A day in the life....

Today I drove through Nevada into California, including over Donner Summit, which is a pretty treacherous stretch of highway for trucks.  Picked up another load of Gilroy garlic and are now headed to Boston, Rhode Island and Connecticut.  It's about 11:30 pm.

In case folks are wondering what comprises a day on the truck: 

Essentially, we just drive around the clock.  Usually, my shift begins between 2-4 pm and goes until about 12:30 am.  It is CR England policy that apprentice drivers not drive past 1 am, since most accidents occur between the hours of 1-6 am.  Therefore, Fabrice/Mike (our trainer-driver) does the night shift.  Mike-just-Mike usually drives between 7 am and sometime in the mid to late afternoon.  I usually sleep until about 9 am.  By that time, we are typically stopped for fuel and we all grab coffee, a pastry or what-have-you.  We usually stock up on other drinks and snacks for the day.

Contrary to what you might expect, we really don't do much visiting.  Most of the time we're each in our own thoughts.  Fabrice/Mike usually sleeps most of the day, except for a couple of hours of monitoring what we are doing and where we are headed.  Mike-just-Mike and i visit a little bit, and have talked about things like his family in Kentucky.  He hasn't asked me any questions about me or my family.  I guess i'm just the curious one.  We also talk a little bit about next steps with CR England, for example, if we want to lease a truck and be an owner-operator, or if we want to be simply company drivers.  Owner-operators make more money per mile and have more freedom, but you are also responsible for all costs associated with the truck, fuel, etc.  So the burden is pretty high, even though you can make a whole lot more money operating that way.

 We usually stop a couple times a day at truck stops, which is usually a Flying J, a Pilot or a TA.  Although i'm not drinking alcohol anymore (haven't had a drink in 6 weeks), my diet isn't so great.  I have a terrible sweet tooth, so i usually buy candy to snack on.  Today we stopped at a Nevada TA (pix of Nevada attached).  The truck stop had a casino, of course, and the coolest collection of pistols and rifles i have ever seen, all from the old west.  It had replica pistols of Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp and other famous lawmen/cowboys.  Very neat to see.  Kind of intimidating too!

It's probably gross to admit, but we only shower about once a week.  We brush our teeth, use deodorant and such, but we are running so constantly that we can't do showers that often.  Plus,  they cost $10 a pop.  Hygiene is expensive!!  I am in desperate need of doing laundry.

I typically do my blog after my driving shift is done, which, as i said, is about 1 am.

Well, don't have much else to offer this evening.  Hope everyone is doing well.

Stay safe....

KWA