One driver this morning made me think of this song.

I am a Jimmy Jammer! I am tonight at the big TA Truck Stop in Laredo.
That is a great old time trucking song, never heard that one before.

Simon, have a good evening in Laredo, what are hauling, and from where to where?

Haha! Thats precisely what dad was singing when he came walking up to the door after I powered out the 72 Peterbilt hauling a D8 up Tiger Ridge.

Truck has a 5 and a 4, and I got behind it. I tried to skip two and shoulda skipped 9.

I just hauled a load of transmission parts from Valley, Alabama, to Laredo.
Now am waiting for a load back to Greer SC. Probably will be a load of transfer cases to ZF Transmissions in Fountain Inn, SC.

wabigoon: You live in Ontario? I have spent many months, camping in Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario. I love that place.

Thank you for what you do Simon, things need to get to where they are needed,

Do you sleep in the truck?

I'm not a trucker per se, but I spent the afternoon behind the wheel of a Mack.

Good to hear from you kingsford, what were you hauling?

Yes I have a sleeper and I must say it is a damn comfortable bunk. I am going to hit it in about 5 minutes.
Thank you, we are often unappreciated but in fact, truck driving is one of the most important jobs.
If all truck drivers disappeared tomorrow, it would take about 5 days for a complete collapse of civilization.
Imagine, no chicken, bread, or milk at your grocery store. No gas at your gas station.
Especially in the big cities, it would take about 5 days without trucks, and the slaughter would begin. Bad guys from the inner city would roam
out to the suburbs, and kill helpless suburbanites for a bottle of vodka and a can of pork and beans.



Here I am at the big TA Truck Stop in Laredo.

Sand

Sleep the sleep of the just Simon, keep the bugs off your glass, and the bears off your, bumper.

kingsley, what is the sand used for?

Wabigoon, The wife and I were owner/operators for a short period of time..... decided that we weren't truck drivers! But, was just singing the chorus to that song the other day. I remember it well, from when I was a kid. memtb

Not a trucker, but own a truck..... does that count? Loading up and sending her off to B.C. on Monday with a load of live fish. People gotta eat!

Building cranberry bogs. I'd post pics, but tiny pic isn't cooperating.

I have to start reading these titles slower....

I'm also thinking about reading titties in the shower.

Just got done with my route. 10 years over the road 7 coming home everyday now. Restaurant delivery. Super fun getting a tractor-trailer in and out of parking lots that were designed to keep trucks out. Offloaded 1170 cases by hand today. Manual labor part sucks but I make more being home every day and working 4 days a week than I ever did running the road.

Braille.

Feeling the good times...

My hat's off to you food service guys. Unloading a 53' trailer by hand while dodging traffic....... uugghhh.

I thank you good folks that deliver the goods. Keep those big rigs between the fences, and shiny side up, greasy side down.

you need to give me a heads up so we can grab a bite to eat Laredo is only a short drive from CC.

OK, stxhunter! I never get down to Corpus Christi but if you want to drive up here to Laredo sometime, that would be great.
I often do my 34 hour reset here in Laredo.

I ran Laredo for about a Year....Had to be there every Monday morn...I would drop my Trailer off of Killam Industrail Blvd....Grab one Loaded with Appliances and Head to Memphis Tn. Then back to Hickory with a load of Paper products...and call it a week....I never spent the Night at the TA in Laredo....... I would grab a Shower and Fuel and Get the Hell Out..It used to be a pretty rough place...How is it Now? It was a Good run While it lasted...

Yes, Killiam Industrial Blvd. I go down that street about 4 times a week.
I often do my 34 hour reset here at the TA of Laredo. In six years I have spent the night here at least 300 times.
Never have had a problem.
The only problem I have heard of here in Laredo, a guy who worked for my company was across the road at the Flying J.
He went in to take a shower.
When he got back to the truck his dog was barking like hell and looking up at the ceiling.
He said "Shut up you dumb dog." And he headed north.

He got to the INS check point at mm 30 and next thing he knew, he was standing on the street in handcuffs.
Two Mexicans had gotten up into the space above the cab and were taking a free ride into El Norte.

He realized his dog wasn't so dumb.
He had a lot of explaining to do but they let him go after a few hours.

I miss it.. I have been off the rd for about 8 years....Drive a little Local sometimes...I would go back on the road if they would pay me what I am Worth.......

Well, I agree with you Kentucky Mountain Man. I make $65K a year. Pretty good pay. But, I stay out on the road for 14 days, and then get just 2 days off! If I am lucky I will get three days off. I should be making a lot more money.

I was just talking to a WalMart driver in Seguin Texas the other day. Five days on the road and then two days off. Does all his 34 hour resets at home. I didn't ask what he gets paid but starting drivers at WalMart get $82K. This guy has to be making $95K.

So when I drive for 14 days I get 2 days off for $65K. WalMart guy drives for 15 days, he gets 6 days off, and for $95K! Now that is more like it.

I am 66 years old, will probably only drive for another year.
But I know I will be like you, I will really miss it when I get out of the industry. I really like this job.

Heck today its power-on, power-off except in limited cases driver seldom touches loads. Trucks are computerized, GPS Tracked, loads are micro-chipped and most likely will soon be driverless...

Drivers today have luxuries right there at the reach, motor-home sized sleepers (fully equipped), air-conditioning, power steering, short-sticked synchronized tranny's many with auto's and cruise control...

If you haven't driven truck before containerization and the liberal use of forklifts and power conveyors you haven't driven truck, back in the day when heavy loads were winched up down-boards, and everything was manhandled...

Last truck I drove on a regular basis was a 2012 Pete conventional with set-back front axle and tag on back with a 50 ton crane mounted on the frame pulling a 28 foot trailer behind. What a piece of crap!

Give me the old day's when climate control was the crank on the door opening and closing the window (sometimes), and no power steering (thank you) its for sissy's

When drivers had better know everything about their trucks, because 10 to 1 it was going to be them doing any maintenance on it.

Back to the subject on Trucker music, the hay-day was from around 62' to 77', but there was some really good stuff going all the way back to the mid to late 30's, seems to have died out in the late 80's.


Phil

Not a driver but I work for a KW dealer, helping to keep you guys on the road.

Don't feel bad for us we get paid pretty well haha. Added benefit I lost 65 lbs the first year I started doing it after being on the road for 10 years. I was getting pretty husky. I'm probably in better shape than I was in high school. The first month I thought I was going to die getting out of bed in the mornings I was so sore.

I was, 7 days on/3 off, followed by 7 days on/4 off in the other truck, for about 5 years. I've been local and home almost every night and weekend for the last 6+ years. I make a slightly more money, and don't spend a ton of money living on the road anymore since becoming local. I've been off work for the last 6 weeks following hernia surgery, and will be back at it again tomorrow.

Monroe, Flatt, and Scruggs... heck is there anyone that doesn't like Bluegrass? Brings back the day of the old RCA-Victor 78's and listening to the Grand Ole' Opra on the radio Saturday evenings.

Phil

My favorite....

Looks like a good pay day....!

Either that or getting a load of cattle out of the haylot.

That was a load going out to grass so payday in a few....


Always a nice sight though!

Exactly.



Still have 30-40 head on feed.

Not a truck driver but thanks for bring in the supplies.

I feel for you, Bro.

In the late 70's I was going to night school (6-12) in Denver, and working in a meat packing plant days. One day the other two guys called in "sick".

Bud will do that to you...

I loaded , by myself, 2 semi-trailors with cuts of beef, except for the hooker inside.(Not what you think- had to have a guy positioning the meat-hooks as I hung the cuts- hinds). IIRC each trailer held 40,000 lbs.

It was a long day, and I didn't go to school that night. TGIF!!!!! I was semi-alive by Monday.

A clear case of over penetration....

I was young then, a mere 35...

Not really a driver anymore, just haul gas/diesel occasionally. I make more money working in a factory than I did driving, over the road or local. I sure don't miss being stuck in a truck every night, really miss driving a truck though.

Been a long time since I saw a cab-over on the highway, but I saw one last week... Didn't think they made those things any longer..

A bunch of the younger bull haulers around here are trying to bring back the cab over.

Not new ones of course, but they are buying old ones and fixing them up.

I get a kick out of it.

Back in the 70's the fellows driving the cabover Whites talked about being the first on the scene of the accident.

Thats what dad told me when I drove my first truck. C-600 Ford.

You haven't seen small until you crawl into a cracker box GMC. Heck even the last Freightliner cab overs were so small you had to open the door to turn and get your boots tied.

Stopped making trucks when they went from twin full-sized shift levers to the little dick-sticks on top of dog-house or consoles...

Phil