Long-haul Driving And Boredom

Thanks Jopa and Christina. So, the idea that boredom is a huge problem: is that a common misconception?

I agree with the others, haven't been bored on the road yet, but I've only got six months experience driving. I have gotten bored during home time, and just recently whined on this forum about it.

I think a better comparison to spending a year or two traveling to some distant planet with nothing to do would be a call center job. I worked in them for years, and you will find some of the most bored people you have ever met in your life in them. Repetitive, monotonous, mind-numbing . . . these don't even come close to describing how dull some of the phone work can be.

Btw, "Space Truckin'" by Deep Purple is one of the greatest road songs ever . . . especially when travelling across Nebraska. Oh, wait, that's another thread.

What instruments do you play?

Guitar, piano, and blow some blues harp.

Little Walter would keep one up that is for sure.

"..have been to 47 of the lower 48 and crossed from coast-to-coast 16 times ... haven't been bored yet ..."

That's awesome! Who do you drive for, if you don't mind me asking?

I drive (drove) for Prime, Inc. - recently had a "stint" placed in an artery and was told to take 90 days off . . . guess I still work for them "technically" but when you can't drive, how does that count??

Jopa

I don't know if there is a possible correlation between "trucking in space" and travelling this nations highways. I've never been bored for a single moment. This is a job that requires intense concentration, and personally I think that those who don't possess that ability probably don't last long at it. There is so much to see and be aware of as you are traversing the roads in an 80,000 pound vehicle that is about seventy feet long and bends in the middle, that boredom would be detrimental to your safety and well being. A professional driver has got to be constantly aware of all the different spaces around him, including above and below him, and constantly trying to anticipate what others around him are about to do that the only way boredom is going to overtake him is if he's slacking up on his responsibility to be on the alert.

Now, I'm not going to be critical of those who enjoy books on CD or stuff like that, but for me it is just too much additional stuff for me to process at the same time when I'm driving. Those type of things actually wear me out more quickly. Maybe I'm just a person who is "all in" when I'm committed to doing something - I'm intense about my work and adding in the additional things to process at the same time just has a tiring effect on me.

AMEN Old School.

If you get bored while driving, then it is time to stop and take a break. If boredom becomes a problem, maybe it is time to hang up your keys.

Yes, there are times, especially going thru places like NE, ID, etc where when you see miles and miles and miles and miles, etc of nothing but corn, yes it does get a little boring.

But that is scenery. Scenery does change, eventually.

To me that is the biggest point against night time driving. All you see, unless you are in a populated area, is black. Maybe stars if it is a clear night. That, to me, after enough miles is more boring than all the rows of corn I see traveling the north mid-west.

When I get tired of looking at corn, I start looking at the cars more closely. I used to be pretty good at cars. Types. Models. Year, make, etc. Now that they all look the same, it is hard sometimes to tell a Ford from a Chevy. So I have been trying to get better at car makes and models.

That also helps if one runs you off the road. Hoping that never ever happens to anyone. But it is a perk of my "game".

Audio books. I have tried them. I am usually so concentrated on my driving, which everyone should be, when I do have a book in, I can drive a 100 miles and have no idea what the book was about. Because I didn't comprehend it.

Just like the radio. I can have it on all day and barely remember a single song that has played. It is on for noise usually.

And the talk radio. I am like the other driver. I try to stay away from it. Nothing I have every heard ever seems to agree with my view points, so I stay away from it.

If you get bored, change something. Get out and walk around. Change the road you are traveling. Something. Anything to involve a change.

Keep it safe out here, the life you save might be your own.

The Blue Angel.

Have to become one with your truck,and just enjoy,the beauty,of the planet itself. Heavy metal music,keeps me running down the road. Although running at night,you miss a lot of scenery,and your surroundings seem much smaller.