Who’s Making All That Noise?

I admit it, I am one of those people who likes it quiet when I sleep. I used to be one of those who couldn't sleep at all in a noisy environment.  In this job, I had to adapt.  I have finally learned to sleep with the rumble of a diesel engine, but it wasn’t easy at first.

My first trucking job, I drove a day cab for  about seven years, about 1/2 million miles. I was hauling laundry back and forth, from the hotels and motels, casinos and ski resorts, to the laundry facility to be cleaned and then  back out to the end user.  It was a learning job and boy did I learn.    Not in any school, either.  They sent me on a local run with a veteran driver, then the next day I was on my own.  I learned most things the hard way, by trial and error, or from talking to other drivers.  To this day, I will take the time to help a new driver with something they are struggling with, because I remember the frustration of not knowing what I was doing, and how grateful I was when someone with some experience showed me the ropes.  I learned how to handle a rig, shift the gears, back a trailer, buttonhook my turns, watch my mirrors and keep it between the lines .How to swing wide, to avoid the flowerbeds and utility poles, and how to allow myself the extra following distance necessary to stop a truck that big.  I learned how to couple and uncouple a trailer, watch my gauges, fuel the truck, check the fluids, and bleed and adjust my brakes. I learned how to chain up in the snow, and how to avoid a jackknife on ice.  I learned just about everything I needed to know to drive a big truck safely and efficiently. I could shift on a hill and use the gears to keep my speed down on the way down. But I never learned how to sleep in a truck stop.  I went home each night and slept in my own bed.  I never slept in the truck.

When I switched to over the road driving, got my first sleeper cab, and set out on a long trip, I had a lot of driving experience, but over the road trucking life was a brand new world.  Make no mistake about it, long haul trucking is more than just a job or a career, it is a lifestyle. You have to learn a new way of life, from your schedule to your family life, from your diet to your daily routine, it’s a brand new experience. 

My first night out, I drove all day, then parked in a truck stop and tried to sleep.  It was miserable.  Trucks were coming and going,  The hiss as air brakes were being set and, the rumble and roar of engines starting, and stopping, people yelling, horns honking, Jake brakes blowing. There was no quiet.  I tried, I really did, but I just couldn’t do it.   It was just no use.

After a couple of hours, I gave up.  I left the truck stop and drove until I found a big empty dirt lot.

Out west there are big wide places all over where a truck can pull in and park, and back in those days parking was a bit less of a problem than it is today, so I was the only one in the lot.  I parked in the corner and shut my truck off, so I could sleep in silence. 

 

Oh, it was nice.  No engines, no horns, no slamming doors, no air brakes, no truck stop noise.  I closed my eyes and was out like a light. Glorious, peaceful sleep!

That didn't last very long.  Shortly after I fell asleep,  I heard a diesel engine start up right outside my cab.  Someone must have pulled in  and parked next to me.  I pulled my pillow over my head and tried to ignore the sound. After a while it stopped.  Blissful silence.  I was happy.  But it didn't last.  An short time  later it started again, and ran for a little while and stopped.  This went on for several hours.  I was miserable.  Why would that diver do that?  Why would he park right next to me and then start and stop his engine over and over?  It was a great big wide open lot, why couldn't he park on the other side of the lot if he were going to be so inconsiderate?

As the night wore on that blasted engine starting again and again, revving, running, then shutting down, I got more and more worked up over it.  All the things I had heard about truck drivers ran through my mind.  Some people claimed truckers were the “Knights of the highway” while others claimed they were nothing but trouble.

I wasn’t sure which one was right, but I knew one thing.  This guy was a world class jerk, and I wasn't going to put up with  it any more.  I was going to go ask him, as nicely as I could,  to either stop with the engine, or move to a different spot.  I was here first.  This was my quiet place.  He was intruding.

I got up and pulled on my clothes, and slipped out the drivers door.

Nobody on that side.

I walked around to the other side.  There was nobody there either.

I couldn't have possibly scared him away just by thinking about him could I?  Where could he have gone?

But there was nobody there.  I was thrilled.  I had avoided a confrontation, and now I could finally get some sleep.  As I turned to get back in my truck, I heard 3 soft beeps and then that infernal engine started again.

This was the first time I had pulled a ‘reefer’ trailer.  I didn't realize that the refrigeration unit mounted on the front of the trailer had a diesel engine and that it would start and stop all night in order to maintain the temperature of my load. I suppose it had been doing this all day, but amid the noise of the other trucks I was unaware of it.

I felt ridiculously stupid, and yet I was glad I was alone. 

Think how much more stupid I would have felt waking up a fellow truck and complaining about his truck, only to have him point out to me that it was me making all the noise, and not him?

How often do we jump to conclusions?  Blame someone else for something that goes wrong?  Get ourselves all worked up and angry at someone, when in fact, if we take the time to investigate, the problem lies , not with someone else, but with ourselves? 

Having learned a valuable lesson, now when I get upset by a situation,  I try to take a minute and examine my own behavior, before I get upset at others. 

 

**Note, This story happened many years ago, the pictures are recent and have been included simply to help illustrate the story.