Ride-a-longs

Can you have a permanent rider?

It depends on the company. My company had a bad experience with a driver having his wife permanently along with all their dogs, I believe the company said there were five of them, so now there are restrictions. Ride alongs cannot be for more than one month, and only two medium-sized dogs at the most, two cats, no birds, no exotic pets.

Laura

Should be a fun thing BK for both of you. Now don't go and forget him at some truck stop hahaha, even IF he drives ya nuts within a couple days hahaha........ Joking of course, Gramps

Haha. The real danger is that I drive him nuts and he jumps in the driver’s seat while I’m in the restroom and leaves ME behind. So I made him promise not to do that. I hope I can trust him.

Pocket the keys.

Since I’ve not had anyone ride with me before, I’m learning as I go along.

My scheduled ride along with my grandson had to be postponed because the company didn’t have any loads that would get me to his general location. I have “home time” the first week of August, so he will now go with me when I return to work. And they told me that they can’t guarantee I will get routed back to his area when he has to go home. He may only be able to ride for one week because he is starting college early in September and has to get ready for that. Therefore, depending where we are when he needs to go back, I may have to put him on a bus or plane for the return trip. So I’m learning that ride-a-longs are not as easily arranged as I thought, at least in this situation. My DM told me it’s actually easier if the rider goes along for a longer period of time so the planner has time to route them back home. But at least it doesn’t look like a total disaster. I will still get some quality time with him before he gets sucked into higher education.

I took my mom on a ride along last September. It was a nice change but after about an hour I was ready to be alone again lol. I love my mother don't get me wrong, but I love being in the truck alone listening to music and have the option to call someone if I desire. I felt the need to entertain her but there's only so much you can do cramped in a daycab playing truck driver. I took a shorter run, 2 stores with 2 backhauls for a total of about 260 miles. 2nd backhaul had us wait about 3 hours and she was losing her mind. Normally I'd just take a nap across the seats but that wasn't an option (sorry mom no cuddling here!). I suggested she watch a movie on her phone like I typically do (right before I nap) then I got out and just walked along the side of the trailer like I do when I feel the need to move around. She had trouble remembering how to climb in/out safely , and as she gets older (60 this year) she needed more frequent bathroom stops than I normally do. She was thankful for the experience but said she isn't interested in doing it again.

I would recommend if you shutdown early for the day or take a reset look into renting a car and go be tourist's. Make it enjoyable for him and not just cooped up in the truck the whole time. Although I did enjoy the ride along and mom came away with a better understanding of our career and how to drive around a big rig I'm not eager to have another passenger because I enjoy my personal space. I have informed my supervisor I'm willing to train new drivers if necessary but I'm not even too eager to do that because again, I like the solitude of being in the truck alone.

I’ve had a few riders. Generally I’m way more excited than they are lol. I can’t wait to show them my super cool job but I’ve found most people find it kinda boring. I don’t know man, no matter how other people see it I will always think getting to drive a big rig or even ride in one is just so dang cool.

One tip though—just don’t let yourself get distracted by your passenger. It’s super easy to do and can have pretty ugly consequences