Comments By Howard P.

Keep this in mind, Joe. On this Earth there are MILLIONS of people who are alive simply because it's illegal to shoot them.

Learn it, love it, live it.

Cheers, Howard

How did BOTH tires blow at the same time? I've never heard a story like that before

Experience would make me SWAG that one blew first and took out the other one along with the mudflap and the rail it was attached to. Since I had time to get to the right and find a left hand curve to stop on instead of the right hand curve I was on when it happened without trashing the rims, I think that's an accurate SWAG....

If I got paid to do failure analysis, I would do it in a professional manner and write a full report on it with time/stress tracking, microscopic photos, and other such things. But I get paid to drive a freaking truck and I dont do ANYTHING I don't get paid for, Keith.

I keep trying to explain that to the folks in Springfield, but they don't seem to "get it"....

Cheers, Howard

What time today? I was just over that stretch of road earlier today. Presently @ the Flying J I-255 Exit 17a across the river from St Louis.

Ernie

Must've been about 0915. Sent the QC call to the geniuses at RA at 0937. One Prime driver stopped to see if I needed help. Decent guy, but there was nothing he could do, of course.

I ended up stopping for a break at the Pilot in Oak Grove KY where my hours ran out. This morning, I got as far as Okawville IL before the road disappeared in a snowbank. Not rolling again until the snowplows come out and do their job.

This load of welfare juice ain't worth my life or my career.....

Cheers, Howard

Don't let the poor thinking of others ruin your own peace of mind out there. As you know, your mind and your truck are truly the only things you have full control over out there.

Oh, I won't Brett. If there's nothing else I learned in 12 years as a salesman and 25 as an engineer, it is exactly how stupid the average American (truck driver or not) really is. Just slightly smarter than the typical cedar stump. Twenty some odd years on the back of a '57 Panhead taught me to expect drivers around me to do the stupidest thing possible in any given situation and plan for it.

For anyone who disagrees with that statement, I ask you to watch the evening news on any given day to see my evidence.

Cheers, Howard

....when both tires on the right rear axle on my trailer blew at 60 MPH westbound on I-24 in TN this morning. The 4-wheeler who was hanging out in the lane next to me was, but that's his problem. He shouldn't be hanging out there.

I sure did get scared when I saw how many so-called "professional" truck drivers made absolutely no effort to slow down and move to the left when I was sitting there waiting for the Loves service truck to arrive. And I was downright terrified after he arrived and started unloading stuff off his truck. I was almost sure he was gonna get splattered before he was done with the job.

Now I expect stupidity from 4-wheelers. Those who aren't on the cell phone while they're cruising along at 65-75 MPH have such a bad case of rectal cranial inversion they don't even see what's going on until it's too late. When they do see the pretty orange triangles 10, 100, and 200 feet behind my truck, they probably figure it's leftover Christmas decorations. The flashing red lights on my truck and the yellow ones on the service truck mean there's a clearance sale at K-Mart, right?

But I expect better from my road brothers and sisters. I know you all know exactly what is going on and what can happen. Is it really going to cost you that much to slow down and move over? Is that half a penny you may lose really more important to you than my life? Or the life of that young man from Loves who is making peanuts to change the tires on my trailer and has a young wife and a 3 year old waiting for him to come home from work tonight? Really?

Think about this: it may be YOU out there with blown tires next week, next month, or next year. How would YOU like it?

I'm an old man and it really isn't going to hurt anyone if you kill me. But if you do, I promise you I will come back and haunt you so that you never get a good night's sleep again as long as you live. And when you die, I will be the first one you meet at the gates of hell because I'll be the one kicking the snot out of you every day for the rest of eternity. Go ahead - be as stupid as you like.....

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming. Rant over.

Petro and TA all seem to be more driver oriented in general. Not that you wont get the tourists in those, but for some reason it always seems less crowded.

I also prefer the TAs for the same reasons. I'll settle for a P/FJ, but they're usually smaller and have more 4-wheelers and touristas clogging things up.

The main reason a refuse to do business at the Loves in Wamsutter is because I stopped there one day, fueled, parked, and went in to take a shower. The snaggle tooth old biddy behind the counter gave me a number and said I had to wait. So I waited. And waited. And waited. And then I waited some more.

After about 45 minutes, there were four or five other guys waiting, too. So I just walked back there to see if anyone was actually cleaning the showers. That's when I discovered the plumber (butt crack showing and everything) working on replacing the broken pipes.

That's when I went back out front, gave the other guys the 411, and then told the old battleaxe exactly what I thought of her wasting my time by not telling us they didn't have water. Then I went back to my truck and went to sleep like I would've done an hour earlier if she had just said they didn't have water just then.

Anybody who wants to do business with me had better respect the fact that my time is worth money and it's not to be wasted for no reason. If they don't value my time, then they had better not count on valuing my money, either.

Those losers in Wamsutter will not ever get one red cent from this driver no matter who I'm driving for!

Cheers, Howard

After reading this, I'm glad I don't have the in-cab release on my Freightshaker. Getting out and pulling the handle isn't that much work.

Glad nobody got hurt. Just shows that "going with your gut" is always good policy.

Cheers, Howard

There were a few places for rigs to park (I've been hearing that most truck stops have NO parking) BUT this was in the afternoon-probably couldn't BUY a spot at night. Not QUITE as noisy as I thought, but it still won't be easy sleeping..Those big diesels have a ground shaking growl. Checked out the showers and found them sparkling clean, (they smelled like Clorox) with plenty of room to shower, shave, change clothes, etc. and an attendant wiping everything down. NICE!!! (I heard that it was nasty at these places).

You'll find that varies from one Loves to the next. Some of them (I absolutely hate the one in Wamsutter WY and plan my trips to avoid the place) are nasty, too. All Loves are small for parking compared to P/FJ and TA.

But after a few months you'll find (like me) that you have trouble sleeping WITHOUT the sound of diesel engines running. I miss my reefer running when I'm empty!

Can't wait to meet some of y'all!! (I'll be the skinny one)

Not for long, kid......

Cheers, Howard

Congratulations on acing your test and getting your CDL, Paul.

As for being a Prime employee, I will reserve comment and see how you feel about that 9-12 months from now.....

All I will say (from experience) is once you finish TNT and do your upgrade DO NOT allow yourself to be suckered into the Prime lease program!

Cheers, Howard

I do know of at least 1 driver that beat the need for a CPAP machine. Can't say if Rob Low has his fingers in that pie, sure would seem like it though.

But if you look at the whole picture, not just the small slice, it makes sense that a driver needs to be well rested in order to be at the top of his/her game as they go down the road.

I am in no way endorsing the Sleep Apnea thing, but am trying to look at it from a safety perspective.

Ernie

Ernie, Who would argue that a driver who isn't sleeping well on his rest breaks is as safe a driver as one who is? Well, I guess I can name a few politicians who might, but who in their RIGHT mind? That is a given.

The problem I have with the Prime policy vis a vis sleep apnea (and I had my tongue only halfway in my cheek when I said that about Rob Low owning part of the CPAP manufacturer) is that if Prime (and by extension Rob Low) is going to demand that a driver go through the testing and use the machine regardless of whether or not there is a clearly defined issue regarding sleep apnea and only a suspicion of it being "possible", then it is Prime (i.e. Rob Low) who should be getting out the checkbook and paying for it.

They shouldn't be imposing those high costs on the driver. We all know he (or she) can't afford it. He drives for Prime!

But that's not the way one gets rich.....

Cheers, Howard