How do you do it?
We split our shifts at about 3 in the morning to about about 3 in the afternoon. I am a morning person so I am the lucky one to watch the sun come up! Sometimes I find myself going through a drowsy period and have different ways to combat this. I will often stop which I hate to do as it wakes Bob up for a bit then he goes back to sleep. If we are on a surveillance load it is really rough to stop as the other one has to get up and sit in the front seat. I listen to a lot of books on my IPOD and as long as the topic is good with a good reader I often do not get sleepy at all. If I have a slow book or reader I have to take a break. That is when it gets lively in the truck! Since another is sleeping there is no singing out loud and neither of us can sing even if we think we can. I have some pretty radical music I listen to on my IPOD and no slow or sappy songs allowed. This usually perks me up pretty quick. I also keep the cab cool and I eat pumpkin seeds which are a pain to shell. We both drink a lot of water and I usually only have one cup of coffee in the morning which I make as soon as I get up. I eat breakfast running down the road which consists of finger food. I like crackers and cheese and berries not to much though as a full stomach also can make me drowsy. As the day progresses I will listed to my IPOD and catch up on my podcasts that I really enjoy; A way with words , Stuff you should know, 60 Minutes, and The word Nerds. Then I listen to my small Pioneer radio which record XM shows I like. I usually listen to Kevin Rutherford's show Business and Beyond and some of Dr. Laura' show. Then it will be back to my books on the IPOD. I try to get a mixture of learning books and also some just for fun books. I have to admit the just for fun books often take a back burner to my learning books or self help books. Yep I need a lot of help so I have a lot more listening to do. I am often on the phone with my head set catching up with the lives of other drivers and my girls. Once Bob gets up and is starting to stir around I take my IPOD off as he will want to know how close are we to delivery, where we are at, what the weather is like, what the traffic is like and where the next fuel stop is. There are areas of the country that are just so pretty you cannot take it all in and you want no distractions from the IPOD and you feel so lucky to be seeing all of this wonderful country. At times when going into a city or the traffic gets tricky and you do not need any distractions I will take my IPOD off and just I will just keep my eyes on the road. It is really amazing how fast my shift will fly by and then Bob starts driving and it is time to catch up on my computer work and get receipts entered. It is amazing how much there is to do in the truck to keep us our here on the road.
Gregarious Birds Of The Desert Southwest
1 week ago
I posted a response to one of your questions over at my place.
ReplyDeleteDo you give yourselves out of truck time, or do you just catch it when you can?
Time for me to get back into my driving sleep cycle. I go to Bolt orientation on Monday. I sleep twice a day. When the load comes at whatever hour, I'll have had a recent sleep. Then I hump it through whatever long load comes in.
Eb I wondered who you were going with. I told Leo he needs to talk to you about a sprinter and how to set it up.
ReplyDeleteIt is a odd sleep cycle we live by!
I listen to alot of books on cd....good thing brad is a heavy sleeper....lol....i drive alot at nite and i don't know how i'd make it thru from about 4-6am without them!....
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I've mentioned this to you already, but we use Neat Receipts for our bookkeeping. It's a scanner that you put the receipts into and it saves the image and categorizes everything. It's awesome! Check it out at http://www.neatco.com/
ReplyDeleteI can't get into the book on tape thing, but I might have to find something to listen to on my iPod. Usually I listen to talk radio - I love Doctor Radio and I listen to news when I miss it on TV. It's never anything great and sometimes I go for days without knowing what's going on!