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.