3150

[Glennfs]

3150 miles in 5 days. 65 years old overweight out of shape and still out working people half my age.

Don't tell anyone but I am tired

[Number6]

3150 miles in 5 days. 65 years old overweight out of shape and still out working people half my age.

Don't tell anyone but I am tired

You're sitting in a truck driving an average of over 600 miles a day. Not exactly what I'd call working. But then, work is what you consider it to be.

[gounion]

I've found that the people that brag about how hard they work usually aren't.

[Number6]

I've found that the people that brag about how hard they work usually aren't.

I think it depends upon what you call hard work. Physical labor such as construction, would fit most people's idea of hard work. Office work probably wouldn't be considered hard work to most people but what if the person has to perform the tasks of two or three other people within the same timeframe. In many instances, I think you have to take a look at a person's job and what the normal workload is for that job.

Now, glenn, driving 3150 miles in five days might be more than he usually averages but is that amount really that much harder than normal.

[gounion]

I think it depends upon what you call hard work. Physical labor such as construction, would fit most people's idea of hard work. Office work probably wouldn't be considered hard work to most people but what if the person has to perform the tasks of two or three other people within the same timeframe. In many instances, I think you have to take a look at a person's job and what the normal workload is for that job.

Now, glenn, driving 3150 miles in five days might be more than he usually averages but is that amount really that much harder than normal.

Well, when I was traveling for a living, and I drove all day, I WAS tired. But it's not what I would call work. I mean, I was listening to books on Audible, or music, or talking on the phone. I'd always say that was when I was decompressing, and that's true. The next day, the day of driving affected me more like what a day off would. But then, my work wasn't, well, work, in the physical sense. It was desk work or meetings.

[Number6]

Well, when I was traveling for a living, and I drove all day, I WAS tired. But it's not what I would call work. I mean, I was listening to books on Audible, or music, or talking on the phone. I'd always say that was when I was decompressing, and that's true. The next day, the day of driving affected me more like what a day off would. But then, my work wasn't, well, work, in the physical sense. It was desk work or meetings.

What a lot of people don't understand is desk work can be stressful and hard work. I've been in the position of where I was covering three positions office positions and I was expected to meet all the job requirements of each. I'd often get in about 6:30 am and go home around 8 pm with only a half-hour break for lunch.

Hard work isn't limited to physical labor but it can also be intellectual work. For me, hard work is how much more work you have to do and the amount of time you have to do it in. The more work and the less time determines whether it is hard work.

[Motor City]

Hard work and dangerous too

All lanes of I-25 are now open following a deadly train derailment

.....The derailment was deadly as 60-year-old Lafollette Henderson from Compton, California died after the bridge partially collapsed on a semi he was driving.

The NTSB told News5 that a total of 30 cars derailed Sunday afternoon. They also said an investigative team from the NTSB arrived on the scene Tuesday to begin their investigation. They expect a preliminary report to be available within 30 days, but the final report from the investigative team is not expected to be completed for 1-2 years.....

'He loved truck driving so much': Father of 6 killed in Colorado train derailment

The family of the truck driver killed when a train derailed over Interstate 25 Sunday said he had beat cancer and had recently discovered a love of trucking.

Lafollette Henderson leaves behind six children, who are all wondering how they could lose their dad to such a freak accident.

Federal investigators believe a broken rail caused the train to leave the tracks. Thirty train cars spilled over, with tons of coal.

"If he maybe would have waited five more minutes. Maybe if he slept 10 more minutes," Henderson's daughter Triana James said.

James and her family are haunted by what-ifs. They are left wondering whether a different choice could have saved their father's life. .......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfqjbpJ-IkI
Pastures of Plenty

[gounion]

No argument at all about the danger. Plus, a bad truck driver is a danger to all around them. In my twenty-plus years of experience on the road, I've found most truckers to be safe and skillful. No doubt it takes skill to drive a truck safely.

But that's the argument for trucking regulation. I must say, back in the fifty-five MPH years, and some time thereafter, truckers were speeding all the time, and dangerously tailgating to get people to pull over so they could pass. That changed, I'm not sure when. But it certainly happened when they started putting GPS monitoring in trucks so they can't speed now. I'm sure that bothers the shit out of truckers used to the old ways. And, since they're usually paid by the mile, it cuts the income of a trucker. Being paid by the mile gives the trucker monetary reason to break the rules when they can. I don't think it's a fair way to be paid - the trucker can't help being stuck in traffic. They should be paid by the hour. But that's just me.

[Glennfs]

You're sitting in a truck driving an average of over 600 miles a day. Not exactly what I'd call working. But then, work is what you consider it to be.

A very common misconception. The difference is you steer a car but you drive a truck.

[Glennfs]

Well, when I was traveling for a living, and I drove all day, I WAS tired. But it's not what I would call work. I mean, I was listening to books on Audible, or music, or talking on the phone. I'd always say that was when I was decompressing, and that's true. The next day, the day of driving affected me more like what a day off would. But then, my work wasn't, well, work, in the physical sense. It was desk work or meetings.

Again the difference being you were steering your car as opposed to driving a truck.

[gounion]

Again the difference being you were steering your car as opposed to driving a truck.

You know, for a while my dad drove a truck, for a moving company. This was in the sixties. My mom and I went on a bus and met him one summer and rode with him for, I dunno, a week? Seemed like forever. I sat in the middle, and he had the gearshift right in my lap, depending on the gear. No AC, no power anything, he would muscle the wheel, and the gears required a lot of muscle to run, too.

I was miserable. It was quite a taxing thing to do, obviously.

No longer.

Little tiny women are now truckers. Everything is power, AC, all kinds of entertainment systems. One SHOULD be more cognizant of everything happening around them in a truck, but the same would be for someone in any big vehicle, like an RV or a big pickup pulling a fifth wheel. My friends and I used to have an old school bus we renovated to take all our friends and equipment to events back in the eighties, and it was no more trouble to drive than a car.

[bradman]

A very common misconception. The difference is you steer a car but you drive a truck.

Wrong. You drive a car. You operate a tractor trailer.

[gounion]

Wrong. You drive a car. You operate a tractor trailer.

You’ve been got, Glenn! Brad’s right.

[bradman]

You’ve been got, Glenn! Brad’s right.

Or in my case a Operating Engineer. (IUOE- International Union of Operating Engineers)

[gounion]

Or in my case a Operating Engineer. (IUOE- International Union of Operating Engineers)

[bradman]

It was back when i was young and dumb that i thought Unions sucked. If it hadn't been for old man Staneck i may not have joined. How'd he put it? "If you want to work on my job you're going to be fucking union." Best advise i ever received. i like not having to work anymore.

[gounion]

It was back when i was young and dumb that i thought Unions sucked. If it hadn't been for old man Staneck i may not have joined. How'd he put it? "If you want to work on my job you're going to be fucking union." Best advise i ever received. i like not having to work anymore.

Yep. When I interviewed for my job with the union, I was told I had to keep paying normal dues, and had to pay dues to the staff union too. Was I good with that?

My answer was what I believed: "Union dues are the best money I ever spent."

That almost always proves out.

[Number6]

Wrong. You drive a car. You operate a tractor trailer.

You'd think a professional truck drive would know that, wouldn't you?

[bradman]

You'd think a professional truck drive would know that, wouldn't you?

Meh, i've found the non union drivers have little interest in knowing the history of deregulation let alone the history of trucking. Before that 50% of the trucking industry was professional union being trained in by old timers. The independent non union end couldn't bitch. They were making good money because of the union wages. While there was some benefit in changing the warehouse industry to "on demand" (Warehouses were able to reduce inventory and thus less storage space)it killed the trucking industry. Union jobs went first followed followed by those that could now bitch that they couldn't make a decent living wage anymore. What we ended up with is a bunch of yahoos that drive tractor trailers nowadays.

[Motor City]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecgajYfNB4A

Going Down the Road Feeling Bad

[ZoWie]

Oh yeah, operating engineers. They run the steam plant at UCLA. It isn't just heavy equipment.

BTW driving is work, especially on highways full of people who think they can drive while diddling with their cell phones. Trucks used to be downright physical to drive, especially with manual transmissions and bear-trap clutches.