BIG news!

Okay, so I have some news to share. Some of you already know, but most of you probably don't. Several weeks ago I leased my own truck. This has been my goal from the beginning, and it's now a reality. Those of you who follow me on Facebook may have noticed that I haven't bitched about my truck constantly breaking down, and that's why.

I bought a 2013 Kenworth T660, and it's awesome! Granted, I have to pay for the fuel (imagine spending $800.00 every couple days on fuel. Welcome to my world) and any maintenance issues that come up are my responsibility as well. But I got to choose my truck, I have much more freedom now, and I'm making a bit more money than I did before.

From top to bottom:

1. Side view of the cargo box on the side of the truck. Gotta have my Utah logo on there somewhere. And yes, I purposely chose a truck that's red & white. Not gonna spend this kind of money on a blue & white truck.

2. Driver's side of the truck.

3. Front grill. This what you'll see from your rear-view mirror. Interestingly, this windshield has already been replaced (at about 4,000 miles). Stupid rock chips.

4. Overall view from the driver's seat.

5. Closer view of the dashboard. My Qualcomm/GPS is the box mounted on the right.

6. It's the view behind the wheel. I think it's probably obvious.

7. Look at the odometer. Yeah, it only had 19 miles on it when I drove it off the lot. Well over 15,000 miles now.

So, there you go. If you see me on the road, honk & wave!

Back the Truck Up!

You may think my job is easy. "All you do is drive. I've done that since I was sixteen!" you might say. Yeah, it's not that easy. I have to know the weight on each of my axles. Don't wanna go into a weigh station overweight. I have to know how high my trailer is loaded, so I don't roll the truck in a curve. I have to know if I'm going too fast for a corner, or if I can stop when I hit the brakes, when some idiot cuts me off and decides to slow down. That happens more than you would like to know, believe me.

But by far, the hardest part of my job is backing. Particularly at night, when I'm tired, and I pull into a truck stop. These are the places that provide the greatest challenge for me. Truck stop parking is tight. I try to get in there early enough that I can get a place to park without any problem, and usually, I can do that. But not always.

I just watched another trucker back into a spot, and he was driving the same truck I do. He took about five minutes to get into the spot, and he did it without backing into anything. This is an accomplishment. He & I drive a truck with a notoriously long wheelbase, making backing difficult to begin with, but to add to the problem, you can't see out the driver's side window when backing. That may not seem like a big deal, but believe me, it is.

In any case, this trucker made it into the parking spot. Took a long time, but he made it. I feel like I'm a patient guy, but I don't have the patience to do what he did...yet.

I guess my point is, that backing a fifty-three foot trailer is not an easy task. I've been doing it now for more than a year, and I still feel like I have a lot to learn. The fact that my tractor isn't good at said task doesn't make it easier.

When you see a truck on the road, think about where they've been. Where they're going. Their journey may just be starting, or may just be ending. But in any case, their job is harder than you might think.

On a side note, the first anniversary of bin Laden's death is upon us. It is said that you'll never forget where you were when you heard the news. That's probably true in my case. I was trying to sleep in the top bunk of a Kenworth T2000 in Gary, Indiana. I was kinda chuckling, because I was so close to where Michael Jackson was beaten into greatness, when my little sister sent me a text saying Obama got him. It was raining a little, and I enjoy listening to the raindrops hit the fiberglass. I sent a text to my little brother asking if he'd heard anything. As usual, he was oblivious. I only have one little brother. You know who you are. Dumbass.)

That was the first time I'd driven through Chicago, and Obama got bin Laden that day. Pretty cool, if you ask me.

Hurry Up & Wait

One of the most frustrating things for me about my job is something that is largely out of my control. Waiting. I don't like sitting and doing nothing, but it happens far too often. Waiting to arrive at a shipper because I can't be too early. Waiting to be loaded or unloaded. Waiting for snowy mountain passes to open. Waiting for my piece of s#!t truck to be fixed.

As I sit here typing, my truck is waiting to go to the shop, to repair some critical emissions issues. It's an old truck, and I suppose that some breakdowns are inevitable, but it seems that lately, it's spent more time in the shop than on the road.

Last week, I broke down just north of Parowan, such an exciting town along I-15 in Southern Utah. Stopped me for about six hours. That really sucked, because the weather got worse while I was shut down, making driving that much more difficult once I actually got back on the road. Hopefully, the problems will get resolved and I can get rolling again soon.

A friend of mine asked me, not too long ago, how I stave off boredom on the road. As anyone who's driven across the West knows, towns are few & far between, and there's not much going on. And it seems that I can't get out of the West for quite some time now. So, I've found some things that have saved my sanity.

My iPod: Probably my most valuable possession at this point. Some may say that an mp3 player is an mp3 player, and for them that may be true. But in my case, that couldn't be further from the truth. I have an iPod Touch, and it can do much that other players can't. It handles audiobooks very well. I've downloaded several, and have "read" many books that I otherwise wouldn't have the time to read.

Obviously, it handles music extremely well. I do like having all my collection in one place, easy to access. Much easier, and safer, than fumbling for a CD every 45 minutes.

The feature that makes everything more bearable is the apps available. I find that while I'm sitting and waiting, I can surf the net, watch YouTube videos, or play games. I end up playing Monopoly more than I thought I would, and killing Nazi zombies is always fun.

Satellite Radio: Picked this up when I was still in training. I'd thought I could make it without, but while I was driving from Phoenix to Dallas, I realized that I needed it. There is no radio on that stretch of interstate, and I quickly went out of my mind. Aside from that, I have radio feeds of college and pro football, so while I usually can't watch my teams play, I can at least listen to the game. Worth every penny.

iTunes: I'm surprised at how much I use this program. There are some TV shows that I really don't want to miss, and short of satellite TV on the truck, I needed another option to view them. I'm a big The Walking Dead fan, and consider it valuable research for when the inevitable zombie apocalypse comes. I will be a survivor. So, I end up downloading the show on iTunes, and it's available on my iPod, anytime I want. Sitting in a terminal or truck stop, doing laundry, waiting for my truck to get fixed, doesn't matter. That makes life so much more bearable.

The problem with this is getting the data. I can download the show on my mobile hotspot, but I can run through my monthly allotment quite rapidly that way. Fortunately, most big truck stops have WiFi available for a nominal fee, so I can link up with that without too much problem, most of the time.

Also, I do have a portable TV on board, so if I'm within a TV area, I can watch football or whatever else might be on. And I have some of my favorite movies on DVD, and I can always watch one of those if the mood hits.

Fortunately, this makes life on the road much more bearable. Sometimes I feel completely isolated and outside of the normal living world, disconnected and detached from so much, but I can find a little bit of normalcy once in a while.

More stereotypes

Recently, I talked about stereotypes I had about various states I had never visited. Now, I will discuss stereotypes of states I have visited.

Wyoming Blows. Very true. Every time I've been there, the wind is howling. It both sucks and blows at the same time. It may not seem possible, but it happens. I've been there in the summer and the winter. The wintertime is much, much worse. Of all the times I've thought I should chain up, they've all been in Wyoming. Sorry to my friends who live in this state, but Wyoming is like Kansas. I just don't get why anyone lives there. Wyoming has no redeeming qualities. If anyone can prove me wrong, please do so.

It's always raining in Seattle. Maybe. Personally, I've been up there several times, and it's always been sunny and nice. I think the locals try to say that to keep the tourists away, so they can have the city to themselves. I don't blame them.

Sunny Southern California. Having been there much of my life, I can't say I had preconceived notions about the area. Most of the time, this has been true. I'll be honest. I love the area. I was there less than a week ago, and it was beautiful. Very warm, orange groves, nothing to complain about. I'll take SoCal over NewJersey anyday.

Utah Drivers Suck. They do. They can't merge. They can't pass. They have no clue how to signal. They're generally idiots. That being said, it's always nice to make it to my home state.

I guess my point is this: there are idiots in every state. Some more than others. But if I could pass some wisdom on to you, it would be this: give truckers room. We weigh much more than you do, and will take much longer than you will to stop. We want you to be safe, but we also want to be safe. We have many more challenges on the road than you do. Please, give us room.