Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog

Ok so I gave in. I said I wouldn’t do it. Twitter that is. But after reading the incredible post by the "Smeltz" (aka) Terry Smelser, I just had to try it. And boy oh boy what an experience. Only after a few hours I was following 5000 people and at last count 1 person was following me. That "other" person was actually me at my other e-mail address. I "twerped" or "twitted" that I was fueling. I was so excited. A follower. I read that I was fueling. I responded back to myself that I don’t care. And that ended what could have been a beautiful Tweety relationship. Oh well.

I like listening to Rascal Flatts. I don’t have Sirius (satellite radio) anymore, so I was in quite a pickle. But then I had Twitter. And after the pressing of a few buttons found out that in about 5 minutes there would be a Flatts #1 song on a local radio station close to where I was. 150 other truck drivers were about to go through that same place and so began a flutter of twits about Rascal Flatts, local radio, country music. I was — enthralled.

By the way, did you know Twitter (ing) is great for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Why? Well someone with OCD is always worrying about something bad happening and trying to do something to stop it somehow. But with all the thousands of Twits coming in on your phone from millions of other people around world watching and worrying about EVERYTHING from dollars to donuts for you, OCD symptoms go away. With the twits coming in your face 24/7 you just don’t have the time to think about anything else. I suffer from OCD and it sure worked for me.

I got short brief (badly spelled) tweets from people experiencing White Castle hamburgers for the first time; lots of folks really bummed out about Jon and Kate divorcing – who are they anyway? I got twits from some guy claiming he was the Governor of South Carolina whining about some affair – yeah right, like the Governor of South Carolina would just up and disappear and have an affair with some gal from Argentina. That must be what the "Smeltz" was warning us about- weirdo’s. I also got job offers from Swift and JB Hunt. Hey thanks, but no thanks.

But the really cool part was the 3 tweets – remember the "Smeltz" said he was tweeted about that jet that had to land in the Hudson River in NYC just as it was happening? -well, I knew, moments before they took their last breaths, that Farah Fawcett, Ed McMann and "Peter Pan" pop king, Michael Jackson were about to die. Twitter is that good. And I felt so superior to everyone else in the truck stop that I had this information. Wow. Awesome.

Seems St. Peter up at the "Pearly Gates" had decided to try Twitter too. And that’s just way too much for me to handle. I’m going back to reading the newspaper. And the first thing I’m going to worry about are all those fools driving and twittering at the same time.

Photo credits: houseabcs.blogspot.com/2008/06/ed-mcmann-abou.., http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01379/fawcett_1379311c.jpg, http://www.hiphoprx.com/content/uploads/2008/11/michael-jackson.jpg

“America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge folks whose words make your blood boil, who stand center stage advocating at the top of their lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.

We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. There are some that are interested in two things and two things only: making average people afraid of it and telling them who’s to blame for it. That is how you win elections. You gather a group of middle-aged, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family and American values and character. You throw out words like socialism, terrorism and the “homeland” while referring to the President as “Hussein” because talk is cheap and you know people are scared and don’t understand what is happening right now.

Then, you can stand up and sing about the “land of the free.” Americans want leadership. They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there’s no water, they’ll drink the sand.” And in absence of genuine leadership by their elected representatives, Americans will listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone.” That was an edited quote from a movie called “The American President.” The movie was written by the brilliant Aaron Sorkin back in 1994 and starred Michael Douglas and Annette Bening.

America is stuck. Americans are afraid of change. It citizens have been VERY slow to act whether the issue at hand involved civil rights, national health care, infrastructure development or energy policy. It is time to let go of the reins a bit – maybe even a lot, In a smaller arena, I know I could reform the entire trucking and distribution industry. All would benefit – shippers, carriers and the drivers. Technology would play a large role.  But, there are many that would put up a serious fight to stop “change”  because it involves doing something – anything – different, no matter how good it is.

You know folks would fight just the thought of any change because it is just easier than agreeing to it, implementing it and waking up to do something different – and – better. That’s just too scary for many. It’s a kind of a mass “cops” mentality that has prevailed in this country for many years. It bureaucratic to the core. The knee jerk response is always: ” Well, we’ve always done it that way – why change it – it’s too much trouble and this and that might happen. It’s socialism! OMG! We’re all going to go broke and die! Gimme a break!

Change. Would you feel better if Ronald Reagan was advocating it rather than Barack Obama? Former President Reagan said: “Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” It doesn’t matter to me who says it. There are still more walls to tear down – more gates to open. In health care, banking, credit & mortgages, trucking and foreign relations. Embrace it – don’t be afraid of it. Bertram Russell said “To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.”

Photo credit: http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w110/monika7777/Peace/change-1.jpg,, http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/photographs/large/c41247-10.jpg and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112346/

Let me state something very important right from the outset of this post. I don’t care what the Republicans or Democrats have to say about this issue. I’m an iconoclast. If you don’t know what that means look it up. If anything, I also consider myself a sort of conservative libertarian. But it makes no darn difference what I am. My view of health insurance is very much egocentric. I’m sorry that 45 million people don’t have health insurance. And it’s too bad that – according to *AARP: “Americans spend more on health care every year than we do educating our children, building roads, even feeding ourselves – an estimated $2.6 trillion in 2009, or around $8300 per person.” But, my overwhelming concern quite honestly is me, my wife and son. I want to live a long and healthy life, and hopefully I can get superior medical care until the day I pass on.

Now as a OTR trucker I have health insurance through my company. We share the cost which is high. My wife is a teacher and her employer pays for some of her medical coverage. My son, 21, soon to a member of the US Army, does not have health insurance. My wife and I, should our employers decide it is too costly or go out of business, are always at risk of losing our coverage. In the past, when I’ve been out of work, I was lucky to remain healthy and did not require medical services. Did you hear what I just said? I was lucky. If I became ill for whatever reason, I would not have the financial resources to obtain medical care. The COBRA plan – when you lose your job – and it’s cost of $650 per month (2004 dollars) to continue similar health coverage I had when I was employed, was impossible for me to afford.

The AP – Associated Press – reports that President Obama’s top legislative priority is to provide coverage to all uninsured Americans and cut costs. He wants to sign a bill in October. The President, today, responded sternly to the health insurance industry, which had sent him a warning. The industry’s two largest trade groups said his proposed government insurance plan would have unfair advantages and would likely dismantle the employer-supplied coverage that millions of Americans have relied on for a half-century. The President disagreed, sharply. "The public plan, I think, is an important tool to discipline insurance companies," he said. "Too often, insurance companies have been spending more time thinking about how to take premiums and then avoid providing people coverage than they have been thinking about ‘How can we make sure that insurance is there, health care is there, when families need it?’"

I’m not going to debate the President’s objectives. I just paid $80 for a ten minute DOT physical at a doctors walk-in clinic to remain employed as a truck driver for another arduous year. Health insurance does not cover it. There many other things it does not cover that my wife and I might need down the road. When we both retire – and I don’t ever see that happening right now – I don’t know if Medicare/Medicaid will be solvent. I can’t rely on my son to take of us. So I have absolutely no future guarantee of care. That worries me greatly. And I don’t know what the answers are. I see a lot of good folks who worked hard all their lives who are much worse off than my wife and I. And that bothers me. No, it scares me. And its time to do something, I just don’t know what.

Photo credit: directory…rect.info/Health_BodyHospitals_Health_Centres, http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/06-07/0621uninsured1.jpg

So drivers – Linda Sunkle-Pierucki, in her excellent piece, just updated us on the latest with the VDOT and the whole Virginia rest area/trucking parking issue. But that’s not the whole story. LifeOnTheRoad has, since this whole shpilkis began, developed a “source” working deep inside the VDOT. We refer to him as “Deep Clutch.” And this, my no place to park a truck in Virginia friends, is the rest of the story.

The VDOT – Virginia Department of Transportation and the VDOC – Virginia Department of Corrections will be merging. Jobs will be lost, services will be streamlined, but the bottom line is that this iconoclastic move will save gazillions of millions of Virginia taxpayer dollars. Many Virginia civil service employees, formerly with the VDOT & VDOC, will easily gain new employment in “our” rapidly expanding Federal government. Thousands of positions have recently become available in bank management, auto manufacturing and health care administration.

If you follow what is reported here in LifeOnTheRoad and over on the OOIDA site, you know that a spokesperson for the VDOT recently said that truckers should really seek motel rooms for the night rather than illegally park in one of Virginia’s soon to be closed rest areas. Truckers who “travel” through Virginia know well of their arrogant and overly aggressive nitpicking DOT, State and local police officers, the lack of safe parking, small crowded truck stops and never closing weigh stations. It’s always been clear that Virginia hates truckers.

Well, that’s all in the past with the VDOT and VDOC merging. Now Virginia can do what it wanted all along with truckers – incarcerate them – albeit – temporarily. Yes, trucks in Virginia will now be required to park at any one of 40 correctional facilities conveniently located around the state. One such facility – the Pocahontas State Correctional Center is right off I77N. Warden Stan Young has told “Deep Clutch” that he welcomes truckers to his facility. “There is plenty of parking here and we have spare cells – I mean rooms – and group showers for truckers staying overnight. We can even offer drivers a decent meal for $1.50″ says Young. He added that he has had many truckers stay at his “place” in the past. “It will be good to see old friends again” Drivers will still shave to worry about inspections, log book checks, etc. as correctional officers will now be doubling as prison guards and DOT officers. Once again, Virginia is for lovers – and – truckers.

Photo credits: http://www.popandpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/prison2-guard.jpg, http://blog.kir.com/archives/images/prison051707.jpg, http://www.federal-prison.org/content/images/britannica_prison.jpg

Greeting drivers. Today I wish to discuss “common distinctions that are commonly drawn between various dimensions of economics – that being positive economics and normative economics or between economic theory and applied economics or between mainstream economics – more "orthodox" dealing with the rationality-individualism-equilibrium nexus and heterodox economics – more "radical" dealing with the institutions-history-social structure nexus.”

No, no I don’t. I hate economics. It’s really boring. I don’t want to talk about it – I don’t want to read about – I don’t want to think about it. Discussing “it” whether you know what you’re talking about or not (typically the case) makes everybody’s eyes glaze over. Experienced drivers learn to stay far away from other drivers who talk (or write) about economics, politics, their experiences as a Special Forces – Ranger in Vietnam and tires.

And what the heck is all this stuff about conservative women? Believe me Ann Coulter and her wealthy friends don’t need any of your help. She has plenty of $400/hr attorneys making sure she is as safe and snug as a bug in a rug. And who cares? Spend more time worrying about the folks that can’t afford food or health insurance. Defend those people without the Rush Limbaugh  – Sean Hannity rhetoric. Anyhoo – I’m here at the KW dealer in beautiful Green Bay, WI. And, I did a little test. There were about six hot, sweaty – not to happy to be here -  drivers waiting for their trucks to be serviced. Two drivers wives were present as well. Survey time.

I’ve done this twice before with the same result. No one is “on” Twitter or Facebook. One driver asked if “that’s” like YouTube, which his daughter loves. Two drivers still can’t afford cell phones. One driver still listens to his prized possession of cassettes. No one has an IPhone or a Blackberry. Only one couple had a laptop in their truck. No internet service unless they’re at a Flying J. One driver’s boss gives him an old pager ($5/wk pay deduction) when he needs him to call in. “How many of you care about conservative women?”, I ask. Blank faces. Why is this moron asking me this question. OK, OK – next question. “What about Obama’s economic policies?” Slight confusion in the crowd. Boring is the prevailing look on their faces. 1 McCain voter,  1 Huckabee. 2 didn’t vote, 1 wanted Ron Paul – the other 3 Obama. Their overwhelming concern? Simple – more freight!

One driver – the Special Forces – Ranger from the Vietnam era (McCain voter) who knows everything about EVERYTHING including tires starts. I know his kind. If I don’t stop him now he will go on for hours winding himself up tighter and tighter like a Swiss coo-coo clock. Why if I don’t do something, he might – oh no! – BLOG about it. God helps us all. One driver knows the deal and runs to the bathroom. Another leaves to check on his truck. We never get to hear the consensus to the Obama economics question. Just as well.

Get real. These drivers don’t care about economics, Obama, conservative women, the media, Twitter or Facebook. They’re existing paycheck to paycheck. One driver and his wife didn’t have enough money for dinner. If anyone is to blame for that it isn’t the Democrats – it’s the Democrats AND the Republicans and everyone else that has no idea what greedy moron they’re electing to represent them be it liberal ,conservative, independent or libertarian. And guess what – only two drivers had any health insurance. One driver cashed in his 40lK to survive another six months on the road.

And bottom line, through all the fog of all this useless boring jibber jabber, I have yet to read about one damn good solution from any of these pontificating brilliant know-it-all drivers – oh excuse me, conservative non-degreed professors of economics and political theory. Sure throw – how do you put it – oh yeah – Hussein out. What do we do then? Put McCain in office? What about you? You take over the job. And we’ll all watch you fall all over yourself along with everyone else in office right now – Republicans and Democrats. And that my friends is REAL life on the road. Go Twitter that!

Photo credits: www.flickr.com/photos/vegasrob/2433395950/,http://bitsblog.florack.us/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/180px-ann_coulter_tv.jpg, http://www.everythreeweekly.com/pictures/stories/1017.jpg, http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/eduwonkette/upload/2008/03/20prof600.1a.jpg – and – the boring stuff from a Wikipedia search of “economic theory.”

It’s official: score one for the truckers! Virginia DOT adopted their six-year improvement plan for FY 210-2015 Thursday. And the truckers won a round, for a change! After two months of attending every public hearing and arguing until blue, truckers in Virginia finally agreed with the obvious: truckers need parking and they need to stay there long enough to sleep!

One of my main shippers used to have a sign by the dispatch window that said, “Winning an argument with a truck driver is like trying to teach a pig to sing. Sooner or later, you have to accept the fact it can’t be done-and the pig enjoys it!” Anybody who doesn’t think truckers love to argue has never listened to the CB on I-70 in Indiana. . . the innocent bystander never realizes these guys going at it hot and heavy are having a great time. Apparently all the truck drivers that attended the VDOT hearings on the rest area closings were a bit more polite than the average CB ‘discussion’, as CDOT finally had to admit they were right.

Virginia will still close nineteen rest areas. But they will also increase truck parking by 225 spaces. The ‘official’ list of rest areas closing isn’t yet available but some forums are posting the following as a partial list of those slated for removal: Read the rest of this entry »

Quoting Saul Anuzis:

“ABC News is giving away somewhere near $50 Million dollars in airtime to President Obama to promote his government take over of your medical decisions. The producers have refused, in writing, to air the Republican or conservative point of view–they have even refused to run a paid ad during the program…”

There’s more.

You’ve been being told for a long time that the media had turned on the American public, some more than others. When someone makes the statement that ABC news is “in bed” with Barack Hussein Obama, you can take it literally. These so called members of the press, are now the “official” news source for the White House and all its twisted dealings.

I suggest that this is just one more example of the Obama administration paying off major players in the DNC’s desperate drive for the Oval Office. Its also the typical bias used by both Obama and the Main Stream Media to  “lie by omission” about things that effect us all.

As planned, Obama will present, as truth, his socialist agenda for YOUR heath care. There will be no oversite, no transparency, no opposing viewpoints will be allowed and a large part of the American public, will stand there bleating, drool dripping from their Koolaid stained lips and believe every word they hear (or don’t hear) as planned by President “Hope and Change” Mr. Transparency himself, Barack Hussein Obama.

Well OK, I doubt “he” planned it. He has “handlers”, There are people being paid to do that, he just presents it. Then he presents the next outrage, then the next.

This time we’re fighting back.

Twitter and Facebook, the big guns of social media, are being brought to bare.

Tweet-4-Truth: Fact Checking A “News” Media Run Amok

Read it, join it, promote it, defend it and when the time comes, TAKE PART in it.

Or forever, shut your mouth.

Comrade.

t

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

Everyone knows what Twitter is right?  If you don’t, you should. It’s fun, its a great way to stay in touch and it’s almost INSTANT. When that plane went down in the Hudson river a couple of months ago, I knew about it, almost before it hit the water. When the elections in Iran were discovered to be soured, I knew about it, HOURS before the CNN anchors did. (not that I was in the least surprised by it) I get 99.9% of all my World, National and Local news though it. Instead of the failed national media’s daily rhetoric of Obama worship, bile, vomit and hate for conservative women, I get truth, honesty and honesty in opinion, up to the second, second by second.

Then again, I’m a bit of a geek and always have been.

I talk to truckers all over the country, every single day. There are a lot of truckers on Twitter that use it for a lot of the same reasons I do.  Virtually instant nation wide communications about trucking issues and a lot of people to poke fun at too.  Road conditions, storms, DOT checkpoints and virtually anything else you might want to know about. When the DOT, National wide, had their last “lets supplement our budget with trucker pay” contest here a couple of weeks ago I had up to the minute station information, closures, road blocks, etc etc. Some people get email on their phones when an Amber Alert is given, this alert is instantly dumped into twitter and often reaches the other side of the country  before the official word does. Yeah, its fun, but it can be a damn fine tool also.

Drop by and take a look and feel free to follow me there. (@TerenceSmelser)

Warning, there are some serious idiots on Twitter and they want to sell you things that you don’t need or want, they want to offer you “work from home” opportunities or they want you help them smuggle a ga-zillion US dollars in the country  and some of the worst of them are truckers. (Like this surprises any of us…)

Worse yet are those that claim to “want to help” truckers, especially if you are new to the job. They want to “help” you NOT make the mistakes that “SO” many of us have.  Trust me, everyone of these people that I have run into so far, want to “help” themselves to your money, as they sell you a “book of secrets”. There would be your mistake…

Let me make this real plain, if you’re new to the industry and have a question, ASK me, ask one of these other writers here, ask your BOSS.  I probably wont know the answer, but I’ll point you at the guy that does. He’s probably that quiet “old fart” driving for the same outfit you do. Neither one of us is going to “charge you” for information that you deserve.

t

It was a dream come true, albeit (very) short lived. I sleep with my Blackberry right next to me on the little plastic platform that Kenworth wants me to think is a nightstand. Every phone call, text message, e-mail, etc. comes to me through this electronic portal to my life. I would be completely lost without this miracle of technology. By the press of a button I can log onto LifeOnTheRoad and read the latest postings and comments. I can even publish a post (without a photo) without ever touching a key via Windows Life Writer.

When a comment to something I’ve written is posted, a little red light on the face of my Blackberry blinks. After posting a piece, I am accustomed to getting a perfunctory red blink and reading that the world is falling apart again – because of those darn Democrats. I read it – have a little chuckle -  and go to bed. I know when my son is texting me good night when I get a “clunk” sound accompanied by the red light. Through the night I will typically get maybe an additional clunk or two and about five red lights as news comes to me from the AP, The New York Times, OOIDA and various Florida newspapers. You get the idea. By the time my alarm goes off, I have plenty to read over my first cup of coffee.

But about a week or so ago, before I got home, I got sooo excited. I thought my time had come. My dream come true. I finally could say goodbye to trucking. I would get that special assignment to cover trucking and logistics in China for The New York Times. Report from Mexico for the Christian Science Monitor – writing an in depth piece about NAFTA.. And land that plumb assignment with CBS to be embedded with our armed forces writing about how we will defeat Al-Qaeda and win over hearts and minds with our superior logistics efforts.

It was about 2:30 AM and I was having trouble sleeping. 40 days OTR does that to a fella. I noticed that the red light on my Blackberry wouldn’t stop blinking. Must be something wrong I thought. Did it need to be charged? Was something wrong with the software. Damn. It’s too valuable to me for something to go haywire on the road. I rolled over. I looked closer at the phone. Holy smokes! What the! Comments, comments and more comments. Comments on just about everything I ever written for LifeOnTheRoad. Wow. Where did these folks come from? I received comments from just about everywhere in the world. Not only comments, but people offering me jobs, money and a whole bunch of “interesting” opportunities. I knew the world would finally come to recognize my talent. Pulitzer Prize here I come.

Blink, blink, blink – minute after minute, hour after hour – day after day. I’m famous! So many comments in fact, that I just didn’t have time to read them. And nothing about evil Democrats or the adolescent name calling of our President. Yes, I had arrived. I would sit there and watch my Blackberry with amazement and joy. Comment – red light blinks, again and again. Comment, comment, comment and on and on. Blink, blink, blink. I really should read some of them. Ah my adoring fans.

I even forwarded one to to Wayne. “Hey Wayne, do you believe this? What’s up?” And then he replied – and then I read some of the comments, replies and messages. Spam. Nothing but garbage. Why is artsy-fartsy plimlico 45678-1 (not real) ruining my dream? This is a terrible thing to do to a famous writer like me. Damn. I guess I just have to wait another year for that Pulitzer. And Wayne, could ya just lie to me next time. Thanks.

Photo credits: www.bernama.com/…/v5/newsworld.php?id=405577, www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/26/60II/main6…, : www.boygeniusreport.com/…/