New Bees, & I am ready

[Broompilot]

I would like to ask a question to everyone here and also give my own experience:

There is nothing like seeing something for the first time. Now my mind can really wonder XXX but back to Trucking. The Canadian Rockies in Feb 600 miles North of MT from Edmonton down to Seattle. Or the Back side of the Grand Canyon. Maybee it was traveling down the Grape Vine, or how about 84 thru OR, or the long voyage of the I 20 -10 split.

So many great memories, so many (thank GOD SAFE Miles).

After a while though this is a Business one I enjoy, but after time the excitement of a new city dissipears. Example today, I just took a load from outside of Dallas to N.H. what I once thought of and maybee still do Great Run, but in PA this morning I could not WAIT to finish this run. Now I kinda look forward to a Truck Stop in the evening rather than run, run, run=Not complaining but ya know how you feel after three days of 11 back to back rush it in as to get 36 hours before the next load to reset the 70 with only 2 to spare before the next scheuled PU or else your playing 70 minus 7 days ago plus today.

Now I have no where as near the expierence as many do on here, but I have seen every single city in the 48 and Canada except for San Diego, Calgary, and Ottawa (populations of 50K or more I have been there). Even Halifax, and P.E.I.


Some places you will hate the first time and love the second, and vs vs. I am posting this to just give you a heads up, Cherrish your first visit to every place as this is where I have the deepest memory of when I had been there.

I envy your exceitement, and take it all in. Do not burn yourselves out and most likely you will return to those bigger cities.

For all of you with expierence, whats it like traveling down oh I 44, or I 70 MM 16 in IN? Whata thinking on those miles? Weather? Traffic? Other things?

 

[x06col]

The citys are fine, in their own way broomie. But Myself I prefer the Bergs to see sumpin.

Seems i've generally been disappointed with the glamor and glitter of the advertised spots. ie. Pyramids-- nasty, dirty, dusty etc, etc.

Gimme da simple tings anyday.

 

[TeamCaffee]

There are places that we go to anymore that are not as exciting as they were the first time. I love at night coming into a large city and seeing all of the downtown lights and the skyscrapers. Used to dread this when driving but with the GPS helping to tell me what interstates I need and what lane to be in I can relax and just enjoy.
I love to read so I am almost always listening to my IPOD but different times of the year I just have to turn my IPOD off and enjoy the scenery with no distractions. I love West Virginia (not when I am trying to sleep the roads are horrible) but to drive in that area and look at those mountains puts me in awe. There are wonderful hills with great roads going through Virginia and also New York where you have to turn everything off and just see. Sometimes at night with a full moon you also just have to marvel at the sites.
December is another great month to drive as you see all of the twinkling lights off in the distance on houses out in the middle of nowhere. I have often wondered if they know what pleasure their lights give to people driving down the interstate in the middle of the night.
Another site that takes my breath away is when you are climbing a mountain or you are going down the side of a mountain and you look at the small towns in the valley and you can see the church steeples.
There are so many unexpected wonderful sites out here they are too numerous to talk about.
One we just saw last week once again that kept me smiling for many miles in Iowa was a pond with a shadow cut out of the Loch Ness Monster.
Every season has its quirks that are just awesome and I love to see them!

 

[ATeam]

When we first started researching the industry, some veteran truckers warned/predicted that we would become bored with the job and offered themselves as proof. Well, after five years, I find myself getting bored; but it is when I am home. After a few days there, I am itching to get back out where I belong.

The United States has become familiar turf since we started. We have been to all 48 states and all major U.S. cities. We have covered almost every mile on the U.S. interstate highway system and a host of back roads, including logging roads that took us 9 miles deep into a national forest, winding mountain roads that took us over remote passes, a driveway that took us deep into a massive cave, a ferry that took us across the water from one state to another, a road that took us through a redwood forest, and a host of other such adventures.

There is indeed a thrill in seeing a new city, state or geographic feature for the first time. And after five years, that thrill is less and less frequent. While the thrill may be gone, boredom is certainly not its replacement. Now, discovering the new is a matter of depth, not breadth.

Having visited a number of cities and tourist areas a number of times, we have barely scratched the surface. Indeed, having spent much of our adult lives in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul metro area, we have yet to see and do much of what there is to do there.

Discovering the new can also be an inward journey. For example, we are spending most of this long weekend in Wal-Mart and strip mall parking lots. The same lots. The long weekend. Having long-ago made up my mind to learn something new every day (see my blog, "You Learn Somethng New Every Day"), boredom is the least of my worries.

If you got into trucking for the thrill of seeing the country, and now feel you have seen enough and are bored with it, getting out may be the best thing to do. If you are bored as a truck driver, and have nothing more to look forward to than the next truck stop, I have to think the job would be just plain awful.

That is true of any job is it not? If you are bored with it, the longer you stay, the worse it will get; and the more you will hate yourself for keeping a job you do not like.

Edit added: Oh yea; it also helps if you like to drive. If you don't enjoy driving a truck, continuing to work as a truck driver is not likely to be a satisfying choice.

 

[Tennesseahawk]

I try very hard to keep a child's eyes when driving. NH still gives me goosebumps to a point. Broken down in UT, Scott and I still marveled at the backdrop of plateaus. Colorado was new for me, as I'd never seen that stretch of 70 west of Denver. OK and KS are still deserving of a trucker's respect... at least in my truck. WV used to be three hours that felt like five. Now, if I blink, I've missed it. Still so much I haven't seen and would like to. So much that I have and still love seeing. When it gets old to me, I think it's time to get out. But even when the scenery starts to fade, $$$ are still hangin on the horizon.

Does Touchdown Jesus ever get old to anyone? Hey Col... there's OUR version of the pyramids, and no one knows it!

 

[ATeam]

For all of you with expierence, whats it like traveling down oh I 44, or I 70 MM 16 in IN? Whata thinking on those miles? Weather? Traffic? Other things?

I-70 MM (mile marker) 16 ... That's where I go to learn what comes between MM 15 and 17. Like you, Broompilot, I once thought I was on I-44 in Ohio, but after looking at a map and seeing I-44 does not exist in that state, I concluded that I had been abducted by aliens.

I learned then that the scale cops wearing hats to conceal an odd lump on the back of their heads are not of this world. You can distinguish them from the human-being scale cops that also wear hats by observing the reaction when you say, "The officer in the last state told me you are a putz." "Putz" is alien for distinguished and intelligent being.

If the officer reacts with irritation or anger, you know you are dealing with a human being. If he just looks at you and smiles, with a quick motion, knock his hat off and scream wildly to the others, "Shoot him! Shoot him! He is an alien!"

Your country has never needed you more than it needs you now.

 

[cheri1122]

I learned then that the scale cops wearing hats to conceal an odd lump on the back of their heads are not of this world. You can distinguish them from the human-being scale cops that also wear hats by observing the reaction when you say, "The officer in the last state told me you are a putz." "Putz" is alien for distinguished and intelligent being.

If the officer reacts with irritation or anger, you know you are dealing with a human being. If he just looks at you and smiles, with a quick motion, knock his hat off and scream wildly to the others, "Shoot him! Shoot him! He is an alien!"

You first! The subsequent blog entry is one I'd enjoy reading, lol.

 

[pelicn]

The first time I saw ice on the side of a trailer....the wind had blown it so that as it formed it looked like angel hair cascading down the side. It was really cool looking!
Then the first time in Montana....I was driving, hubby was asleep. I started with a clear night, full moon, then had rain, then fog so thick it was 15 mph because I couldn't see the lines in the lanes (luckily there was no traffic but ME) round a corner, fog is gone and the moon was absolutley HUGE!! I'd never seen anything so beautiful in my life. It was as if someone had pulled the sky closer. Then to top it off....a mini blizzard!!
This is an amazing job!!

 

[butterfly610]

I feel very fortunate to be my age and have seen every major city in all 48 states, and a lot of Canada. One thing I can say, is that no matter how many times I see things, they don't get old to me. I always see something new in them. I appreciate this world that God gave us to see. I love driving, and part of what I love about this job is getting to go all the backroads and seeing the little towns everywhere. I love seeing the different little towns, the houses and buildings, and imagining what life must be like for them. I grew up in Houston, and our downtown is so big and different than little towns I find on these roads. They just have this simplicity that I find peaceful.