Amusing Myself At The Truck Stops

If I have time to kill, which doesn't happen very often, I will amuse myself at a truck stop by watching the people and the trucks. We, as truck drivers, are a very diverse group, and to be honest, some of us are real characters! I get amused by the statements of bravado made by some of us, by the ever entertaining outfits some of us go into the truck stop wearing (surely some of you guys are making enough money to purchase a new T-shirt every now and then! Many of us prefer our T-shirts to look like Swiss Cheese), and today I have been amused by the names of the owner operator rigs visiting this Love's location near Dublin, Georgia.

Today I spotted "Pooh Bear's Trucking Company," who I noticed was being followed much too closely by "Leadfoot Express" as they entered the Truck Stop.

Then there are the ones who's names makes you kind of shake your head and wonder why they would choose such a name for their business. These two I found curious, only because the name they have chosen would seem to me to make a D.O.T. officer want to take a little closer look at them if they were to stop them. One of them was called "Gun Runner Express."

The other one not only copied his name from a well known company, but even stole their logo too! What is funny about it is that it is a well known and established name of a company that kind of labels him as an "Old Stoner."

I caught a photo of him at the fuel island just so I could share it with you guys. Here he is, the winner of my "How Did You Come Up With That Name For Your Trucking Company" contest for this year!

Maybe his truck is sooooo fast that he is constantly having to zig zag through traffic. (old stoner is probably more likely though)

I do the same thing at truck stops. One of my favorite things to do is to watch what I call "Parking Wars". It's a hilarious reality show I get to watch through my widescreen HD windshield.

Typically I'll park in the early afternoon while there are still several spots open, then settle in to watch the feeding frenzy of trucks scrambling for those few remaining spots. There's an ever-changing cast of characters and plot twists.

You have the fast backers, slow backers, Super Truckers, double parkers, nose-ins, lane blockers, and the impatients etc. If you watch long enough you'll even get to see the guy who slowly circles the lot over and over and over, hoping for someone to slip up and leave their spot.

Top that off with an occasional cameo appearance of a lot lizard slithering around, and you have a recipe for an evening of entertainment unmatched by anything you can find on a television.

Maybe its because I am still a new rookie, I cannot wait to sleep once I am done for the day.

I actually saw a rare specimen SAPA truck today passing through Nashville. He was empty headed east on 24. The few times I've seen one I wonder if it's old school behind the wheel.

Maybe its because I am still a new rookie, I cannot wait to sleep once I am done for the day.

Serah, I still feel that way. I made these observations after I woke the next morning. I had an unusual delay on this load where I ended up sitting for fourteen hours instead of the usual ten hour break.

We all need to get our proper rest, both rookies and experienced drivers.

I witnessed a full on Mexican stand off at the Pilot in Billings MT a few weeks ago. It's a huge lot, all easy / wide open parking and there were a good 30 to 40 spots left in the early evening. There's probably 40 spots right in front of the fuel Island. Two guys had zeroed in on spot #30 at basically the same time. One guy had just finished fueling and was going to nose in, the other guy had just pulled in and was coming in from the side in order to set up for a straight back.

The guy from the side saw the guy from the fuel Island was going for it and parked his tractor right in front of the spot. Fuel Island guy pulled right up to him and hit the air brakes. They sat there staring at each other for 30 to 40 minutes until one of the employees came out and broke it up.

Meanwhile of course the peanut gallery on the CB is having a ball calling the play by play and betting on who's going to finally give in and grab one of the other 40 spots available. LOL!

JJ

Oh geez, I would love to have witnessed the stand-off... too funny.

Turtle, how about the '50 pull-up guy?' That was me tonight! I have a hard time seeing out of my mirrors at night while backing up, and tonight had to do a blind-side 45/90 to get backed in. But hey... I'm in straight, tight, and didn't hit anything!

Old School, the worst representation I've seen yet was at one of my own OC's, which really spoke to the guy's slovenlyness, as we have free showers (+ towels) and free laundry facilities at all of our OCs. And to boot, dude showed up the next morning in the same state as the previous day!

My wife joins me often on the truck. Her favorite thing to do is watch the parking merry go round. I usually start my day around 03:00 so I park early she makes sure I park in just the right place so she can see the fuel islands and most of the lot. After we eat and shower she settles in to watch the show. I've woke up hours later to use the bathroom, and she will sometimes still be up watching tv and the late arrivals trying to squeeze into the tight spots giggling. When she does finally wake up she usually has some great stories to tell. She will be all like

I like to start very early in the day as well (almost guaranteed to have a spot anywhere), and obviously, it's still hot mid afternoon, so whenever I'm parked, first thing I do is crank the AC and close the blinds. I don't see much TS entertainment.