Drive in spite of your emotions, not because of your emotions

It happens all the time. Some 4-wheeler decides at the last minute to get over to the right lane to get off at their exit. You have a nice following distance, and some tailgater gets in front of you, taking away your following distance, only for them to go the exact same speed they were going before. They must just not want to be behind a big truck. Instead of merging properly, somebody decides to get in front of you when they are only going 35mph, and they still had 1/2 mile of merging lane left. Then they take their sweet time getting up to speed, so you go to pass and then they take off like a bat out of hell.

It seems like we are in a constant battle with other vehicles on the road to do our job safely, effectively, and to enjoy what we are doing. Sometimes we get angry and drive in a manner we shouldn’t. It happens to the best of us. For example, someone may cut you off and so you decide to stay right on their tail. Or someone towing a boat runs you off into the shoulder and goes on their merry way, completely unaware of what happened. So you stay in a bitter mood for a while and let those emotions drive you.

You are the captain of the ship. You and you alone drive that 40-ton beast. When your driving habits change because of your emotions, how you feel about the way others are driving around you, you need to take a break and cool down. Part of being a professional driver is driving in a manner to keep everyone on the road safe no matter what the situation may be. It can be extremely difficult at times, but you need to keep in mind and remember how powerful that machine you are so comfortable with really is, and the massive amount of damage you would do if you came into contact with a vehicle that weighs 1/25 that yours does.

Most drivers don’t drive like idiots on purpose. They are just ignorant about how trucks work. Think of yourself as a hero.. protecting the ignorant from themselves. How would you drive if the people in the vehicles around you were your mother or father, sister or brother, aunt, or someone else you are close to? So next time some 4-wheeler cuts you off, or they get in front of you going 40mph less than you, keep that in mind. Drive in spite of your emotions, not because of them. By keeping your cool and maintaining your professionalism on the road, you are truly in a sense saving the ignorant from themselves.

This article is original material by Antoni Pestka and was published on this 21st day of April, 2008. This article may be reproduced or printed, if and only if it remains in its original state, completely unedited, and no profit is made. This message must remain at the bottom of this article, including this link to the author’s website. http://peachfuzzandreno.wordpress.com

Newton’s Law and Following Distance

Newton’s Law states “An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends
to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an
unbalanced force”

I see it every day and it just boggles my mind. Grown men in trucks tailgating other vehicles of all kinds; Trucks, cars, a minivan complete with the husband, wife, and four kids inside, even motorcycles. You all should know better. Shame on you! Guess what that “unbalanced force” talked about in Newton’s law is, if all of a sudden you have to bring that 80,000 pound rig to a stop, or even just to a major slowdown? That’s right, you guessed it. That minivan with the family inside.

How is it that along the way, so many of us have somehow forgotten, or somehow started to take for granted the awesome power of these 40-ton beasts we drive day in and day out. Something that we are supposed to be “professional” in doing? Is being a car length, or even a truck length, from another vehicle, while going 65+ mph considered being professional? Not to me. I consider it quite reckless. The average semi truck is 70 feet long, and requires close to 1,000 feet to come to a stop. Do we really think we can overpower the laws of physics, and come to a stop in a truck length at these speeds?

Consider this. Assume you are going 65mph (about 95 feet per second) and you are a decent distance from the car in front of you. Let’s say three seconds. That means they are about 285 feet in front of you. Let us assume something unexpected happens, like they blow a tire, or someone pulls out in front of them, or there is a wreck in front of them and they slam on their brakes and come to a complete stop. Best case scenario, you are going to push them at least two complete football fields before you come to a stop. And guess what? You’ve just added manslaughter to your record. All because of your lack of patience, road rage, or whatever other reason you had for tailgating. Congratulations.

So please, whatever the reason is- impatience, lack of caring, possibly road rage, we need to slow down and think about what we are doing at all times when behind the wheel, of any vehicle. We need to go back to a time when we were new at driving and it scared the crap out of us to be around other vehicles. How many times have you taken your eyes off the road for just an instant, to get a drink or food, or to look at your truckstop guide, or even just looking at your mirrors, then looked up and said to yourself, “where did that guy come from?”? We need to do our part, as professionals, to keep that 5-8 second following distance. When someone gets in front of you, slow your speed by 2-5mph, and let that following distance increase again. I know its difficult, and it requires great discipline and maturity, but we need to continue driving like we never drove before, taking our time in turns and on on/offramps, keeping good following distance, and being alert to everything around us at all times, or it can completely change our life, and the lives of countless others, in the blink of an eye.

This article, except for the images used, is original material by Antoni Pestka and was published on this 21st day of April, 2008. This article may be reproduced or printed, if and only if it remains in its original state, completely unedited, and no profit is made. This message must remain at the bottom of this article, including this link to the author’s website. http://peachfuzzandreno.wordpress.com

Managing your spending while on the road

As every truck driver or traveler knows, your biggest single expense on the road is food. Its very easy to spend $200 a week or more on food and drinks. I got tired of spending so much on it so here’s what I did.

#1 Create a budget. But to create a budget you have to figure out what you are spending to begin with. So first you need to keep track of everything you buy for two weeks, and how much it cost. Categorize it into food/drinks, stuff you need for the truck, and random stuff such as that pack of thermal socks you just had to have “because its on sale” and that giant slim jim at the checkout counter. Look through the list and mark off the stuff that you know that you didn’t really need to buy. Then from that, figure out your average cost per day to live. Write that figure down. Then figure out how much you would like that figure to be and write it down. If you’re like me, you are going to have to compromise between the two figures. I knew I didn’t want to spend as much as I was spending, but I didn’t want to live off granola bars and cans of fruit and rice either. So I set a figure in the middle.

#2 Give yourself an allowance. In my case, all my bills are on autopay because I live alone and so I have no one to do my finances at home. I couldn’t keep track of all the money always going into and out of my account so this is what I did. I opened a second checking account. I then had my bank automatically draft my weekly budget for living expenses out of my first checking account into my second checking account each week. I then keep a notepad with me and write my expenses on there as they come up. As the week progresses, I can figure out how much I have left in my “allowance” and decide if I need to be more conservative in my spending or if I can afford to splurge a little. Another option to giving yourself an allowance is going to Walmart and getting one of those visa gift cards. That way you don’t have to worry about going over on your bank account. When the money is gone, its gone. End of story.

#3 Reduce your food costs by making food yourself.
Ok. Now that you made a budget, you need a way to eat a little cheaper as well.
Here’s what I did. I got tired of spending $6 or more on a meal once or twice a day, and $1.39 for Pilot coffee two to three times a day.

Do you realize that’s roughly $400 a month? Easily? That’s a rent payment for a some people or even a mortgage in my case. That’s a $400+ could be more cool toys you could be buying the kids or taking your wife out to dinner or maybe even putting into a retirement account.

So the first thing I bought was a 12 volt cooler so I can always have a stock of fresh foods instead of living off canned foods. All those preservatives are bad for you. I personally use this Vector 12-Volt Portable Mini Fridge Cooler & Warmer AC/DC Refrigerator and always have a stock of bananas, cottage cheese, milk for cereal, lunch meat, cheese, and sometimes eggs.

So how are you going to cook this food? I use a dual burner propane stove like this Coleman Two-Burner Propane Stove. This one is about $50. There are cheaper ones, as cheap as $20, and even cheaper if you opt to get a single burner one, or they go on up in price to well over $100.
I like propane because it is cheap and clean and you can boil water or cook things extremely fast. Now if you were able to get a huge inverter, an electric skillet such as this 12″ Electric Skillet may be another option for you. And for safety’s sake never use one of these inside the truck! I usually put mine on the catwalk. I use one side of the stove to cook food on while I make coffee on the other, using an ingenious yet simple device called the percolator. (For everything you ever wanted to know about the perculator, and quite possibly more, see this link)

I make a lot of pancakes with eggs on this thing for breakfast. I also make a lot of soups, pastas, macaroni and cheese, etc. Anything that is cooked by boiling water.

#4 Don’t buy stuff from truckstops if you don’t need it right away. And if you can’t refrain yourself from buying stuff in truck stops, stop going to them. Or forget your wallet in the truck on purpose when you go in. Or if you already know what you are buying, only take in enough cash for that item. Some items in truckstops are priced reasonably, but for the most part you can get those work gloves or that tv/dvd combo for much cheaper at Walmart, Target, Kmart etc. And don’t forget to keep your receipts on those type of items so you can write it off on your taxes!

#5 Don’t live on cash advances. I’ve never had a problem with this but I have heard stories of people taking out more on advances than they are making. Stories of people living off of not their current paycheck, but next week’s check. Cash advances are there for emergency purposes or so you don’t have to front your own money for scales, tolls, or possibly lumpers. They are not to be used as a line of credit, like a loan or a credit card. Control your money, don’t let it control you!

So in a nutshell, the key to not overspending on the road is to

• Give yourself an allowance. Make a budget and stick to it. Quit buying stuff you know is overpriced and that you don’t need
• Reduce your cost of food itself by eating out less. Utilizing a 12 volt cooler, a propane stove, and a percolator for coffee, tea, cocoa etc.
• Shop around when buying random items needed for you to do your job or for the truck itself
• Only get cash advances to use on tolls or scales. Don’t live off them.

This article is original material by Antoni Pestka and was published on this 21st day of April, 2008. This article may be reproduced or printed, if and only if it remains in its original state, completely unedited, and no profit is made. This message must remain at the bottom of this article, including this link to the author’s website. http://peachfuzzandreno.wordpress.com