You quickly learn about where the best food is, most convenient truck stops, and no-brainer daily activities like how to climb in and out of the big rig when riding along with your trucker husband. I’ve decided to share one recent day’s events in case you’re wondering.

Food is a priority of mine (figured that out already, didn’t you?😉), and I like to start my day with breakfast (especially fried eggs or omelets) and coffee. Unless I want to spend money every morning for cooked eggs, I have to settle on other nutritious food.

On a side note here, many truck stops are becoming more aware of their over-the-road (OTR) drivers’ nutrition needs and are offering packaged boiled eggs for sale in their refrigerated food sections. That is a plus.

It’s not every day of OTR travel with my husband that we have the boiled eggs on hand in our “refrigerator” – an ice chest. We make do, though. Breakfast might be cottage cheese, some fruit, three celery sticks dipped in peanut butter, or something that has protein. Protein bars (my favorites are the Power Crunch energy bars – YUM!) are commodity musts in our truck pantry. On long driving days, these come in handy.

Unfortunately, I don’t get the perfect cup of coffee every morning that I’m traveling. Some days I don’t even get any. But that’s okay because I’m not addicted to it. When I do have exceptional coffee (not necessarily available at even the best truck stops), I thoroughly enjoy it.

We stopped at a convenience store, not truck friendly, one day. We parked on the side of the road by the store to ask about the name of the road. There was road work, and the only sign pointing to where we needed to go did not include the name (or number – the drop-off place was way out in the boonies). I hadn’t had a good cup of coffee in a couple of days, and they had one pot of simple brewed coffee and French Vanilla. We both poured a cup. That coffee turned out to be the BEST yet on the trip. That was the day of the Dodge City, Kansas tornadoes. We needed that coffee.

Weird things can surprise us sometimes. We were almost in Kansas at the time of the tornadoes. My husband travels through Dodge City a lot, but fortunately he didn’t go that day. That evening we stopped at a truck stop with showers. While I waited in a deli booth for my husband, a man sitting nearby said, “Ma’am.” I didn’t realize he was trying to catch my attention until I heard him say again, “Ma’am.”

I turned to see that he was speaking to me. He was and asked me if my phone was a 6S. He said he has one. Well, then the man mentioned that you can get Bible apps and started telling me his opinions on certain topics and what the Bible says about it. I was aware of the apps and actually have one but didn’t disclose that information. He wanted me to turn to a particular verse. I texted my husband. The man asked if I was turning to the scripture, and I said, “No, I’m texting.” At that time, my husband walked up to my table to get me, and we walked to the truck.

Back at the truck, we had the windows open, and a huge bug flew in. That crazy thing hit the top of my head three times. Two things I do not like are bugs and storms. I had to deal with both on this trip.

Speaking of bugs, that same day of tornadoes, the Bible study, and the attack bug, we delivered products to a company where we used their restroom. The guy that let us in warned us and apologized for the condition of the restroom. Well, he wasn’t kidding. My husband walked in ahead of me to check it out when a HUGE water bug or roach ran right in front of me. I danced around, screaming, until my husband smashed it with his shoe.

I like Subway, but eating a sandwich every day can become old. Furthermore, we’re trying to do without bread (I’m trying/he’s doing without). A day or two before the good coffee, however, we shared a very good and filling Subway salad. So on the convenience store coffee day, we ate things like protein bars, fruit, raw almonds, coleslaw, and tuna with crackers. It was a light day of eating. Other days of eating can take place at some of America’s most fabulous food.

It pays off to eat lightly most of the time. One such restaurant is Hog Wild Pit Bar-B-Q located in Kansas and Nebraska. Fall-off-the-rib-bone, best barbecue I know of in those two states.

The most convenient truck stops are the ones with:

  1. much maneuvering room and parking spaces
  2. paved parking lots without huge potholes
  3. nice showers
  4. truck scales with plenty of room
  5. a restaurant
  6. nice shop
  7. service center
  8. friendly, smiley employees
  9. and, of course, good coffee – with French Vanilla creamer!

Climbing in and out of the truck was easy once I learned the three points (or handles) to hold onto. But, hey, when I was a kid, I loved the monkey bars so I got this. No-brainer things consist of simple activities you do without thinking too much like:

  • remembering to buy ice for the chest
  • keeping one or two caps on hand in case you have a bad hair day
  • stocking the pantry – usually there’s a Walmart with room for trucks if you need to make some purchases
  • stretching and exercising – do at least simple news to keep the blood flowing
  • having plenty of grocery bags for trash
  • tidying the cab’s living area
  • making sure your phone and iPad stay charged up

You learn things about OTR trucker life such as weigh stations, tandems, and the fun part – earning points at Love’s. You earn points there by buying fuel or items in the store. Then you can use the points for ice, food, gifts, showers, etc.

OTR trips has a number of benefits: getting to go with my husband, going to see family and having fun with the grand-kiddos, and photography.

Cloud formations on the day of Dodge City storms looked fascinating, and I took several photos…

Sunsets
Sunset in KS & OK

image image

of them and a slow-mo video clip (see below).

OK & TX On I35

The pictures were taken while I was going down the highway and one at a rest stop.

4 Comments

  1. I was wondering why you didn’t want to talk to the man. Many OTR truckers travel on their own and strike up harmless conversations with people when they stop. He might not have meant any harm. He also might have been a new convert and was just trying to help someone else find God. I don’t mean to offend you. I’m just curious.

    1. Author

      Usually, I love to talk about the Bible. It was not an uplifting type of conversation – more like a prove-to-you type of scenario.

  2. Sounds like a very interesting day. I’m curious. Did you ever look up the verse that man mentioned. Maybe it was something important that you needed to hear, and God sent the bug to thump you on the head for ignoring it. LOL.

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