I'm a trucker. Ask me anything about trucking.

[Droopy]

I've been a trucker for a little over ten years now. I know more than some and less than others, but I will try to answer each question. Fire away.

[Syrinx]

1. do hookers really hang around truck stops?

And if so, what are their prices?

[Droopy]

2. I've been approached by prostitutes 5 times in my ten year career

And I didn't take them up on their offers so I have no idea about prices. Prostitution is definitely out there, but it's not nearly as prevalent as many people think. It is prevalent enough, though, that some truckers put little "no lot lizards" stickers on their trucks. "Lot lizard" being trucker slang for prostitute.

[Syrinx]

4. just checking

I live pretty close to two truckstops, and I get bored sometimes. :D

[KG]

3. yes, i also had a technical question.

something about how many crotch shot you get from women in convertibles.

[Droopy]

6. That depends on the driver

Some guys live for looking down into passing vehicles and they are always on the look out and telling other truckers about the good ones on the cb.

Personally I do not look down into passing cars usually unless they are trying to get my attention for some reason. I'm not sure why that is...maybe I'm just not as much of a horn dog as some of my fellow drivers.

[RebelOne]

34. My ex-husband was a trucker. He said the hookers were called

lounge lizards. Have you heard the story about the trucker who slept with a hooker? When he woke the next morning, there was a note on his steering wheel that read: "Welcome to the HIV Club."

[Wetzelbill]

5. do you hate it when people like me give the "pull" sign with

our arms out of a car window, wanting you to honk the horn? Keep in mind, I am 32 and I still do that. :)

[Droopy]

7. No, that's cool

I need to test the air horn anyway every so often to make sure it still works. :) The best ones are the kids who do that. They really get a kick out of that.

[Wetzelbill]

9. oh yeah

when I was a kid I loved that. That's why from time to time, I still do it, haha. Once, a family friend of ours had to drive a truck for some reason, and my dad and I went. I honked that horn all the time, it was like a dream come true for a little kid.

[Syrinx]

8. ha!

I remember doing that when I was 32! ;)

[Wetzelbill]

10. well it's good to see I'm not the only juvenile

around. :)

[BlueCollar]

11. Two questions

What is an engine brake...how does it work and why would I see a sign that says "No engine brakes within city limits"

How do you feel about the legislation allowing Mexican Trucks to haul interstate freight?

[Droopy]

12. An engine brake

or also called a jake brake helps the truck slow down without using the air brakes so much. I'm not sure about the mechanics behind it, but it works by increasing back pressure in the engine when your foot is off of the accelerator. If you've ever revved up a car with a standard shift and then let your foot off of the gas while you were rolling down the road you will know what an engine brake does. It just increases the braking power of the engine.

The reason why engine brakes are not permitted in some towns is because they can be noisy. They work with the truck's exhaust system and when a truck has no muffler (straight pipe only which is actually fairly common) the engine brake will make the motor sound like a horribly loud fart that can be heard from a long way away.

I do not like Mexican or Canadian trucks in this country. Cross border freight should be dropped at the border and picked up by an American truck and vice versa. They permit Canadian trucks to come into the country to where ever they want and pick up freight in this country and take it back to Canada. Mexican trucks are currently only supposed to be no more than ten miles away from the border in the US. I think that's the way it should be for Canada as well. Foreign trucks operating in our country take jobs away from Americans. To be fair to the Canadians, our trucks are allowed into their country and can operate the same way their's do in ours.

[BlueCollar]

14. Thanks

I was wondering about the brake issue...

As for the cabotage...I'm with you...Not because they're Mexican....but because the costs aren't equal...I'm guessing Canadian and US Cabotage costs are roughly the same so it's basically fair...

Drive safe

[Hippo_Tron]

13. Do your fellow truck drivers listen to a lot of right wing talk radio?

No offense to you or anyone in your profession, but as you know the stereotype is that truck drivers aren't exactly champions of liberal values. Since your profession certainly allows for listening to the radio while working, I was wondering if right wing talk radio was prevalent among your profession. Or perhaps it is just a stereotype.

[Droopy]

15. I haven't heard a lot of talk about politics from truckers

But just by listening to them over the years I would say that a majority of them are social conservatives. I would imagine that quite a few listen to talk radio, but it's hard for me to say since their is so little talk about politics. I think truckers are like a lot of people in this country in that they don't really care what's going on in the political world unless it affects them. You should have heard all of the talk about them wanting the government to step in when fuel prices first spiked in 2000. Then they wanted action from the government, you betcha.

[Eagle_Eye]

16. Dave Dudley said in "Me and Old CB" that

The chicken coop is open
and so is DOT

What is the "chicken coop"?

[Droopy]

17. A chicken coop is a weigh station

I think the slang comes from chicken haulers (who often have fancy trucks) getting pulled around back and inspected a lot.

D.O.T. = Department Of Transportation

[Eagle_Eye]

18. Thanks

You hear a lot about how the kids use codes on their instant messenger conversations. Codes are nothing new. Truckers on the CB used them 40 and 50 years ago, ham radio people used them before that, telegraph people used them before that.
"One if by land, two if by sea" was a code.

[mainegreen]

19. Where's the best truck stop you've been too?

We've got one up here, Dysarts, that's always a stop for us on the way up north.

[Droopy]

20. It's a toss up

Jubitz in Portland, Oregon and the Iowa 80 TA in Walcott, Iowa are very nice truck stops. The Iowa 80 claims to be the largest truck stop in the world. At Jubitz you can get a drink if you know you are going to be down for a while. They have a night club on the premises that often has live music. They also make the best nachos I've ever had.

[Joe Fields]

21. Yeah, Droopy, how do you like taking your rig through the Hawk's Nest?

[Droopy]

23. I don't know what the Hawk's Nest is.

If it's on an interstate somewhere I've probably been through it and just know it by a different name or didn't realize that it had a name.

[Joe Fields]

40. If you'd been through it, you'd definitely know it.

Through Virginia, in the Appalachians. It's like the "Grapevine" in California. Going down it, no higher than 5th gear, laying hundred foot stretches of rubber, just to keep your rig on the road, and praying the whole time your air brakes don't fail you.

[trof]

22. Ever cook anything on the engine block?

I'm told truckers did a generation ago.
I actually have an engine-block cookbook called "Manifold Destiny".

[Droopy]

24. Nope

Truck stops are now close enough together that I didn't have to stock up on groceries for my over the road gigs. It probably would have been a lot cheaper if I had, though. You can get these little crock pots that plug into a cigarette lighter outlet now.

[trof]

31. Yeah, I guess now you're only 15 minutes from the next truck stop.

I think it was after WWII, when aluminum foil began to come into wide use. Guys would wrap a big T-bone and do it so many miles on a side. Roadside picnic.

[NMDemDist2]

25. why does the CDL test include parallel parking and have you ever

had to parallel park your truck in real life? (my hubby is taking his CDL test next week)

[Droopy]

26. dupe

[NMDemDist2]

29. whoops, double clutched it there Droopy LOL

and do you DC or float your gears?

hard to imagine my hubby parallel parking in the oil fields :rofl:

[Droopy]

33. I float shift

It takes a little time to learn that skill especially if you have to find out on your own, but it makes driving so much more pleasant especially in traffic.

[Droopy]

27. I did the CDL test in Michigan 10 years ago

and at the time there was no parallel parking in the test.

But, yes, there are times when you have to parallel park. Some rest areas have curb side parking for big rigs for instance and you often have to be able to parallel park to get into a spot between two rigs.

Good luck to your husband. I hope he finds trucking as rewarding as I do.

[Algorem]

28. How far can you toss a urine jug?

I say it should be an Olympic event.

[Droopy]

30. On the rare occasion when I would piss in a bottle

I always disposed of it properly. I only did that if it was an emergency, too. I don't have to worry about it now. I do a short route every night that has plenty of opportunities for bathroom breaks.

[Algorem]

32. You'll never get the gold medal like that.

[stuntcat]

35. doggies?

Do they let people carry their dog buddies with them?
They're probably not supposed to right, the dog could have a problem..
But does anyone do it anyway?

[jmowreader]

44. Hell, I can answer that!

This is my busy season, and we're getting, easy, 15 to 20 trucks a day. At least three of them will have a dog in the cab.

Most popular breed: Chihuahua.

[bertha katzenengel]

36. Do you sleep in the cab? I've always thought those big cabs

had little beds in the back.

[guitar man]

37. ever drive 2 sticks?

My dad drove for over 40 years.When I was a little tyke in the '60s, he drove owner op in his '53 "bubble nose" Kenworth like the one in the pic. It had a 5x3 double-over "Brownie" setup as he called it. I remember sitting in the passenger seat watching him shift and I tell you, he could really make it sing. Never heard him bust a shift.

He never did like air shifts as much as he liked driving a 2 stick truck, just hardcore old school I guess.

[InvisibleTouch]

38. About weigh stations and rest stops...

...I was once told that the reason you see so many trucks clustered at rest stops sometimes is that they're waiting for the next weigh station to close, because they're over their weight limit and are trying to sneak through. Any truth to this?

Do you get to drive alone, or do you have to have a partner with you on the long trips? (I'd think it would be so much more pleasant to drive alone, but maybe that's just me.) Can you listen to books on tape/CD during the trip?

Oh, and another one: do you ever get people tailgating you so as to save gasoline, because your truck is blocking the wind resistance for them?

I know people who are freaked out by driving on the highway near big trucks. But when I drive cross-country I do a lot of night driving, and I have to say I much prefer to share the road with trucks than with passenger cars. In general the truckers are much better drivers and much more polite. Granted I've been nearly killed by a barreling truck on a couple of occasions (I have good reflexes, what can I say), but I still prefer sharing the midnight highway with trucks.

[bridgit]

39. what brand of tractor do you drive?

[GoneOffShore]

41. Wouldn't you rather be steering a barge on a river?

Or being a train engineer?

[Joe Fields]

42. How about this one... Do you keep more than one set of logs?

I used to.

[underpants]

43. How's the view?

as in DOWN into the cars?

You weren't on the Beltway in September of 2000 were you??? :evilgrin:

I was going to ask about truckstops but I see that above. I worked for a major Lighter than a truck load place when I was in college-forklift 3 hours a day good pay time to study- and some of the drivers (midnight shift white as ghosts)told me that the truckstops were freeforalls.

Anyway-ever had a vicarious Penthouse forum moment?

[jmowreader]

45. Do ALL truckers not know the locations of their fuseboxes?

Check this shit out: On Thursday I got a call at the store from a trucker. "I'm on US 401 about 15 miles south of Fayetteville, and my truck quit running. I just want to check in so I don't miss my appointment." I told him it was okay and asked what was wrong with the truck. The engine had stopped running. The "override button" had stopped working. The interior lights had stopped working. He reeled off a long list of electrical problems. Naturally, I asked if he'd checked his fusebox. "Oh, I don't know where that is." This guy was an owner-operator; you'd think someone with a $100,000 truck would know where the fusebox is. Or at least I would think that.

This poor fucker paid someone $85 to come out to where he was and put a new fuse in the truck, which solved everything. Where do I get THAT job?

[Tikki]

46. Do you like the movie "Duel"?...Do you wear cowboy boots?.....

Tikki

[BOSSHOG]

47. We have several gravel trucks around here

(South Mississippi) and damn near everyone of them do not have license plates and they all have signs saying NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR BROKEN WINDSHIELDS. Why is that? Because they have a sign on their truck?

[Starbucks Anarchist]

48. Do you pay for your own gas?

Dumb question, I know, but I'm interested.

[otherlander]

49. What's the longest you've ever been awake for?

[YDogg]

50. What do you haul?

PS - This is one of the best threads ever! :hi:

[doc03]

51. I listen to the Truckin Bozo in the mornings on the way to

work it seems the most popular topic for the last several months is the Mexicans being able to deliver throughout the USA soon. How do you feel about the Mexican trucks and drivers? What about their trucks will they be safe? Will their drivers have to have a US CDL and follow US rules as far as down time and such? Do you think that will drive your wages or what you charge for freight down?