Clothes for the Road

Living in a truck forces one to make choices. Anything you bring along must (with a very few exceptions) serve a purpose. If you can save a few precious inches of space buy having a few multi-purpose items so much the better. But, the one thing you simply cannot do without is clothes. And choosing the right clothes is important.

I can pack enough clothing into one small roller bag for two weeks. The trick is to fold and then roll them. And keeping in mind that you don't need to change your whole outfit every day. While socks, T-shirts and underwear need to be fresh, jeans and khakis can be worn for two days and still look acceptable. I take two pairs of shoes just in case one pair gets wet. I also carry two jackets. One is a hoodie and the other denim. When it's very cold I can layer them.

My choices of clothes are about function. As much as I love a good sweater, it's just not a good choice on the road. A hoodie is a better option because it has a zipper. This allows me to open or close it depending on if I feel hot or cold. While a sweater, or sweatshirt for that matter has to be either on or off.

For shoes I prefer leather loafers and I like them to fit a little loose so I can put them on quickly and easily. If I wake up in the middle of the night needing to use the restroom, I don't want to be struggling with laces. Living this way is akin to the “good 'ol days” when people went out back to use the privy. Although today it's more a matter of going into the truck stop.

When clothes are spent, I have another bag I keep under my sleeper birth. Many truck stops have laundry machines (at an inflated price) available and I make use of them about once every two weeks.

Everything takes up space and space is in short supply on a truck. Anything I can do to reduce the space something takes, I'll at least try.

I Live in a Truck

I haven't posted to this blog for a while.  There are two reasons for this; 1. I simply haven't had much to say lately and 2. I've moved into a truck and my internet access is somewhat limited.

Let me be clear, I'm not talking about a pickup.  I'm talking about a big, 18 wheeler.  A semi.  I live in it and work in it driving all over the USA delivering commodities.

So, how did I come to this life?

It started several years ago when.  I owned a small business for ten years.  Most of that time I lived very well off that income.  But, as the 21 century began and the economy began to tank I started to struggle.  By 2004 I could no longer hold on and had to close my doors.  Faced with the prospect of being jobless and homeless I decided to get into truck driving.

I signed a six month contract with a company in exchange for the required educational costs and that was that.  But, I didn't like it.  At that first company I had to share the truck with another driver.  And if you think one of these trucks is too small to live in full time, try thinking of two adult men that had never met before sharing it.  I'm sure you understand where I'm coming from.

So, when my contract was up, I quit.  I thought the prospect on homelessness was more attractive than the situation I was leaving.  But, I got lucky and scored a really great job driving for a local company that pain well and had me home almost every night with weekends off.

But, when the fuel prices shot up the small company just couldn't hang on and went out of business.

But, I'd saved a fair amount of money by keeping my expenditures low.  I didn't have to get another good paying job right away and decided to coast for a while.  I was actually hoping that I could just coast the rest of my life sense I was in my mid 40s, single and my son was almost an adult.

The next couple of years were great.  I only had to work three days a week at a dead easy job and could indulge myself the rest of the time.   I was going out every weekend, picking up women half my age and loving life.  Then I met a girl.

Looking back now, I shouldn't have let things go as far as I did.  But, we're all allowed a few mistakes in life.  She became pregnant and I simply wasn't making enough to support a family.  So, with limited options in a poor job market I decided to go back to truck driving.  But, after being out of the business a couple of years no one wanted to hire me.  I had to return to truck driving school and sign another contract, this time for a year.

That was almost two years ago now and I'm still with that company.  I was able to get a local job after about a year though.  But, it sill didn't pay enough to cover my bills.  So, after my girlfriend and I broke up going back on the road seemed like a good option.  This is the advantage of working for a large company.  If you don't like one job, there;s likely another one you can transfer to with out losing any benefits.

I could have stayed local, but sense I'm now 50 years old and have nothing saved for retirement, not to mention a brand new child support payment, I decided to just move into the truck.  This way I have almost no living expenses.  Zero in rent, zero in utilities.  I gave away most of my stuff and what little is left is in storage.

Technology has made this life a little easier.  I have an internet connection through my smart phone that allows me to fool myself into thinking I have a social life as well as keeping me informed and up to date with news from back home.  I have a small DVD player that I'm sure will soon be replaced with something that will store my favorite films digitally.  I can access all kinds of interesting and entertaining pod casts while I drive (although my digital signal is spotty at times) and when I park for the night a I can watch most any TV shows on the web.  So, there no need for a satellite connection.

Still, it's taking some getting used to.  I am lonely at times.  But, this will pass as I become more and more acclimated to this new lifestyle.  So, for a while at least, this blog is going to be about living on the road in a truck and doing this job.

Yeah I know, it's not nearly as exciting as gratuitous the sex I was posting about.  But, this is what I do now.  No matter how dull anyone else finds it, this is my life.