A couple rants to pass the time

My Truck Stop Rant:

Before I get started I want to mention that this rant in no way reflects the work done by those employed as shower attendants at these truck stops. The majority of them work hard and I am not undermining the work they do.

I used to always cringe whenever we stopped at a TA (Travel Centers of America) to shower. I used to always prefer the Petro (yes, I know one bought the other one out) However, after going to a few, shall we say, below par, Petro’s , I was soon cured of that. Truck stops are not like Wal-marts, you don’t get the same thing at different chain locations…far from it. One Petro can be as different to another as night and day, not a good thing at all. Its always a crap shoot as to whether you are even going to have a towel capable of drying your butt or ..gasp……hot water.

Oh and for the Pilot in AZ, you know that red side of the shower control.?? It has the word “hot“ on it? that’s a clue……..and its not the same as cold, that’s the blue side ………..got that???? I have nothing good to say about Pilots so I wont even discuss them any further.

Except for the Bosselmans, I’ve found all the chains to be the same, unless you’ve been there before, be prepared. We have been to a brand new TA in Laredo, TX that was fantastic, yeah, you had to pay to park there if you didn’t spend $20, but really,, who spends less than $20, I mean its not like you can run across the street to your nearest Target. I’ve been to a TA that was so disgustingly filthy I refused to shower there.

For the most part, we find the Flying J’s to be the best of the “big 5”. We usually look for them, because they almost always have an RV dump station. I liked that they had the chinese food too, although they must have discontinued that since they filed bankruptcy, as I cant seem to find one with the Magic Dragon in it anymore.

There are exceptions to every rule and like I noted before, we’ve been to some great TA’s and Loves and some really shitty Petro’s and J’s.

But love ‘em or hate ‘em, we need ‘em.

I think my worst shower experience was a little mom and pop place in the middle of Colorado somewhere.
I think the big wads of some unknown individuals hair in the shower drain was a “pretty “good indication that no one ever cleaned that shower.

And what’s with those dumb little paper shower mats they give you that stick to your feet? OK, I think they are better than those blue plastic woven things in the TA…..every time I look at those, my anal side sees these cartoon mucilex-type bugs crawling all over them (hope you aren’t eating now) Oh, and Bosselmans? They give you these nice shiny clean rubber shower mats, with the suction cups on the bottom, just like at home….no paper crap for them.

We hit three Flying J’s in a row once which had electrical outlets that didn’t work in the bathroom so I couldn’t dry my hair. Bosselmans not only has outlets that work, they give you a working hairdryer in every shower. (yes, I admit it, I am partial to Bosselmans, I‘m sure you didn’t notice.) The only complaint I have about them is they don’t have any bath tubs.

Oh, I see I forgot to mention the Hershey’s Kisses the attendants leave for you in the showers at Bosselmans….chocolate + love…..’nuf said.

And that’s just a critique of the showers……I haven’t even touched on the food yet! Ha.

But really, my biggest truck stop complaint, and I am sure that every trucker agrees with me, is not that there just aren’t enough good ones……its that there just aren’t enough OF them.

WE NEED MORE PLACES TO PARK!!

Which reminds me of yet another rant:

State of Virginia Rant:

On February 2nd OOIDA’s Landline magazine printed an article about the state of Virginia’s enforcing their two hour parking limit at all rest areas. A spokeswoman for the state addressed the issue by saying that drivers need to be better planners, or for them to “get a room”

Here is the link to the article: http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2009/Feb09/020209/020209-02.htm

I kid you not.

Not only are drivers subject to the abuse of their time by a shipper or receiver, the state of Virginia refuses to let drivers comply with federally regulated hours of service

(translation: Virginia needs revenue so lets stick it to the trucker and make up exceedingly impossible laws so we have freedom to issue bull shit fines whenever we want). Eyes rolling up in my head here.

The abuse of drivers time………….its not unusual to have an 8 am appointment at a shipper or receiver and then be made to wait until 4 or 5 pm that day to get loaded/unloaded. We had a load once to delver in Laredo, we had a scheduled appointment for 9am. When we got there we told the crane would be late and we had to wait. The crane arrived at about 3:30. We wasted a whole day waiting on this crane.

It seems like one of the mottos of trucking is “Hurry up and wait………and wait………and wait”

Now, if the freight rates were paying what they should be paying and not the measly amount they actually are, that wouldn’t be such an issue. However you take a load that ends up netting you $500 and then have to divide that into another day that you just wasted waiting for a crane, that really cuts a very deep swath in your profit for that load. (profit, oh are we supposed to be making a profit here??? …… We ARE?????)

And heaven forbid we EVER EVER make a crane wait for us!!!!!!! Heads will roll.