On Mon, 15 Feb 2016 17:08:52 -0500, Micky
wrote:

On Sun, 14 Feb 2016 00:17:31 -0500, wrote:

On Sat, 13 Feb 2016 21:53:17 -0700, rbowman
wrote:

On 02/13/2016 09:25 PM, Muggles wrote:
yeah I like truckers, for good reasons. I'll nearly always let them in
if I can do it safely, flash my lights at them if they let me in to
thank them, and try to give them a wide birth. On the way to work I
could swear they let me in the rocking chair on purpose so I could get
off on my exit. Least I'd like to think they did that more than once.


You develop a different attitude, particularly as an OTR driver. You're
driving ten to twelve thousand miles a month and you're typically not
running on a tight schedule. By that I mean you don't have to get to the
office by 9:00. Most of my runs were at least 1,000 miles. You learn to
take the long view. A few minutes one way or the other don't mean
anything and you have plenty of time to study traffic patterns.

I would appreciate it if you would leave a blank line between your
words and the previous poster's.

I wish all OTR drivers thought the same way you do.
Too many ARE on a tight schedule - they have to have their load at the

This was a long time ago, 1971, but I was standing on the interstate
where the road from St. Louis split, with one fork going to Chicago
and the other to Indianapolis. I was headed for Chicago. A semi
stopped for me. He told me that he had missed me the first time he
passed me, going too fast and he'd gone to the next exit, turned
around gone to the previous exit, turned around again, and picked me
up. I thanked him graciously, but it still amazes me.

It was a beautiful day, no later than 11AM. He could have easily let
someone else pick me up. It was Feburary though, about 3 days
after Mardi Gras. Still, I don't get it. It must have taken him 20
minutes to turn around twice.

Vast majority of OTR truckers are not allowed to pick up hitch-hikers.
Totally forbidden, in fact.

He dropped me off on the Springfield Il. bypass, and it was hard to
get a ride there. A cop must have driven by because a voice came out
of nowhere, Get off the road. But there was nowhere to go which
woudln't have required hitching. I got a ride before he came back.

I had hoped to get rides with truckers because I thought they'd be
interesting, but I think I only got two, from New Orleans to Chicago.
The rest were all cars.


dock between 3:15 and 4:00 pm tomorrow, and to keep your logbook legal
you cannot lose 20 minutes in the next 14 hours or you have to stop
for the mandated rest period - meaning you will be a few hours late.
I have 2 brothers who made their living as OTR drivers for many years.
One is currently either running the ice road in northern Sakatchewan
or waiting for the road to open, and the other took his own life last
year.