Comments By Phox

Soooo many better options on the road than ta/petro steaks. I don't care how high your standards are there are much better options than those. that one in ontario may cook it good but there's more to a steak than cooking.

Boise stage stop in Boise Idaho... good quality meat, good cooking and good flavor plus they have some seriously high grade steaks but I haven't had them cause they're like $50 each.... little more than my trucker income can afford haha.

Not as easy to find with nearby truck parking but Texas roadhouse has really good steaks too.

Depends on division.. dry van freight slows down a lot in the winter season, reefer does as well but not by a huge amount, more so the freight type changes as well as shipping lanes. I was dry van with Knight from Feb 2016 to jan this year and def noticed dry van freight (with them at least) def slowed down a lot. Now I'm with Pride which is like 95% reefer (sometimes we'll do a dry load but it's really rare and usually things like pallets or something) and freight was plentful in the winter months, slowed down a bit in April and early may, then picked up. took a week off for home time in early july and still managed over 10,400 miles. nice thing about reefer, a lot of our loads are food based and food is always needed thus that division always has freight. dry van can be dry food, paper brooms even! (yeah I shipped a load of brooms once from el paso to stockton, ca, super light and epic miles and it was drop n hook). those things except the food are not always needed so dry van freight can and does dry up at times. I don't know anything about flatbed, that's the next division I am looking into exploring, either that or LTL (doubles / triples).

There was a situation last year I think, where one of the big 5s got def pumped into the truck diesel tanks... a good many trucks were damaged as a result...

I got my TWIC card before hazmat it didn't take long for background check, actually I filled out app online, scheduled the in person part for a time during home time and they had card in the mail by the end of the week. if you have hazmat already though they lower the price of twic card. I think it works the other way around too but not sure. my company doesn't require twic or hazmat but I figured it never hurts to have at least one in case they ever want to do a load out of ports or military base, it's one more driver they have who already has what's needed. I'll be looking into getting hazmat on my next home time. Once again not needed, but if company wants it makes me that much more valuble an employee or if I switch companies to one whom does require it or does have a need for drivers with em, I'll already have them.

I can see a camera being beneficial in that scenario but I'd rather not rely on it and get my skills better. Next back after that one though was great. As for a magnetic cam that can be switched from trailer to trailer and take with you no way. I'd forget it at some point. What I have wondered though is why don't trailers have back up lights? And maybe a license plate like light at each curbside corner on the rear pointed down toward the tandems to better illuminate tight turns.

The bakkab has a system in place to let you know if you forget it. I don't know how it works (my guess is once your wireless device loses signal with it it tells you on your device). They already thought of that problem and made a solution haha.

As for the lights and what not... added cost. there probably are trailers with that kind of setup, either after market or before but it's an added cost that most companies don't see the value in, just like driver's side hood mirrors. not needed so quite a few companies opt out since they're like an additional $400-500 per truck for that one hood mirror. lights on the trailer like you mentioned are not "needed" so not something carriers want to invest in.

Here's the camerai was just talking about... it's called bakkab

https://bakkab.net/

There's a company currently developing a wireless magnettic camera that you can just stick to outside of trailer... or inside if you wanted to use it for security / cya purposes (monitor what loaders are doing, catch them red forklifted (think red handed) if they damage something, etc.

I'm not sure how it's spelled but it's pronounced "back cam"... think it's like bakcam or bakkam... or something along those lines... they had a demo of it at MATS this year. has the range to reach from back of trailer to cab of truck, wide angle lens, and magnetic so no perm mounting required... just slap it on, turn it on and there ya go. my only concern though is it'll become a crutch to some drivers, sort of like gps units. to many drivers who can't read an atlas rely on gps, then if that fails they're up poo creek without a paddle... well same thing may happen with this... drivers get in the habit of using it, next thing they know device breaks or something and all the sudden they don't know how to back anymore. it could be a very nice "tool" when you have to back into more narrow places or between trucks in tight docks, but not something you want to rely on or get to "used to" using.

I have that kind of truck and when i use opti idle it has 2 higher rev moments, one where it goes just below 10 on the rpms which i've been told it does to charge batteries faster and then a different one where it goes above 10 which I believe is a regen.

regens suck :(

Not all truck stops are as bad as you describe but I would agree the big 5s (loves, pilot j, ta/petro) tend to have a higher probability. also location makes a difference too, the south east gets very hot and humid in the summer so it amplafies the stench much worse than other parts. also places that don't get as much rain.

I prefer independent truck stops more because they either take better care (not all of them) of their property and or less rookies / nasty drivers park at them. the only problem is they tend to be smaller than the big 5s so you may need a backup plan in case it's full. that's part of good trip planning though.

So my wallet and I are learning just how important getting out of the truck and at least walking is.

I had to go to the ER today.

For the past 3-4 days I have been noticing my feet were getting swollen, like a lot (feet are like baloons at least 2-3x the size my feet normally are) I was on a load from PA to ogden Utah, companies terminal is in Salt Lake so I decided that after I delivered the load I'd go to my terminal, rent a car and go to Urgent care to have it checked out.

Well the DR at urgent care couldn't run all the tests necessary to give a proper diagnosis and he was concerned it could be a clot or some heart issue so he had me go to the ER. he was so worried he didn't even want me to drive myself (my mother is a full time passenger on truck with me so she drove me)

Hospital did standard vitals a couple times, ran an EKG, took blood (after 4 tries to get a vein) and tested it and did an ultrasound. the tests all came back good so the diagnosis given was that (this is lamens terms) my feet are retaining fluid due to the lack of exercise i'm getting and long hours spent in the truck, particularly the drivers seat, driving. DR wants me to take at least a week off from driving, keep my feet elevated as much as possible and do a lot more walking so help get the fluid to drain from feet. I also need to do a follow up with a regular dr, which the er is helping me with setting up an appt with one.

so yeah.... get off your butts and out of the truck more guys.... your health, especially the heath of your feet depend on it. that is the lesson to be learned. good news is i'm not going to die, yet, but the bad news is a week of not working... that's gonna really hurt the bank, i mean we're talking at least 1400 gross in income.

This is one of the reasons I am looking at switching to flatbed division next year. did my first year of trucking as dry van, then jan of this year I switched to a company that does only reefer. with a better company than 1st one but still don't get out enough and reefer has much tighter delivery schedules so i can't la-de-da and get the exercise needed to be as healthy as i should be without losing time on other things like food prep time (I cook outa truck mostly), time for showers and most important sleep. I try for at least 8 hours sleep at min. I am no stranger to hard work and I think flatbed would help get me back in shape and get me outa truck a lot more.