just wasn’t much left at all.  Thank god for the USO, And the chow hall.  The USO had multiple coffee pots going at all hours or the day or night.  Free.  So did the chow halls.  So did many other locations on base.

Consequently at the young and tender age of twenty or so I learned to drink coffee.  It was either that or nothing.  As I said I was poor as a church mouse.  I couldn’t afford anything that was sold and local water was dangerous, it contained all kinds of “squiggliles” . The base water was safe but reeked of chlorine, and tasted bad.  South East Asia was hot.  Dehydration was a real problem.  Drink or die.  What to drink was the question.

So I drank coffee.  Copious amounts.  Multiple pots a day even.

I’ve continued that habit.  Thirty-eight years and hardly a day has gone by that I’ve not consumed multiple POTS of coffee.  Never mind cups, I’m talking pots.

All those years  and  I’ve endured people telling me that coffee is bad for me. Every day it seems.  I’ve got used to it.  Naturally if I enjoy something then it’s either a sin,  fattening, illegal or bad for me.

So, you can imagine my surprise to discover that Mrs. Grundy was wrong.  Coffee is NOT bad for me.  Actually the reverse is true.

According to about eighteen THOUSAND studies over the last several decades …

Want a drug that could lower your risk of diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and colon cancer? That could lift your mood and treat headaches? That could lower your risk of cavities?

Yup.  Good ole coffee.

The more the better and the stronger the better.  No downside for most people. Cheap too.  Coffee is one of the cheapest beverages commonly available, barely more expensive than tapwater. Fairly amazing.

In addition coffee has a synergistic effect with other mean nasty drugs.  Like alcohol, and tobacco.

Coffee even offsets some of the damage caused by other vices, some research indicates. “People who smoke and are heavy drinkers have less heart disease and liver damage when they regularly consume large amounts of coffee compared to those who don’t,” says DePaulis.

So if you’re one of those unrepentants who can’t seem to take the words of Mrs. Grundy or the MSM to heart, rejoice.

Coffee to the rescue.

That’s for sure. I’m about to show you a picture that I took which represents a sampling of the garbage that I throw out in a week. Actually, in terms of just plastic that I purchase, use and then throw away, what I actually discard is five times what you see in the photo. There are no separate “recycling” bins, cans or whatever to throw this stuff in on the road. I don’t know if it eventually gets burnt, compacted, shipped on a barge and dumped elsewhere or bulldozed into a smelly bird-filled landfill somewhere else. There is sure a lot of it – garbage – on the interstates everywhere – where it will probably remain for the next thousand years.

I do ask myself constantly – how as a OTR trucker, can “I” be more “green?” My available “living” quarters are obviously that of Apollo space capsule proportions – so I’m not about to “store” things in (more) “plastic” bags until I get home to take “them” to a recycling center. I can’t prove it, but based on my 1 week intense experience as a city garbage truck driver, everything eventually gets dumped in the same place anyway. The only stuff I’ve ever seen truly recycled are aluminum cans and newspapers.

So, let’s take a look at this photo I took. It is obvious that the manufacturers of these products aren’t doing much to “save” our environment. And truck stops love everything plastic. The two bottle caps – the blue and green ones in front – are very thick and heavy duty. Despite that, when you unscrew them there is yet another “cover” with a little tab that you have to pull off and throw away before you can take a sip. These suckers are going to be around for a long time. So will the 64 oz. Pilot soda cups, the lids that I never use – they come packaged with the paper cups I use for my morning coffee – and in the background the yellow plastic wipes boxes that I don’t know what to do with when they’re empty. That’s a plastic Dasani water bottle next to the Simply Orange OJ.

I used to save the wipes containers for screws, nails and things, but I just collected too many and said the hell with it and threw them out. The refills are next to impossible to find in the scent I need, so I have to purchase the plastic dispensers over and over again. Unless somehow they can be melted down – they’ll be around forever, again, in some landfill. On top of the wipes are a pair of work gloves. I just bought them last week. Already they’re full of holes, the lining is coming out and they’re filthy. They don’t make gloves like they used to – thank you China. These gloves cannot be washed or repaired. They cost $3.25. It’s just easier to replace them. As truckers, we see discarded work gloves – usually just one and not a pair – in parking lots everywhere. They just don’t seem to make into the trash can. Who knows how long they’ll be around.

For now, I don’t have many available options to be “green.” Everything I consume is just going to have to be thrown away in the “traditional” fashion – using a trash can. I do reuse my  Wal-Mart and Publix bags for garbage. But I’ll have to leave it up to the experts to figure out how to dispose and possibly recycle all this stuff more efficiently. My “public works” taxes are three times what they used to be – I imagine someone is working on a solution. And to the greedy selfish corporate manufacturers of consumer goods – who use all this unnecessary packaging, well, I’m just going to have to write more e-mails to try to get them to smarten up. Wish me luck.

Photo credits: www.flickr.com/photos/fernando/36759033/, http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/images/landfill1.jpg,

What? Yeah, toothpicks. A very important tool for the active professional trucker trying to stay healthy. Healthy you say? Yup. Every time there is a toothpick in my mouth, I’m not eating – and – my gums are getting a needed workout. And since I can’t afford the $30 it now costs to buy my favorite cigars – Flor De Ybor City is the brand – hand rolled with leaves grown deep in the jungles of the Dominican Republic – I have to settle for “chewing” a toothpick to keep me in “check.”  By the way, I don’t light up the cigars. It’s a lollipop kinda thing.

No, I’m not kidding. Don’t snicker! I discovered that as long as there is something in my mouth (no jokes please) when I’m driving, loading or unloading or dealing with the idiots I have to deal with – like a toothpick – since I don’t have any fresh carrots or celery in my cooler – I’m a calmer trucker and a more valued asset to my company. No BS, it’s the truth! As I said, I can’t afford the cigars – I refuse to smoke cheap ones (like other folks I know) and there is little or NO food on the road available to “us” drivers that doesn’t go right to our hips and bellies. Take that toothpick out of my mouth and it’s Doritos and Coke time. The nacho cheese or new “cool” ranch – oooo – WHERE’S MY TOOTHPICK!

OK, OK, I’m alright now. That was a close call. See what I mean? But there’s more to this story. This afternoon I picked a load of slinkies – that’s coiled wire for you civilians – in Perth Amboy NJ. The 48K lbs. load is headed for Memphis TN. It’s the longest run I’ve had in about a month. The plant where I picked up is shutting down in 2 1/2 weeks, after 30+ years of operation. Their nearby plant in Sayreville NJ is also closing. They were bought out by a Canadian firm that is “transferring” the entire operation to – no not Mexico, but CHINA.

Maine used to be the leading producer of toothpicks for the US – Brazil for the rest of the world. What another lame excuse for destroying the Brazilian rain forest. But guess who now leads the world in toothpick manufacturing? Ah-ha CHINA. “We have stable natural resources and abundant experience” say the Chinese. “We make toothpick is clean for mouth and safe”, they add. “We have many package to pack toothpick.” Sorry I just can’t help myself.

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I know that for many drivers out there, taking care of themselves is probably further down the list. This is when there are such serious worries about making enough money to live, doing what you need to do to keep your job, and worrying about what kind of trouble your kid has gotten into since you have been on the road!

I just want to remind everyone that they need to be taking care of themselves—especially when one has been out on the road for a while.  I know– its rather common to hear someone say “take care of yourself.”  What does that really mean?

I define this by taking care of your body:

• eating within reason
• getting a bit of exercise
• seeking medical help if you start to get sick

Taking care of your mental health:

• Talking with friends and other supports when you are stressed out
• Finding something to do to break the monotony of driving
• Keeping your mind busy—doing a crossword puzzle, reading a good book

Mind Body Connection

Please don’t forget about the mind-body connection.  I know a lot of people think this is part of one of those “new age hippy sort of things.”  However, I’m here to tell you that our minds affect our bodies and our bodies affect our minds.  For example, think about the times you have had too much junk food and its made you crabby, irritable, or maybe even depressed.  Also, think about the times you have been really bummed out about something and this has made you tired and has maybe even made your body ache.

Remember to take care of your physical health and your mental health.  It takes a good bit of work, but it will help you to make you more productive, happier, and even a safer driver!

I would really like to hear comments about how you take care of yourself.  Lets see how many comments we can get on here and maybe we can start some discussion.  This will be a lot more fun than me droning on and on about techniques for taking care of yourself.

On a side note: I am attempting to raise money and awareness for an important charity, MDA, the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I am going to jail for MDA and must raise $1600 bail money. If you are willing and able, please consider shortening my jail time by clicking on the link below to donate to MDA. Your donation will be tax deductible. Even one dollar is very helpful. https://www.joinmda.org/lafayettetelu2009/buck