Today at PILOT

[Jon Wehrenberg]

And if we could plug into the thinking of the average driver I believe we would find most of them, including the incompetent ones are of the opinion we are the novice drivers.

[rfoster]

I saw the exact same display of intelligence at the Pilot at White Pine Exit I-81 North of Knoxville last year. I then turned on the CB and it was sickening and funny to hear then comments made from the other truckers in the lot about their fellow driver.

Then to top it off the Lady driver in front of me at the pumps ask me to back up so she could back out from the pumps when the driveway in front of her was completely clear. After clear and specific instructions to her by yours truly she got in her truck and pulled forward and exited the parking lot.

I have not been back to that pilot since.

[Orren Zook]

You find quite a few foreigner's too, who are not fluent in english. Makes me wonder how they are able to get a CDL, pass a training class and go to work driving when no communication is possible without the 'translator' at the other end of the cell phone. There must be a tremendous driver shortage - even with the drop in freight tonnage.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Would any of us go days or weeks on end without being home? I don't care if they get $1.00 per mile and average 100,000 miles annually, it doesn't make up for all the time away from home.

So the net result is when the drivers figure out what they actually make per hour for the hours on the job and realize there are a lot of jobs that pay the same per hour they just walk away.

So the companies go looking for last week's 7/11 sales clerk who has just passed his Class A test, they give him a truck and now he is a professional. If you want to have a painful but educational day go watch the guys in a truck stop trying to back into a space. You can tell the experienced drivers who deserve to be called drivers.

[truk4u]

There are truck drivers and steering wheel holders and in between it's not a pretty sight! Actually the driver shortage has turned around some and the carrier's are weeding out the deadbeats, felons and perverts. Business has been so bad, especially on the flatbed and specialized hauling side and so many carrier's have gone south that the driver situation is getting better, although you would never know it by some of the crazy crap you see going on.

Arrow Trucking parked 1,400 trucks on Christmas eve telling drivers to get their trucks to either a terminal or a Freightliner Dealership and have a nice Christmas, your job is history.

It's a tough life, but there are a lot of good professional drivers out there!

PS - You couldn't pay me to sleep in a truckstop unless I could hide in a corner protecting at least 1/2 the bus to potential parking lot damage.

[johnny64]

I drove for 25 years and it is not like it use to be not at all

[garyde]

I have been hearing advertising on the radio again for truck drivers needed. Also, an article recently saying there was a need for truck drivers, so it won't be long before youll have many more numb nuts on the road.
That very same morning in LV I was waiting in line at a TA to get a pump turned on and a driver in front of me had pumped .87 cents more in fuel than he had charged. It took the attendant 15 minutes to figure out how to charge the overcharge on her cash register. Meanwhile a foriegn gentlemen truck driver could not get his pump to work, and there were 3 other attendants behind the counter fumbling doing nothing while 6 people waited to charge or purchase. It was like someone dropped a dumb bomb in the room.
What the hey!

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

I drove for 25 years and it is not like it use to be not at all

You sneaked in!

Welcome John and Nell, good to see you posting right out of the box.

I see you are Full Timers, where are you now.

JIM

[michaeldterry]

While we were dealing with getting Evangeline out of the mud pit Sunday, an older gentleman wandered up to the coach to admire her. Well, he ended up staying and visiting all afternoon! We learned that "Joe" is a local truck driver who keeps his tractor at the same storage lot where we were parking Evangeline. He has been driving OTR long haul for 52 years! He still makes a circuit every week hauling chicken wings to Houston, TX, then deadheading to Dallas, TX - where he picks up a load of beef to bring back to Atlanta. He regaled us with story after fascinating truck driving/road story all afternoon in between pouring over Evangeline and asking a million questions about her. He is a fine example of what professional truck drivers used to be- a little rough around the edges with a salty sense of humor, but very chivalrous; serious about safety and getting the load delivered safely and on time and quite an interesting character. All in all, Joe's presence made what would have otherwise been a very tedious afternoon a delightful experience.

It turns out that he even knew the wrecker driver that responded to our Coach-Net call and vouched for him as "a good man who does the job right." Joe, of course, pitched in to help the wrecker driver get us hooked up and then proceeded to "direct" the actual towing. He even looked at my Cobra CB radio for me; showed me how to use the linear amplifier and went to his tractor to let me test transmitting and receiving. While it was a "static" (non-moving) test, I do believe I now have a working CB radio -10/4!

[phorner]

To add another spin to this, while on the road travelling back from Mobile last year, we were listening to the radio when the radio hosts took a call from a young lady.

Apparently, it was "Flash A Trucker Tuesday" and the whole purpose was to have a woman get as close as she could to a semi and then figure out a way to "flash" the driver

I thought that's just what we need.... an 18 wheeler flying down the highway while the driver is eyeing up some babe and not paying attention to the road.... and the idiot girl trying to get as close to the truck as possible while trying to undress...

Couldn't believe that a radio station would risk the liability but apparently that wasn't a consideration.

Ya gotta be REAL CAREFUL out there!!