Profile For Pete B.

Hi Brett, like you, I enjoy eating healthy. And it's salads, every single night. For three-and-a-half years and counting. I opted not to go the ice + cooler route, because I don't like the idea of draining the water every couple of days. And sifting through the ice. So, you guessed it, here's my recommendation: I use the Coleman cooler that plugs into a 'cig outlet.' You can buy them from a truck stop and pay $130, or get one from Walmart for $108. Walmart used to sell them for $72, but clearly they have raised the price. It works great for me. I keep lettuce/greens and a variety of veggies in it, as well as drinks, yogurt, and cheese. I didn't get a real refrigerator because I don't have an APU in my truck, and didn't want the 'fridge to drain my batteries when the truck isn't idling. The salads sold in the truck stops aren't bad, they're just small. And as you pointed out, over $5. Also, not a lot of stuff in them. And the meat, usually chicken, appears fried. I build my own salads, and build them big. But who cares, because it's salad food, right? I keep the dried ingredients stored in my cabinets. I haven't tried adding quinoa; that's a good idea. I do use raisins, though not craisins, because they add a nice sweetness to the salad. The tuna is a good source of protein. You should mix it up and also get the tofurky and/or Field Roast veggie sausages; one link equals a can of tuna, and they're not that much more expensive. So yeah, it can be done. Hope this helps.

The fact that you are asking these questions on a forum that you must know caters primarily to company drivers and new drivers shows that you are: 1) not qualified to be an O/O, and 2) not prepared to be an O/O. Go get your CDL, be a company driver for at least a year... you’ll be in a position to answer these questions yourself.

I should be there and parked by 1330, at the latest.

Send me an email at truckerdan44@yahoo.com so I can give you my contact info

Ok; sent you an email with my #.

Add a reply here when you expect to arrive, I keep checking back.

I should be there and parked by 1330, at the latest.

Fantastic! I should be there around 1400hrs-ish. I’ll be able to give more precise eta the day of.

Pilot Dealer aka Sacramento 49er Travel Plaza off Exit 85 on I-80 in Sacramento... I’ll be getting in Sunday the 13th, re-setting, leaving morning of the 15th. Any chance you can stop by so I can meet The Legend?

Ask questions; if there’s something you’re not sure about or don’t understand, don’t hesitate to ask about it. They’ll give you all of the tools you need to be a successful driver. Congratulations and good luck!

Daniel, I’m sorry I’m late to the party, but congratulations to you and your wife! I can’t imagine how thrilled you two must be. That’s wonderful news indeed.

Good luck with your recovery; I look forward to hearing that you’re back on the road.

Hi Anne, I work for Schneider, where we haul strictly chemical liquids; maybe half are HAZMAT. After we complete a delivery/offload, we bring the empty tanker to a tank wash, where we just drop it. That’s one of the benefits of working for a larger company: we don’t have to wait for the tank wash to clean the trailer we just brought in. We drop the dirty, and move on to our next assignment. If we have to pull a trailer out of the same tank wash, it’s usually clean and sitting somewhere waiting for us.

The tank washes we use also process food grade tankers, usually in separate wash bays dedicated for the food grade trailers. I don’t know where the asphalt tankers get their trailers cleaned... I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in my 3+ years at any of the tank washes we frequent. Every once in a blue moon I’ll see a reefer come through for a wash-out, but that’s very rare.

Home.

Todd, sorry to burst your bubble about Schneider, but our drivers are routinely dispatched to all of the “craphole” locations you mentioned. In fact, we have operating centers in at least five of them. Three of the four largest cities in America are on your list, the fourth being Houston (not sure how Houston escaped your radar). We have two OCs there, by the way. How wise do you think it would be for any company to avoid the largest markets in the country? C’mon Todd, be better.

Haven't mastered that skill yet but parking between the lines is overrated.

Like PJ, I have the basic company-issued green chemical suit for protection against corrosives and the non-flammable hazmat chemicals, and Nomex (FR) coveralls for the flammable chemicals and whenever it's required to enter some facilities. My hardhat has an attached face shield, and we received side-shield safety glasses and goggles, as well as a respirator. It's all the basic PPE. If you want to go another step and purchase supplemental gear, I'd recommend Grainger, or just google 'hazmat PPE.' You'll find several outfits that will sell you pretty much anything you want. Some of the things you're looking for don't seem necessary, however. Chemical gloves slip on and off fine without any kind of liner or insert. I do wear a thin pair of cotton gloves under in the winter, just for added warmth. I have several pair of cold-weather chemical gloves that were given to me by customers, they have a thin fleece lining. The chemical boots don't have strong pull handles; they're just really big and slip on and off quite easily. The water cooled clothing? Keep yourself hydrated, and just make sure you have dry clothes to change into when you're done with the offload. Yes, you'll sweat through everything you're wearing, but I just change out of the chemical suit and into dry clothes before I get going. I'll bag up the suit and hang it up to dry overnight. Keep lots of water handy and you won't dehydrate. As far as storing your hazmat clothing, if you get any product on your chemical suit, you can spray it off with water. After it dries, bag it up. The only thing I really get on my chemical suit and nomex is dirt anyway. Often I'll wear the chemical jacket or nomex just for added warmth or to protect against rain. Right now all of my hazmat garments are folded into Walmart plastic bags and stowed away. Like PJ said, the really nasty stuff the customer won't let us touch anyway. In those instances we are told to just stay in the cab. No need to overthink it.

Well, this guy (Stow A. Way) rides with me every October when I decorate the truck for Halloween.

That is beyond awesome.

I got the Air Horn Arm Pump Request the day before yesterday; I think it might excite me more than the kids making the request. One or two times I’ve had young adults do it; just goes to show you in some ways we never grow up.

Wow. Congratulations Mike! Stay safe and hope to meet you at the Trucking Truth banquet next year!

Knight/Swift really needs to get into the tanker market... I’d be first in line.

Patrick, why would you zero in on such a small company anyway, that you can’t find anything about? Red flag!

Seems to me that in this business, unless you’re independently wealthy and don’t need to earn much, which at your age may be the truth (that’s not a slight, just an observation), you’d want to go with a larger company with better resources and deeper pockets.