Drivers and the Mid-Life Crisis
GetAlong turned 50 last week. Now he didn’t mind turning 30 and 40 was no big deal either but he seems to have hit 50 pretty hard. To quote him - “It’s all downhill from here.” He got home on Saturday and I feel like we’ve been in therapy ever since. Consequently I have been AWOL here for over a week.
Of course, it didn’t help that the big truck was in the shop for that clutch repair I mentioned earlier. The estimate was $1620. It was under warranty the first time it went out. Obviously they didn’t come up with a better engineered clutch (or spring actually) to replace the faulty one. The second one has now failed and hopefully something better is taking its place. I don’t understand mechanical things so don’t ask me. Big truck repairs can be depressing to say the least, especially when you are still making a truck note.
Anyway, GetAlong has been unusually quiet this time. I thought he was just tired from the last three weeks. He ran pretty hard. The loads were good and he hates to turn anything down that pays well. Business is picking up somewhat and there are fewer drivers on the road. But he was worn out when he got home.
Now he suddenly admits to suffering from fatigue while on the road. Now this is not surprising when you take into consideration the wacky schedule that drivers keep. You would think that they could drive from 8 - 5, park their rig and be done for the day. But that is not always the case when they have sat for hours trying to get loaded and need to meet a delivery date and time. Meeting deadlines and driving “legal” at the same time can be a challenge and often does not lend itself to regular hours.
Eating habits while on the road are irregular to say the least as well. GetAlong is pretty good about not eating large meals at inappropriate times but the selection available to him is not that great and can contribute to weariness. He removed the refrigerator from his rig awhile back because he felt it would force him to get out of the truck more. You just can’t win for losing sometimes.
And with the big truck in the shop he doesn’t have anything to “fiddle” with at the moment. Of course I could give him plenty to do but I try not to harp on that stuff when he’s home. I think he’s just down because of the birthday so I’m laying low this week, doing what he wants. It’s been a long time since we have watched 2 movies in one weekend. But I feel like I can’t get anything done and then I become down and unmotivated. My house is a mess and it doesn’t help that his “stuff” is everywhere in the house because the truck is in the shop.
But it’s been a week and he’s returning to normal. The big truck is back home and hopefully his freshly laundered stuff will be back in its place soon.
Things are looking up.
Needs to make some laps around that truck everytime the gets out. It would probably speed up their loading time too!