How do you venture beyond the rest area or truck stop?
Early in my career, one of the things that made me a little nuts about trucking was the feeling of being “tied” to the truck whenever I would park somewhere for the night. Of course, part of it was derived from my own fears that something might happen to my load if I was away. While another part stemmed from a lack of ways to get around when I started. Since then, many more ways have come about that enable drivers to venture beyond the borders of the truck stops immediate area, and feel a bit more like a human being when parked and not just a truck babysitter.
In the early days of my career, I would often earn a laugh or two from onlookers, as I would usually be seen skating away from my truck on a 36” longboard skateboard to places I could find around where I parked. Whether it was to find other food besides the usual fast-food chains that typically lined the Truckstop landscape, or to catch a scenic view that I might have heard of, it offered me a way to “detach” from the cab and feel like myself again for a moment. With options like Lyft, Uber and even Turo, the range of distance a person can go with ease away from the truck is far greater than that of my old longboard.
With age comes the inability to heal like I used to from the occasional spill on my skateboard, so it’s usually reserved now for trips to the beach with the family. Not entirely in mothballs though, you may catch me once in a while taking a nostalgic cruise on it around a customer warehouse, or during my 30-minute break to look for some scenery! Uber is definitely my main mode of getting around on a whim now and especially handy when closer to a populated city. I have friends that use bikes, “hoverboards”, scooters and even one that has a motorcycle on his truck to getaway! If you’re feeling like the truck keeps you weighed down, try to break away and utilize one of the many modes of transportation available these days to do so. If you already do, what method do you find works for you?