Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog

Yeah…YOU! Moron!

I’m talking about the nitwits that this guy is talking about. You know who you are.

You’re the fool who’s tries to pass me in construction when I’m (a heavy hauler, usually wide) barely, just barely narrow enough to fit in one lane, it’s two narrow lanes and you try to pass. I had an extended mirror knocked off the other day because of you. It was almost a disaster if one of us, either one had rubbed a jersey barrier it would have been….bad.

You’re the fool who comes up behind another truck. You’re going maybe one, maybe two miles per hour faster and try to pass. You take two or three MILES to pass. You incompetent. You disgrace your profession. Holding up traffic backing it up for miles is no way to win points with the public.

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I read a LOT, like some people like to watch TV , I like to read. If I’m not doing something that I can NOT be reading while doing it (like driving, sleeping or taking a shower) and I’m alone (sitting by myself at a table in a crowded restaurant is “alone”) , then I’m reading. I usually read while I eat. I read on my computer(s). A PDA (Palm Tungsten) is a computer as is a SmartPhone (Blackberry Curve) It’s easier to carry a hundred or so e-books on a SDCard for a PDA or smartphone or even on a hard drive on the laptop than it is in the paper version. Can you imagine how much room a thousand books, even paperbacks, would take up?

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Howdy, guys and gals on the Interstate and points in between - hope your road’s smooth and the load aboard pays twice what you thought it was goin’ to! This here’s Nadine again, the Oldest Right Seat Cover in the world, with a thought or two.

Seems I hear people complainin’ that the driving is getting worse and worse all the time. Well, I kinda thought it was myself, but then, I don’t have a CDL so I figured it wasn’t up to me to say anything. Traffic sure has gotten thicker - why, when Miles was first in a truck, we’d honk and wave like crazy whenever we saw anyone on the road with us, because another vehicle was such a rare sight. Now we’ve got millions of folks on the road with us, an’ everbody’s in a flurry of hurry. I guess I could say that bein’ polite will help ease the road situation some, but I know at times you get cut off or someone salutes you with just one finger, an’ it’s real hard to keep your temper. Yep, we’ve been there, too. Not a day goes by that someone doesn’t call Miles an old coot. Now, that makes me mad. He may be an older driver, but nobody calls my Miles an old coot except me.

So I guess today Nadine doesn’t have any answers for you, except to say that I am so proud of all of you who are professional drivers, an’ you just let insults, idiots and imbeciles go on by. Road rage has no place in a trucker’s tool box or even his belly box. An’ that’s what I say. So long from Nadine for now, an’ remember to turn off your turn signal after you’ve made your lane change.

As truck drivers we spend literally thousands of hours looking out a windshield. Most of that time is spent just listening to the radio or CB, generally wasted. With XM and Sirius we have a much broader entertainment selection but for the most part it is still just mindless banter. All of this wasted time can be spent in expanding your mind and learning. It has been shown that an active mind delays the onset of diseases like Alzheimer’s. I have always enjoyed reading but that is really hard to do while going down the road, but a few years ago I discovered Audible.com. Audible is a great source for audiobooks on-line, just download the book to your iPod or other MP3 style player and it gives you access to a world of great stories. Audible offers a subscription deal of 2 books a month for about $22, I find this is more than enough to keep you listening for a month. Some of the recordings are quite long, Truman is over 50 hours by itself. They do have abridged versions of most of their books if you are looking for a short read. Check them out for yourself.
I’m always looking for ways to pass the time behind the wheel, audiobooks are just one way that I have found to keep my mind busy and learning while going down the road. I also listen to podcast and will go in to them more in another post.
Stay Safe out there;
Don Rogers

Hi to all you guys and gals out on the highway! This is Nadine Wheeler, the Oldest Right Seat Cover in the world, still watching for alligators on the zippers and warning Miles about little red sports cars coming up on the right side. (I’ll admit to being 108 years old, and Miles is a little older at 110. Talk about your personal odometer clicking over - whew!) Anyway, some of you may have seen another blog of mine, Driver’s Blogbook, but this one’s going to be more like me - short and snappy!

I’m going to be talking about trucking, of course, and telling you ideas for making your life a little easier in the sleeper and from the cab. I talk to a lot of truckers while they’re at the docks or behind the wheel, and Miles and I know what the life’s like out there. (We ought to, after all this time. Miles’ first freight hauler was a real hay-burner. And I mean a hay-burner - he began truckin’ when his team was four-footed and snortin.’ So just remember if you see us on the road, honk and wave - and we’ll do the same. You stay safe - click off that turn signal once you’re in your lane, sweetie - and I’ll be back soon. Great loads and easy roads, all!

Most sincerely, Nadine

The famous 911 Memorial Truck belonging to John & Amy Holmgren. What more can you say? See more pictures here. These are pretty good too.

Ten or fifteen years ago I’d pull up to a fuel island, any fuel island at any truck stop and two or more truck stop employees would be there before I’d popped the brakes. One would take my information (company name, truck number, etc, etc, etc) while the other(s) would pump the fuel, clean my windows and mirrors, check my oil and check my tires. Some places did more but that was pretty standard. Then I’d park the truck and go inside to a nice, quiet relaxing meal. Visit with the waitress maybe or other drivers. Then I’d leave a tip, pay at the cash register and leave. When “I” wanted to, on MY Schedule.

I remember a sign the old “76’s” used to have posted. Something on the order that this is a truck stop, truck drivers are why we are here . Truck drivers come first. If you’re a tourist you come second.

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One of the biggest reasons why blogging has been such a phenomenon over the years is the sharing of information between people that write. Most of the writers for Life on the Road write for their own blogs as well.

• Mickey’s Heavy Haul wrote Intro to Heavy Hauling for us and now has written about his latest heavy haul with plenty of pictures.
• Porter lives in Mexico and is our expert about NAFTA and the Mexican Truck issues. His site Mexico Trucker is recognized by the FMCSA and is on their official press release list.
• Renee’s husband, Mark, was trucking in Iraq as a contractor.  Their site is American Truckers At War. She has also contributed to OOIDA’s Landline Magazine and several other sites.
• E. Phil Haley has published a book Over-the-Road Wireless for Dummies and keeps up with gadgets and technology for us and his own site The Cyber Truckstop
• Don keeps us up to date with the all things Government and politics here and at his Truckin’ Blog.

As you can tell we have an all-star line up of writers. The difference between us and a trucking magazine website is -

A truck magazine has writers that only write about trucking.

We are drivers and owners that work and live in the industry and the lifestyle every day for our livelihood, and we enjoy writing about it.

Are you a news junkie with an opinion, especially a trucking news junkie with a passion for everything trucking? Don’t want to hassle with a website? Join our team by clicking here. It’s that easy.

I’ve been sitting here at home for the past week and a half now taking a well earned unexpected vacation and today, I came across a website that is instantly becoming addictive.

It’s a silly little game called trucks and you can find it atTrukz.com - A Trucking Simulator

It is a turn based game which puts you in control of a virtual truck, hauling freight point to point and encountering all the B.S. and rewards we have on a day to day basis.
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A little positive press for truck-drivers. CNBC is going to tell the story of a Florida womens struggle to drive and deal with her diabetes. CNBC will air the story during its dLife TV segment at 7:00 pm Eastern Sunday. Be sure to watch Sunday night if you can, and even if you can’t be sure to check out the dLife website, it is full of info on dealing with diabetes. This is an important issue in trucking, very few things can end your career as fast and suddenly as being diagnosed with diabetes. Read the rest of this entry »