Life on the road

Trouble is that most of us have been around this trade long enough to feel that "our story" is "nothing special". It's what we do day-to-day to put food on the table and a roof over our families. Just the same as every other "working stiff" out there. Oh sure, we have out "Oh Crap" moments but by and large only another trucker can understand the context. Success, in our business, is getting from point A to point B without any drama.

Ice Road Truckers wouldn't have lasted more than a handfull of episodes if they truly showed the daily run without all the scripted stuff.
 
I am not interested in latching on to or trying to emulate anyone or anything. All I am wanting to do is learn and hone my skills as a listener and practice my craft.
I really don't think the general public as a whole has any sort of definetive view of truckers, except what they see on the road. It is rare these days that anyone takes the time to learn something new about someone else. What is your story?

You already have some preconceived notions on what is the "right" way to be in this business, as this statement shows:

I had my first set of trucker interviews this morning, a father and son, trucking tradition passed down as it was meant to be. I have yet to review the footage and the audio but I know what I got was pure gold. There was everything, high mountain drama and sincere appreciation of the job they are performing. Family, friends and life on the road and it was not rolled into a neat little package, it was sloppy and filled with emotion, day to day grind, life on the road that requires a cast iron stomach and rubber butt as they stoically put it.

How can you possibly know what is "meant to be" in any business? My father was not a trucker. @Duck's father was not a trucker. @Skateboard's father was not a trucker.
I am a woman. @patriciajnsn is a woman. @TexasNana is a woman.
We are all truckers, as opposed to just being people who drive trucks.. or the more colorful and derogatory moniker of "steering wheel holder."
So tell me: What is really "meant to be?"
My idea of what is "meant to be" is a safe driver with a passion for the job and a love for the road. How we got here is irrelevant. It's what we are now that determines what is "meant to be."

I have a bit of a sore spot for this "only right way is if you get it from daddy" mindset. A lot of guys come in that way and many of them turn out to be truckers to the core. But a vast majority come in cold through a CDL school and large company like I did. If they love the job and do it safely, they are no less truckers than the guy who learned it from daddy. In fact, daddy's boy usually is at a disadvantage now, because daddy doesn't know about new advances in equipment and technology (or is outright resistant to them) and most often, teaches "old school" methods that simply don't work anymore.

How did I get into this? Arthritis kicked my ass so bad that I couldn't fight fire and cut people out of cars anymore and I can't stand the idea of collecting a guv'mint SSI check despite the fact I could three times over. That is old school: refusal to live at the expense of somebody else.

No, I don't want to be part of your monkey show. I'll let the blagarts, whiners and knotheads who are still stuck in the 70s do that. Good luck with your project.
 
Injun.... as an "old guy" I'd be real interested in what "old school" methodology you think "doesn't work anymore"?

"Old School", as I was taught, is "Learn your job. Learn your equipment. Use your brain to think your way through problems."

"New School" today, as I see it in the "new trucking", says "You're stupid. Let the new tech do the thinking".

In Dec we took delivery of a dozen "computer controlled" Super Tanker trailers for hauling temp sensitive chemicals like MDI/TDI. "New Management" has 100 of them on order. As I type, there are 3 MDI loads sitting in the terminal yard; refused because they were delivered way below the minimum heat range. Now other than the fact that the "new breed" ain't checking them every 2-4 hours in transit like they're supposed to there's a problem. This "old guy" figured it out pretty quick on the road and cured it. As delivered, the temp perameters are set way too low. They are manually adjustable if you know where to look. Have I told "management"? Hell no..... "tampering" with equipment is grounds for dismissal. Passed the word to the "old" head mechanic though..... he's leaving soon anyways. He told me that he'd already discovered that but "management" dismissed the idea with "That's not possible". :dunno:

BTW, "Dad" didn't teach me. He was a railroad engineer dating back to Steam Engines. He did teach me how to run a diesel/electric locomotive and shunt RR cars when I was 12. He died when I was 14. I learned trucks from my "old school" guys who wouldn't put up with any crap from a "new guy".
 
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Injun.... as an "old guy" I'd be real interested in what "old school" methodology you think "doesn't work anymore"?

"Old School", as I was taught, is "Learn your job. Learn your equipment. Use your brain to think your way through problems."

"New School" today, as I see it in the "new trucking", says "You're stupid. Let the new tech do the thinking".

In Dec we took delivery of a dozen "computer controlled" Super Tanker trailers for hauling temp sensitive chemicals like MDI/TDI. "New Management" has 100 of them on order. As I type, there are 3 MDI loads sitting in the terminal yard; refused because they were delivered way below the minimum heat range. Now other than the fact that the "new breed" ain't checking them every 2-4 hours in transit like they're supposed to there's a problem. This "old guy" figured it out pretty quick on the road and cured it. As delivered, the temp perameters are set way too low. They are manually adjustable if you know where to look. Have I told "management"? Hell no..... "tampering" with equipment is grounds for dismissal. Passed the word to the "old" head mechanic though..... he's leaving soon anyways. He told me that he'd already discovered that but "management" dismissed the idea with "That's not possible". :dunno:

BTW, "Dad" didn't teach me. He was a railroad engineer dating back to Steam Engines. He did teach me how to run a diesel/electric locomotive and shunt RR cars when I was 12. He died when I was 14. I learned trucks from my "old school" guys who wouldn't put up with any crap from a "new guy".
Old school ideas like CAT is the only engine worth a hang, wind out your rpm to 2,200, never use the clutch, log books are for chumps, have to cheat to get by, 4 mpg is acceptable as long as it's a CAT, any truck that's not a Peterbilt is crap...

I could go on and on.

You should notice I made a distinction between truckers and people who drive trucks for money. My point was that there are great truckers coming from all directions and the "daddy" method isn't necessarily the only way it's "meant to be." I've learned a lot from old hands over the years. I've also learned from younger, newer drivers. You don't have to be a third-generation driver to be a great trucker and family lineage doesn't mean squat to me. Either you, yourself, can do the job or you can't and it doesn't matter who taught you.
 
Meant to be


For the kid I talked to yesterday, for him truckin was “meant to be”, no if ands or buts about it. His Dad was guiding his hand over the gears when he was five, that simple act made a deep impression on him that influenced the whole of his life. I am not one that is willing to change his way of thinking or his words to suit yours. This was not an ice road truckers script it was real life, three guys sitting around a supper table sharing, nothing glorious or self serving about it. There was nothing more he wanted to do than follow in his Fathers foot steps, he did it, it was a personal choice that he made him a better person for it. If fact the lessons of his father made the roads we all travel a lot safer, I am certainly grateful for that. Mom, dad, aunt, uncle, friend or foe, if we learn something good or bad from tone another all the better. Rare is it that we can make all the mistakes on our own, better to learn from someone else’s.


I didn’t follow in my father’s steps either; I didn’t have the personality for what he chose to do with his life. I do appreciate the open commentary, it provides me with a better understanding of the approach I would like to take, I am learning and that is why I am here.


Regardless, you are part of the monkey show whether you think you are or not, you chose to join in the conversation, and it is appreciated. I promised to stay out of you lane on the highway, but f I see you broke down on the side of the road needing a hand, I will stop, it is what my Granny taught me to do.


I have no preconceived ideas what is right about the business, how could I, I am the guy in the passenger seat of a four wheeler staring up at you from the road going 70 mph, wondering how someone like you makes it looks so casual motoring down the road hauling a trailer almost as long as my house. Man or woman, I respect who ever can pull off that kind of feat.


Everybody has a story; if you are alive you have a story of survival. Think about all those souls that didn’t make it. If you were to check into it you would find yourself to be one of the lucky ones. There are a lot more that don’t make it than do, not something we talk a lot about but it happens.


I can only do what I know, I can’t tell anyone else’s story, they have to tell it and it isn’t my job to change it.


What is a spike?
 
I believe a "spike" is the little handle off the right side of the steering column that operates the trailer brakes independent of the tractor. It's also called a "Johnson bar" or a "trolley brake."
 
Old school ideas like CAT is the only engine worth a hang, wind out your rpm to 2,200, never use the clutch, log books are for chumps, have to cheat to get by, 4 mpg is acceptable as long as it's a CAT, any truck that's not a Peterbilt is crap...

I could go on and on.

You should notice I made a distinction between truckers and people who drive trucks for money. My point was that there are great truckers coming from all directions and the "daddy" method isn't necessarily the only way it's "meant to be." I've learned a lot from old hands over the years. I've also learned from younger, newer drivers. You don't have to be a third-generation driver to be a great trucker and family lineage doesn't mean squat to me. Either you, yourself, can do the job or you can't and it doesn't matter who taught you.

Ok, gotcha and for the most part I can agree.... with a couple of exceptions in your examples because I know where they came from.
1. Cat used to be (right up into the 90's) the engine when it came to power and reliability, especially in hilly country hauling heavy loads. 4 to 5 mpg was average for all the "big three" (Detroit, Cummins, Cat) when really working them hard. But Cat stayed together far longer than the other two.

2. Pete used to be the "dream truck" because they were still basically a custom "customer's specs" truck that had everything optional when you ordered one. Aluminum frame? No problem. Your choice of air or spring suspensions, complete drivetrain, interior, you name it. And they weren't just thrown together on the assembly line. Only thing that approached them was a Western Star when they were a stand-alone brand.

Us old farts still remember those days with a fondness. Especially when viewing today's cookie-cutter, buy what we give you plastic "trucks".

I believe a "spike" is the little handle off the right side of the steering column that operates the trailer brakes independent of the tractor. It's also called a "Johnson bar" or a "trolley brake."

Uh huh, that's what I learned to call them. They will soon be part of history/lore as the move towards "brake by wire" progresses.
 
Ok, gotcha and for the most part I can agree.... with a couple of exceptions in your examples because I know where they came from.
1. Cat used to be (right up into the 90's) the engine when it came to power and reliability, especially in hilly country hauling heavy loads. 4 to 5 mpg was average for all the "big three" (Detroit, Cummins, Cat) when really working them hard. But Cat stayed together far longer than the other two.

2. Pete used to be the "dream truck" because they were still basically a custom "customer's specs" truck that had everything optional when you ordered one. Aluminum frame? No problem. Your choice of air or spring suspensions, complete drivetrain, interior, you name it. And they weren't just thrown together on the assembly line. Only thing that approached them was a Western Star when they were a stand-alone brand.

Us old farts still remember those days with a fondness. Especially when viewing today's cookie-cutter, buy what we give you plastic "trucks".



Uh huh, that's what I learned to call them. They will soon be part of history/lore as the move towards "brake by wire" progresses.
Operative words: "used to be." Lot of "old school" guys can't get past that.
 
Consider this.... someday you guys are going to be "old guys" too. Given the current mess of things what are you gonna be able to look back on as "The Good Ol Days"????
 
They shouldn't have to. :mad:
They went the way of DeSoto, Eagle, Saturn and Edsel, and for the same reasons: The market demanded it or they couldn't keep up with technology and regulations. Their loss.

I'd like to get a Saturn. But they're gone. I could live in the past and bitch about a great car being unavailable...or I can just go buy a Dodge.
 
They went the way of DeSoto, Eagle, Saturn and Edsel, and for the same reasons: The market demanded it or they couldn't keep up with technology and regulations. Their loss.

I'd like to get a Saturn. But they're gone. I could live in the past and ***** about a great car being unavailable...or I can just go buy a Dodge.

Pssssst... I have a Saturn. 2004 Ion. Her name is Eileen. She rattles a little in the vents and she listed to the left a little when I got her (fixed now) but she's a good one. Really has some get up and go, too :biggrin-2: she was practically new when I got her, only had around 26,000 miles on. Did want to trade in for another truck but I got too attached.
 
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