Ok. Let me recall those remarkable experiences when I was 21 (I should write a song about that..LOL) back in 1980s. I had a miserable experience with my first stint with college (UOM) and after dropping out, I thought it would be fun to drive semi's cross country for a living. It sounded romantic...afterall, I was single and the idea of picking up fem hikers sounded fun (nevermind that a chinese with a cowboy hat just didn't work). It wasn't like that at all. Just a bunch of hookers knocking on your rig everytime you park

After I went through a 2 week semi driving school, I waited for the well rigged trucking companies like JB Hunt or Atlas Van Lines to call. Ended up signing up with "Ellsworth" trucking company. I didn't know it at the time, but they were the arm pit of all trucking companies!! I live in Michigan so I had to cruise out in my beater, hubcapless Granada to Eagle Grove, Iowa

The worst thing about driving a big rig are the endless suicidal, moronic idiots who like to take away my braking space in front of me. They have no idea that this thing is like a battle ship and MUST HAVE THAT SPACE TO STOP. And...they have no idea what it's like to be a pop can smashed in between two semis either. Have seem many of those and can't say I feel sorry for them. Darwinism at work.

My word of advise, have respect for those men and women who do those hard work of driving the semis and give them room for their sake and yours.

Manuevering in a little town full of clowns is whole another story

_________________

 

Hey DiD. Howcome this new post isn't showing up in the 5 recent topics?

 

So tell us about runaway truck ramps! Did you ever visit any?

 

Wow. Thanks. Until you mentioned in the other thread that semi's had 10 gears I had no idea they were so different.

(the threads in O.T. don't appear in the top 5, just on the pulse)

 

Since I currently work in the trucking industry i feel the need to respond.


I have a customer who ordered a thousand dollars worth of work to his truck, then decided that he didn't. Then abandoned his truck in my yard. I have another guy that blew up his motor then abandoned it for a year in front of my shop, we finally put a motor in it cause he needed it right away. It arose from the grave christ-like and is back to sitting out in front of my shop, building storage charges.

all these trucks are still on the road. as a state of IL safety inspector i see them all the time, the drivers usually threaten to beat me up when i fail their crap boxes. one guy told me it was illegal to fail his truck for not having brakes. However, you should see the new trucks. a volvo 770 what a nice truck, the new freightliners are ok, if you like mercedes benz motors. also, the new cummins, ISX and signature 600 motors are killer. that's 600 as in 600 bhp. stick that with an alison automatic and you have pretty sweet ride


how about the 80,000 pounds of corn dust one of my customers got stuck with the other week?



I have no respect for these morons. a good 90% of them should be euthanized, 5% sterilized and the remainder given new rigs and high paying loads. I have acutally watched the inteligence and profesionalism of drivers decrease in the last 3-5 years. I can garranty that at least 3 out of every 5 owner operater truck has safety defects and probably as high as 1.5 out of every 5 has inoperable brakes on the tractor. Safety inspections are a complete and utter joke. the IL state police are losers and should be sued every time there is a wreck in IL.

 

I'll respect anyone who is in control of something that can squash me like bug, whether they deserve it or not.

A friend of mine is a local route driver for a pet store chain. He is a smart and highly skilled driver. He raced autocross and SCCA and was a SCCA driving instructor at Pocono raceway. As such, he is probably over-qualified to drive a truck for a living, but it's nice knowing that at least one driver out there really does know what he's doing. Unfortunately, he also has many stories about his co-workers that are frightening.