I'm done


Tough first day on the job. My sleep schedule is completely off from. I usually go to bed at 11am. I made it to 4pm. My feet hurt. My legs hurt and just plain physically beat from walking around and standing all day.

The ride into work was fun

No trucks left 2 lanes.....HA
No trucks over 10 tons next exit.....HA
Exit speed, 15 mph.....HA
Trucks excluded next exit......HA

I saw a truck broke down and I felt so bad for him. It was a Landstar truck so he owned it and may be sitting there thinking, I'm done. I can't even afford the tow.

It was like I never left the lab. Right back into the fire immediately like they never gave it a second thought that after 5 years a may need a little time to come back up to speed. I've been driving for 10 years but twice I was called back to help hence the 5 year statement in case someone didn't know.

Get to sit on the senior staff side of building with large office and window I can open. They are putting a special control on ceiling vent so I can shut the heat down. I'm usually hot all the time.

Lots of new scientists from Germany, Poland, Switzerland and other countries. The lab is heavily into battery experiments. We have a special room in the middle of the building that has blast proof walls and a halon system. Lots of fires in there.

So I'm back to work behind a desk and right off the bat I feel like I did before not wanting to be there and doing something else. The money is great but that's not everything. I haven't starting cooking yet. I bought MacDonald's at the drive thru on the way home. Had a few shots and I was down for the count.

One thing I have no desire to do is get back into my truck. Not sure what my mechanic is thinking but pretty sure he wants my truck and trailer.
 
but i do feel you might just be joking, about knowing everything.....

Ya, joking for sure. There's a long list of things I did wrong, learned about it the hard way and paid for it in the end. Especially about preventative maintenance and how it comes to bite you pretty bad. Last lesson was draining the water in the air tanks. That was an expensive lesson after a service call and draining at least 10 gallons of water from the tanks.
 
Ya, joking for sure. There's a long list of things I did wrong, learned about it the hard way and paid for it in the end. Especially about preventative maintenance and how it comes to bite you pretty bad. Last lesson was draining the water in the air tanks. That was an expensive lesson after a service call and draining at least 10 gallons of water from the tanks.
You just opened yourself WIDE OPEN for jokes about backing down the boat ramp into the lake to check for air leaks. You know that, right? o_O

Not that it really matters any more. :(

I guess what I'm saying is I wish you would keep trucking so we can keep making fun of you for your mistakes. :D
 
Ya, joking for sure. There's a long list of things I did wrong, learned about it the hard way and paid for it in the end. Especially about preventative maintenance and how it comes to bite you pretty bad. Last lesson was draining the water in the air tanks. That was an expensive lesson after a service call and draining at least 10 gallons of water from the tanks.
we ALL have made mistakes. it's who wishes to owe up to them.

that's life, we learn (hopefully) from the mistakes we make..

now, let me tell you about my bro-in-law.
 
One thing I have no desire to do is get back into my truck. Not sure what my mechanic is thinking but pretty sure he wants my truck and trailer.

Uh huh, yup.:D

I've quit trucking many times over the past 40+ years. I mean quit stone cold "That's IT. I've HAD IT with this #*%!! Never even going to LOOK at a truck again." I think the longest I made it was around 6 months. That was the winter I spent felling trees for pulpwood.

Trouble was that day by day I found myself being "surrounded" by weird f--ks and a-holes who just wanted to jabber about stuff like their old lady's an relatives and other boring crap that I had absolutely no interest in. Looking at the same faces and scenery all the time. Like going to the library and having only one book that you know all the words to on the shelves.

See, that's the beauty of truckin'. When the people/place you're at get you to your last nerve, you just close that door and roll on driver. We are a "breed apart"; just like the old-timey cowboys.

Now granted that you are going "back" to a world you knew and all. So, I'll give you about a year before you start noticing trucks going by and thinking "I wonder where he's going?". Or finding yourself going "out of route" to drive past a truck dealership "just looking". Or maybeso you'll overhear a co-worker bitching about "those damn trucks on the road" and find yourself jumping their butt.

Naw, you've been "out here" long enough. You is infected ol' son. ;):biglaugh:
 
I for one, believe you.

You sound to me like you would much rather be in the office/lab doing anything other than driving a truck.

Years ago I thought my career was over due to an accident.
(Full disclosure...since we're all just dumping our purses out on the table in front of everyone here lately)

I had been with a company who shall remain nameless, except that it wasn't not Heartland, and I may have bumped another truck to the tune of a little less than 3,000 US.
Since I had only been with them for 3 weeks....they let me go.
So I start calling around looking for a jobby job and no one wants to touch a driver who just had an accident.
Feckin ROCOR wouldn't even hire me!
Thought my career was over and it was devastating.

Now? I am DONE with trucking. Oh yeah, I still drive for a living but it's mostly because it's about all I know how to do.
And it's not really trucking. I come in and do my 10-12 hr shift and it just happens that a truck is my tool of the trade.

I do occasionally go to the truckstop.......to deliver the go go juice, and I absolutely hate the environment there.

You know when you're done and you sound like you know.
 
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Sounds to me that you were a "hobby" trucker that could afford to learn as you went along.

At least you tried it.

Alot of folks live with regret because they never took a chance.

And as long as we're spilling our guts ,
I hit a magnetic bridge in Chicago in 1981.
I got out of the truck to survey the damage.
There was a bag lady on the corner and she walked over,looked at the bridge,looked at my trailer and said "don't worry sonny,on a good week we get 2 or 3 here".lmao

And to pour salt in the wound,I got a ticket on 294 because of all the foam blowing out of the roof.

It didn't help,that a piece of the roof had peeled back and was hanging over about 8 feet.
He wouldn't let me move until I removed it.luckily I had the steps along side the reefer unit and was able to climb up on top and using only a hammer and screwdriver,I chiseled it off and was on my way 2 hours later.lol
 
Came home on Thursday last week and decided to park my truck for good. The lab I use to work at has been asking me to come back so I said yes today. I miss cooking and especially miss being 190 pounds and in shape. I will still be on this forum but now as an arm chair expert know it all.

If anyone knows someone looking for a package deal on my truck, trailer and all the goodies pass it on.
Congratulations. :)
 
I've quit trucking many times over the past 40+ years. I mean quit stone cold "That's IT. I've HAD IT with this #*%!! Never even going to LOOK at a truck again." I think the longest I made it was around 6 months.
I do that several times a year. But every time I escape they always manage to find & capture me & bring me back & put me in solitary confinement. :(
 
Hey, if yer gonna do programming and suchlike, here's a "project" when nobody's looking.:scared:

How's about you gin up a virus or sumpin that we can let loose on EPA, FMCSA and whatever other "alphabet soup" govt outfit sticks us with ridiculous regs. Wipe out all records of current crap and every time they try to enter new garbage get met with a screen that screams "NO!!!! Feck off ya dang idjits !!!!!". :D
 
Well, I respect your decision! Like the other s I done quit trucking. I went back to what I knew. I was dreaming about airplanes and all the good times us ramp rats had.
I went back and it was nothing like it was back then.
We had a lot of down time at the airport. So R.J. I bet you been a lot of places? Yup!
Where have you been and then it turns into a Johnny Cash song.
So tell us some stories. Alwight kids gather round. and I am no where near the best trucker story teller but, I had them laughing.

Then the only thing you remember is the good times, Cant remember any of the bad. Next thing you know you are looking at the trucks going by you.

I wish you all the best. But you have been infected and it is terminal.
 
Well, got home from work today and my truck was being worked on yet again. Never asked for anything to be fixed. My air problem I talked about before was just an air hose from the stainless steel braided line on the compressor to the air dryer. I thought I needed a new compressor. Now it builds air and keeps air. Not sure why he's working on my truck. I have a feeling he's going to want it. I know he wants my trailer. He's a cheap bastard.

And for all you geeks. I'm doing our hazard gas detector calibration docking station over again. It's an embedded system. I did it along time ago. Now going to redo it using embedded Windows 7. The current board we are using has come to end of life and everyone is going with either embedded Windows or embedded Linux. Why not Linux you ask? Me too, that's what I wanted. Customers who know nothing think Linux is some Voo Doo OS and don't want it on their Net.

I'm not use to all this walking around at work. My knees, my calf's and my feet hurt. Each day I'm a little better. Sleep schedule is killing me. Trying to stay awake on more hour each day. I normally went to bed at 11am and drove at night. I made it to 6pm last night.

I get into work at 5am and leave at 2pm. The ride home on 95 outside Boston is wild even at that time. Speed limit is 55. I'm doing 65 and I'm the slowest on the road. I can hardly walk when I get out of my car at home. Oh, and the receptionist looks like a hooker.
 

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