Comments By Vicki M.

Guess I got lucky/unlucky. In my first month, I had to slide mine to get a load to balance. Took me two hours, a bunch of fifth wheel grease and some WD40. I haven't moved it since. But the lucky part was my last trainer had me slide his fifth wheel a couple times, so I knew how. I hope to not need to do it again, ever.

I think I know which road he/she is on. Wouldn’t attempt it in the summer with a truck even lol

I got conned. Usually I’m a pretty good judge of character, but this girl got me.

I was in Springerville, UT at the Loves and was waiting to deliver my load the next day. I also have my son riding with me for a few weeks, plus, of course, the Pig. My son is still enthralled with truck stop offerings, so he was on and out of the truck several times that afternoon.

Later that evening we went in to take showers (the look on his face was priceless when I asked for a team shower lol) On our way out there was a small dog hanging around the fuel island. My son told me that she’d been there all day. He decided to grab some of the Pig’s dry food and see if he could catch her. I told him to at least try to get her away from the fuel island. Off he goes. He’s back in about an hour with no luck.

So now it’s Mom’s turn. I grab the wet dog food and a bag of treats. I’m on a mission lol I could get her to eat, she’d even get near me. But not near enough to catch. One huge bowl of dry food, two cans of wet food and a bag of treats later, still no luck. A local trucker came by and told me she’s been there about 3 months that he knows of.

I went in to McDonald’s and bought some burger patties. Went back out and fed those to her. While I was doing this, one of the love’s employees came to take the trash out and told me the dog had been there A YEAR. They feed it and made it a bed by the dumpsters. I figured at that point, if no one has caught her yet, I probably wasn’t going to either.

I went back to my truck and while I was chilling I watched at least 5 truckers feed her. Try to catch her. I know she had lunch meat and beef jerky. And then it dawned on me. She has a great scam going lol

If I return and she is stytgere, I will feed her again. I respect her game! Best scam artist ever.

Bump. I urge you to focus on Vicki, and not the Moron! This situation will happen again... I promise you that. Be prepared.

Vicki... I’m not going to dwell on his very bad behavior and belligerence. This is about your part in future prevention.

It will. I did learn a lesson though. Not all trucks follow the rules of the road. It was a great reminder to always watch my six.

Maybe this is one of the cult w the rolling roadblocks, acid laced coffee at all Loves, P-lots are for dumping pee jugs. Reptilian truckers anonymous. Whoops! Sorry!

I’ve been hanging at the wrong Love’s!

It is incidents like this that create a public perception and environment that leads to more and more regulation, and more aggressive/mandatory sentences for violations. Were you afraid for your life? No doubt - I would have been. But how do you think the two four-wheelers felt? And how many of their friends and family got to hear the story? And it doesn’t matter if they recognized the true hazard, and proper response - they were put in danger by a commercial driver.

Now I was taught to “merge aggressively” or in other words make a space. If anyone here has ever merged onto I95 from South Street in Philadelphia you’ll understand why - short steep incline ramps with no opportunity to build merging speed, and fast moving high density traffic to merge into. You stop and in could be 30 minutes before you can get out. That being said I was also taught that I can’t see everything, especially around or through other vehicles. How often does someone in front of you brake for no apparent reason, only for you to discover there was another vehicle in front of them that you didn’t see, or some kind of hazard (around here it’s deer) that you also hadn’t seen?

The sign on the ramp clearly reads “YIELD” - we all know that, and in the end that is the governing law, regardless of best practices and professional courtesy. That drivers behavior was not only unprofessional and inappropriate in every way, it was hazardous and unnecessary. Me, I would have videod everything that happened after the merge incident and called the State Police from the rest stop.

Here’s the hard truth - nobody wants to throw another driver under the bus, but this industry needs to start self-policing incidents like this to get dangerous drivers off the road.

Gregg

The only time I had any fear was when he was pushing me into the 4 wheelers. I was scared for them. I’m too dumb to be afraid of a bully. Sitting and staring at me was just weird. And it ****ed me off. I probably should have called the cops but one again, I am not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Bumping this.

I do not condone the other truckers behavior. Not one bit, he’s an idiot. He could have caused a serious wreck. Preventable not only by him, ...but also by you.

So yes... you can learn from this and adjust your approach reducing the risk of an encounter like this.

I strongly suggest that when approaching an on-ramp on a crowded Interstate, if at all possible to give way to a Brother or Sister trucker. Back off and slow down. It’s defensive, prudent and can keep you out of trouble like this. Yes I know he was supposed to yield to you he was wrong. But you must think like a trucker not a 4-wheeler. In the future assume and accept that a semi entering the Interstate will not yield to you. Most are speeding up expecting you to give way to them. It’s not right, but it’s reality.

I have experienced exactly the same initial situation you described , hundreds of times over the past 9 years. Each and every time I conduct myself exactly how I suggested it to you. Give way and live another day.

Good luck. Peace all.

Agreed. I could have slowed down more. We were doing about 45 and he was trying to merge at a much faster speed. That being said, it wasn’t the near miss that concerned me. This stuff happens. It was his behavior afterwards.

Vicki, Rudeness is the weak mans imitation of strength.

Drop the mike. Seriously well said.

That is one adorable dog

Thank you. She knows it too lol

Well the pic did not load nvm.

Adorable!