Lifestyle: The Truck

I've been getting a lot of questions about life on the truck. How big is it, is it very cramped, what is day to day life like inside? Well, I hope to answer most of those for you today!
First, let's take you for a little tour of the place, starting with the outside!

Here's the trailer, obviously. I think the logo is pretty darn classy.  The only company with a coat  of arms from what I've seen. 

Standard length of these trailers is 53', and you'll notice at the front is this black and white device. That's the refrigeration unit, called "the reefer." Still makes me giggle. This particular trailer has a plastic "skirt" on the bottom which helps in air flow and also aids fuel efficiency.

Here we have the cab, where the living and driving happens. This picture has a better view of the reefer (giggle). 

You might want to refer back to this picture as the tour continues. The inside will look bigger than you would think, much like the Tardis :P

Here's the view of front area taken from the top bunk. James is busy with paperwork. 

The Qualcomm system, hub of all trucker activity. All the trips, logs, and communication between trucker and company are made through this thing. The newer models more closely resemble a standard netbook. 

First off, the captain's chair. So many controls...

Now, for the living area. There is a heavy duty curtain between the front and back that can be velcroed shut for total black out for sleeping in the middle of the day. 

The bunks. James' truck has four porthole type windows  allowing for  a lot of light during the day.  There are  heavy duty covers that snap over the windows for total black out. 

Now you'll notice this net thing hanging on the back wall. That is the safety net which is essentially a human cargo net. Obviously safety is top priority in a rig so while someone is driving, if the other person wants to take a nap, they can snap themselves in just in case the driver has to slam on brakes. James told me it has happened that one time a driver slammed on brakes and the dude taking a nap woke up under his feet!

Oh, also the top bunk can fold up and snap onto the back wall and the bottom bunk lifts up for tons of storage underneath! Last, but not least, the back wall is padded, which kept me from beating myself up in my sleep :P

Now, there are cubby areas between the drive area and the bunks for various things. 

Here's our closet area. Everything is well secured.We tend to keep enough clothes for 7-10 days on hand. Located behind the driver's seat.  

Located underneath the closet is...

Our desk area and cubby for food. The grey handle you see pulls out to reveal a small desk, perfect for my little netbook as well as making a quick snack or sandwich. The black plastic edge with textured knobs is actually a foot hold to help you climb up into the top bunk. I got pretty good at it too. Also, if you look on the left side you'll get a glimpse of all the air, light and sound controls for the back area.

The cubby area opposite this one contains open areas for a refrigerator, tv and more storage. However, I did not take a picture because we do not have a fridge or a tv and instead have a cooler and are using the tv area for storage at the moment. 

Now, for the top bunk...This is my area! Note, Stanley, my bear peeking out on the right. Yes...I have a bear. There is plenty of head room up there, as you can probably tell and also there are massive speakers in the top corners. If you notice, there is part of a black handle visible on the right, which was one of the three major points of contact necessary to getting up there. Somehow I managed to never fall out or down from the bunk. One of my favorite things about being up there is that there is a small cubby for a tiny bit of personal storage. It became my personal library :P

The bunks themselves are quite comfy and are standard extra long twins. 

Now that you have gotten almost the full tour (minus a couple of other nooks and crannys), I can see how you would wonder about living in such a small space. Most of the time James is driving (and hopefully I will be too, soon) so I get to move about the space as I please, as long as it is done safely and obviously no getting on the top bunk. 

Heating and cooling. The back area has a separate system for heating called the Webasto. It's great for those cold nights, just not so good with the cooling. In fact, cooling became a problem, especially when we hit Texas and found out the hard way that our AC was broken(not the best news when in southern Texas). Fortunately, we were able to get it fixed while in Laredo and then we discovered the IdleAir system. 

Some truck stops offer it in their parking lots as complete support systems for truck life overnight.

On the outside it looks like this...

When you first sign up for the service, you get a free "adapter" which is actually this hard plastic piece that fits in your passenger side window for the device to slide and lock into. 

This is what it looks like on the inside...

IS THAT NOT THE COOLEST THING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN?

My apologies for the caps, but I seriously geeked out when I saw this. On the left is a touchscreen for all your controls and couple of ports, USB and telephone. On the right side is the main vent for the air conditioning, wired internet, more USB and AC/DC plugs! Is that not cool?!?! For 1.25/hour we were able to charge all of our electronics and keep the cab nice and chilly all night! Plus we got to keep our adapter for the next time we use one of these things. Honestly, one of the smartest inventions I've seen for truckers and believe me, there's a whole market out there for them. 

Well, that's about it for the tour. Living on the truck is similar to the thinking of living on an RV or in a tiny house. Keep light on the belongings, stay organized and all is well. Being in this environment really makes you reassess what you consider necessary for living. 

Hope you enjoyed it and if you have any questions, be sure to comment at the bottom!

The Road Back

The last stretch of road back to Georgia was a pretty straight shot on Interstate 10. By the way, if you want to do a southern United States cross country road trip, just take I-10. It begins in Jacksonville, Florida and goes all the way to Santa Monica, California.

This is I-10 in Lousiana. Notice the kamikazee bug splatter. 

Other than the 20 mile stretch of bridge crossing swampland in Louisiana, my mind was on what was to come. Going back after a long vacation always leaves the feeling you have had the time of your life and you simply don’t want it to end. Life calls, time for you to get back to the old regular routine. Same job, same home.

The thought crossed my mind… I didn’t want to go back. Don’t get me wrong, I needed to go back, missed my family and my oldest friend was in need of my presence.

This journey has been a tease. I have traveled 8000 miles in 6 weeks and in that time I’ve seen things I didn’t think I’d ever see. Majestic mountains, snow drifts that reshape the landscape and land that stretches as far as the eye can see. Believe me when you are out there things like the curvature of the Earth come into play… you begin to measure miles when the colors of the land turn a bluish hue. Then I heard this small voice in the back of my mind say, “you know…this doesn’t have to end. You could choose this life.” Sure, with all the time spent on the road we have had plenty of discussions about the job, life on the road, and all the possibilities it could spell out for us but could I honestly make that leap?

So I started to think about it and by the time we got back to Georgia a plan has been devised.

I would spend two weeks catching up with my family and helping Jenny in any way possible and then head up to Carrollton for the big pack. I’M GOING TO BECOME A TRUCKER! HA! Who would’ve thought? Honestly, not me.

With a blend of excitement, melancholy and anxiety, it is on to Macon for me. Let’s see what the next few weeks hold for me. 

The Border

Laredo, Texas. A town situated on the border between Mexico and the U.S. I have heard many things about Mexico but I believe the reports have been a bit dramatized. As far as the news is concerned, the border is heavily guarded with patrol agents laden with weapons and edged with razor wire fencing to keep the heathens at bay. This was far from the truth.

Laredo has two parts of the city from my eyes: the residential/shopping area and the commercial district. My first introduction came as James and I headed to the company’s local yard, a place James described as “the real Mos Eisley.” For those of you unfamiliar, Mos Eisley was the trader town in Star Wars: A New Hope, where Luke and Obi-Wan visit the cantina. Turns out, James was not far off the mark. Set in the desert, a community of truckers making a pit stop between runs with a couple of Mexican ladies fixing authentic fare the likes of which you would be hard pressed to find elsewhere. The food was great, the company pleasant and the chairs comfy. Remember earlier in the trip when we had to give this guy named Kevin a ride to Salt Lake? He was there! We got to catch up a bit; he was in the process of completing his phase 2 training and doing what the rest of the guys there were up to: waiting on a load. Apparently getting shipments across the border never really goes according to schedule.

What were we there for? A load to Georgia, of course, as well as some much needed maintenance on the rig. Let me tell you it is NOT fun driving in south Texas with your air conditioning broken. Also just as important, James was in need of a rollover of his work clock, meaning we got to stay for at least 34 hours before we could roll anyway. Within an hour and a hearty meal later the AC was fixed and we headed to the local truck stop hub which, considering it was on the edge of the commercial end of town was crazy. A couple of these stops received so much trucker traffic they actually charged drivers to park overnight! We stayed across the street at the Pilot, one of our favorite stops. The biggest highlight of this place: the IdleAir service provided in the parking lot. More on that in the lifestyle post (with pictures!)

So what did we do during our downtime? Went to the local mall, of course! Located one mile from the border was the Mall Del Norte, a place with an array of stores, decent food court and a large movie theater. We made a date of it browsing shops, having lunch and watching a movie. It was a wonderful afternoon. What surprised me was the enormous amount of foot traffic for the middle of the day on a Tuesday. We found out that holy week was going on in Mexico and everything was closed in observance, so we were surrounded by people taking advantage of their vacation. See culture down this close to the border is very unique because it gets very hard to tell where one side ends and the other begins. Everyone speaks Spanish down here, the local fare is a mix of everything and half the vehicles have Mexico car tags on them. Traffic crossing at the border is frequent here and good for the economy and everyone I met was very nice.

Speaking of border traffic, it is a daily occurrence here for 4,000-6,000 commercial vehicles to make the trip and there are companies whose sole purpose is to get trucks through border patrol. As for James’ company they have a separate fleet working on the other side and their guy will drive the load to the yard for James to pick it up. It is definitely impressive to see how smoothly everything happens. I got a taste of border patrol when we started our last leg of the trip leaving Laredo. When you are driving towards the checkpoint, there are infrared scanners over the highway that have already checked you and know if you are carrying anyone with you. When you get to the officer (after you’ve already passed the one with the drug sniffing dog) he asks you three questions: 1. Are you an American citizen? 2. Do you have anyone else in the vehicle with you? 3. Are they an American citizen?

If you comply politely and shortly, they wave you on and wish you a good day. According to James a student driver replied to the first question by saying “sí,” which resulted in a two hour inspection and one hell of a headache for his trainer. Needless to say, be nice to the border patrol people. The thing I found funny was the border patrol agents came to the truck stop we were staying at for their lunch breaks. It was definitely interesting to see these guys in their off time.

The last thing we experienced in Laredo was this one rest area James had seen before but never got a chance to stop at, so we did. It turned out to be the best rest area I have ever seen! Take a look! 

Yes, this oasis in the desert had a pond full of Koi!

The welcome center

This looks like a Spanish villa, don't you think?(minus the caution sign)

I have to give it to Texas because they really went all out on their rest areas. Every one was unique and inviting.
So there's plenty more on the way! The trip back, the lifestyle post, and what I'm currently up to! Stay tuned!

The Road Turns

Dear Reader, 

I apologize for slowing my writing as of late. My adventures have taken a personal turn lately and thus spending time with family and friends has been the priority. Thankfully now things have opened up and I can now regale you with where I am now and how I got here. Last time, I was traveling through Colorado and here is what I wrote. Started in the mountains, finished for your enjoyment here it is!

Alright, I admit it. Getting back to help my friend is proving to be more challenging than I thought. This time we have a load taking us to Colorado…tiles. I asked, “why give a refrigerated trailer tile?” Well, at the end of the day, money is money and a trailer can haul many many things. Anyways, our journey has thus far taken us to the heart of Denver which looks to me similar to Atlanta but more spread out and with the beautiful backdrop of mountains.

What did I see while driving through the suburbs of Denver? A full service, public indoor dog pool. Granted it was next door to a canine rehabilitation facility and animal hospital, which I thought was awesome. A store titled “creative leather” made me question what they meant by the word creative.  Last, but by no means least there was a McDonalds almost every mile down the same street we rode. Crazy.

The best views came the next morning when we drove through Vail Pass, the highest pass in North America. Home to the Eisenhower Tunnel, this modern marvel is over a mile and a half long(though it felt longer)! 

Can you imagine looking at a mountain, a large one mind you, and saying, yeah, let’s blow a hole through it. A little knowledge for you, the tunnels took over a decade to complete, are one of the highest tunnels in the world and are 14 feet high on the inside. It is the gateway to America’s winter playground, some of the best snow you will ever encounter. Getting through the tunnel wasn’t the only thing (there were five other tunnels, just not nearly as impressive), it was amazing driving up a continuous grade and seeing raw nature, then turning a curve to find a bustling mountain town nestled in a nook with 5 star resorts that resembled castles. The high point of this leg of the trip was feeling the anticipation of dawn and seeing her break over the peak of a faraway mountaintop, majestic and bright.

Fortunately, we got to make a quick rest stop in one of these towns which turned out to be a sort of historic site/welcome center set next to a beautiful stream.

Once the sun was up and traffic a buzz, the mountain range broke into a beautiful gorge with a winding stream. Driving through the bottom of a gorge is awe-inspiring, slightly nerve-racking and breathtaking. You really get a feel for how tiny you are in the vast expanse. 

After rubbernecking myself for most of the morning, it was time for a well needed nap and the bunk made for a perfect rest to the last customer for our tile. I woke to find we were already docked and being unloaded with new orders coming for the next run: Texas, again. This time Laredo, a town set at the border of Mexico.