Dear Reader,
A few months ago I started a humble blog here to share my adventures while traveling across the country for the first time with my boyfriend. Today I come to you not as a vagabond stowaway, but as a slightly more seasoned traveler, a "professional" driver, a whole new way of life and, for the first time in my life, somewhat steady income.
Needless to say, quite a lot has happened since my last post to you so it is my sincerest hope to fully bring you up to speed on the happenings of my current life.
Today has been very special indeed. Remember the blog where I gave a tour of the truck? Well, that truck is going back to the manufacturer. We only had a 6 month lease on it and our options were to buy it or give it back and since it has 480,000 miles on it, we went truck shopping. The lot had its share of freightliners, internationals and one volvo and we ended up going with a 2012 cascadia in silver. Basically an updated version of what we already had since it is something we are already familiar with a few bonus features.
So what is leasing a truck like, you may ask?
Since I have never bought a vehicle in my life I don't really have a comparable experience to give you for it other than it involved two sets of contracts (one with the company handling the truck and the other with our company), lots of signatures and most of a day. Quick and painless, as long as you don't look at the numbers too hard. Most rigs range in the 125,000 ballpark, and believe me, that's on the low end.
Tomorrow we "move" to the new truck, put the old one to pasture and get back on the road. We already have a trip waiting for us headed to Ohio!
My only concern is if we will run into tropical storm Isaac along the way. Fingers crossed we won't.
"Work" talk aside, driving really is a lifestyle. The mentality is different, always moving, catching scenes on the fly. You drive hard, sleep harder and if you are lucky, catch precious moments in between to text family and friends or perhaps get to write your thoughts down. Lord knows driving for ten hours a day can give you TONS of headspace to vent your imagination.
So between driving, changing all sorts of living habits, not knowing what state I may be in from one day to the next (not a metaphor, by the by) and limited internet access have made writing and blogging (and most times thinking straight) challenging. The life is fast and it cannot be stressed enough how precious your time is in the grand scheme of things. That is one thing I have loved thus far: you live, eat, sleep and work in a very tight space with an unexpected schedule. If you really want something in your life, you HAVE to make the time for it. I don't know about other drivers getting into the industry but the life has really made me go back and reevaluate what is really important in this crazy journey called Life.
Ooh, which reminds me...one of my favorite things are TED talks. Gives me small glimpses into opportunities for learning post grad and are vastly entertaining as well. Anyways, here is a link to a particular talk that is shaping my everyday life.
This woman is a video game designer, and if you know me, you have an inkling as to my opinions on the growing gaming culture out there. Opinions aside, her speech is both informative, entertaining and can even turn someone like me onto the idea of playing more games in life. Enjoy!
http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_the_game_that_can_give_you_10_extra_years_of_life.html
Believe me, I have plenty of stories to tell, and will attempt to do so in the next few installments. With all the changes going on, I am working on transitioning my blogging to my smartphone which will hopefully work out for me.
From my personal perspective I've noticed life seems to have two speeds: snail and the speed of light. One is barely tolerable and the other leaves you breathless. The past two months have definitely been the latter, so when so much happens in such a short amount of time your brain can record it all but does not necessarily mean you have processed it all. Thus my current conundrum.
In the meantime while I untangle the matted ball of experience in my head, feel free to follow me on google plus, twitter, and facebook as I am usually posting on any one of them at any given time. My favorite thing lately has been to do the check-in features on facebook, google plus and latitude so friends and family can keep up with my goings on.
Oh! One more thing. Google plus has recently become my most favorite pastime. I did a check in a few days and from that check in other truckers have found me so now I have this whole group of people in the same boat as me! I'm so excited.
Anyways, that's all for now. I will most definitely put out the word when more is to come!
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