CB or not CB? That is the question.

Continuing on  with the ABC's of trucking, this week we are on

So let's talk about the Citizen Band, or CB Radio. generations, truckers depended on CB Radio.

It was their lifeline, their primary means of communication, and their chief source of information and entertainment.

No trucking movie of the seventies would be complete without the ever present CB.  That's because no truck in the twentieth century would be complete without one.

And the American people ate it up.

Even those with no exposure to trucks were familiar with CB's. After all, how else would Uncle Jesse have known what the Duke boys were up to without those radios that somehow had a range that extended all over Hazzard County?

CB really took off in the 1970's as a nationwide 55 mph speed limit took a bite out of paychecks and truckers used it to avoid speeding tickets. And with Smokey And The Bandit  hitting the big screen while Convoy played on the airwaves, soon everyone was playing along. Every truck, pickup,  car, and home was fair game as America got caught up in the craze.

But like the Hula Hoop before and the Rubik's Cube that followed, the novelty soon wore off and by the 90's CB's were mostly in the hands of a few hard core enthusiasts, farmers and of course, truckers.

The birth of the internet and the affordability and convenience  of smart phones have all  played key roles in the recent decreased popularity of the CB among truckers.

There is current a division of thought among truck drivers regarding CB Radios. There are mixed feelings as to whether it is a vital tool, a fun toy, or an irritating distraction.  I believe it is, at times, a little of each. Many of the hardcore, old school drivers  swear that no truck is safe unless the CB is turned on so the driver can be aware of what's ahead, while others feel that the foul language, name calling, political bickering, race baiting and general trash talking that comes along with it make simply not worth the bother.


There are strong opinions on both sides of the issue, and I have been called a variety of names and even invited to leave some social media groups, for expressing my somewhat neutral opinion.

Imagine if you will, a Facebook account where you were 'friends' with everyone within a five mile radius. Now imagine that everyone comments and posts anonymously. You can see how it could get ugly real quick.

On the other hand on the morning of Sept. 11 2001 Diann and I were in Western Pennsylvania, driving towards Washington DC, for a delivery that afternoon, when I turned my CB on and we learned that a plane had just hit the WorldTrade Center.  That early knowledge helped us to stop and divert to a drop yard, before we got into the worst of the congestion and confusion. So I recognize that it can be a helpful tool if used properly.

My solution to the Great CB Controversy, is to Compromise.

I have a CB Radio installed in my truck. But I don't always use it. If I'm in heavy traffic, bad weather or congested docks and truck stops I'll be sure and have it on.  But other than that it's hit and miss.  I don't turn it on when I have a student on my truck, and I turn it off whenever it gets annoying.

It's kind of sad, the passing of an era. But one that I got to be a part of for a while.

10-4 friends, I'm going to back on out,  ya'll keep it safe, keep the purty side up and the dirty side down, and we'll catch you on the flip-flop.

 You can see more of my ABC's of Trucking here:
A - Attitude
B - Budget
C - CB Radio

And why not stop by ABC Wednesday

and see what other people are inspired to post this week.

My Home Sweet Home

A Penny Saved

Continuing with my theme of the ABC's of trucking, Today let's talk about the letter B.

Many words came to mind.  Backing. Bill of Lading. BS Artist. Big Truck...

But one of the most critical, in my opinion, is Budget.

In the world of electronic funds, it's a little easier to get access to money than it used to be.  This can be a good thing or a bad thing.

Back when I was starting, I had a certain amount each week.  When it was gone I was in trouble.  I had to make every nickel and dime count.  Many was the day I was living on ramen noodles and faith. 

Things are better now.  But I still like to keep things under control because easier to access can often mean easier to spend, and that can leave you scrambling to pay the bills. 

So what we do is have one bank account set up just for me to use on the road.  Each week we put my budgeted discretionary money in there and it's there for me to withdraw or access with a debit card any time I need to, throughout the week.

In the rare and unlikely event that I have an emergency come up, or another expense that causes me to exceed that,  we can decide how much needs to be transferred from our household account to cover it.  That way I'm not just randomly dipping into our household funds.

I make it into a sort of game to try to stay below budget every week, and save the difference. Some weeks it's easier than others. 

I engaged in an experiment in 2016.

I had read about the Penny A Day Challenge around Christmas of 2015 and decided I would give it a try.

It's very simple really.

On Jan 1, 2016, I put a penny in a jar. (In my case I used a cheap penny bank.)
On Jan 2, I put two pennies into the kitty. On Jan 3, three pennies. And so on...

It was easy at first; So easy it was tempting to just quit. But as the days progressed, the number kept growing.
By April 9, the 100th day of the year, when I was now adding $1.00 a day, it had become a habit. Every morning part of my morning ritual was to go through my pocket change from the previous day and take out the appropriate amount, before dropping the rest in a separate jar.  This jar, normally my laundry and vending machine money, came in handy later in the year when the daily challenge amount was more than my pocket change and I turned to the change jar to make up the difference.

Although it was easy at first, by the time July 18, the 200th day of the year pushed past the $2.00 mark it started to actually require a commitment. Of course by this time it was such a habit, a part of my daily life, that it made it easier to give up my afternoon donut and Coke. This in turn, presumably, had its own added health benefits.

And of course when Oct 25 rolled around and I hit the $3 per day mark, I was fully committed, and watching the money building up so much faster was part of the fun.

Continuing  for the entire year meant that since 2016 was a leap year and  it contained 366 days,  Dec 31, 2016 was the 366th day of the year so on that day I was up to $3.66 finishing my year contribution.

The result was a final tally of $671.61.

And the best part was that, since I resisted temptation to spend it early, I still had that in my hand AFTER Christmas.

It was such a fun way to challenge myself to save that I have decided to do it again this year.
But I'm going to add an additional challenge.
I'm also going to do the Dollar A Week challenge, which is self explanatory. $1 the first week, 2 dollars the second and so on throughout the year.

The tricky part will be that by the final week, if I am still doing both challenges, I will need to come up with $75.34, which currently exceeds my weekly discretionary allowance I have given myself.

Once I hit my limit,  I will need to find a way to generate additional money, either through mystery shopping or some other means of bringing in those extra dollars.  But we'll cross that bridge when it becomes a problem.

If I am able to keep up with both challenges, the Penny challenge should yield $667.96 while the Dollar challenge should add up to $1378.00 for a combined total of $2045.96.

I'd like to invite you, to join me in one or the other or both challenges.
I'll post periodic updates and try to provide some encouragement.

Lets do it!

Check out my other ABC's of Trucking posts.

A - Attitude

B - Budget

Why not Head on over to ABC Wednesday and see what everyone else is writing about this week?

The ABC's of Trucking

Nearly ten years ago, an Englishwoman named Denise Nesbitt started a blog to share her thoughts and ideas with her friends and to allow them to share theirs.
Under the humble title ABC Wednesday, she started with A and each week progressed through the alphabet sharing things in her world that were inspired by that letter.
It was so successful that she continued, round after round, and her blog has, to date, cycled through the alphabet 19 times. During the fourth year  she invited me to join her team and I have participated in one way or another since then.
After much heartbreaking consideration it was decided last year that the blog would discontinue and so round twenty will be the final round.

I have not always regularly contributed to the blog each week, but as this is the final round I am going to make an effort to fit it in among my various other daily activities (like working and stuff.)

Sometimes my posts will be elaborate, some weeks they might just be a picture or a quick thought. But I will try over the next 26 weeks to share some snippets of the trucking world, one letter at a time.

So this week let's start with:

A is for Attitude. 

An important aspect of trucking is attitude.

Trucking  is a career and a lifestyle that requires an enormous amount of dedication; If you approach it with a chip on your shoulder it's just a matter of time before someone will knock it off. 

In order to be successful in this industry you need to be flexible, patient and willing to learn.

 No matter how long you've been out on the road there are still new things that you can learn and once you've decided that there's nothing else to learn, it's time to hang up your keys and call it quits.

 As  a truck driver you are going to go places where they feel their time is more valuable than your time is and you can either accept that and get your load eventually, or you can be upset about that and get your load eventually.

 Don't believe the tough talking guy in the truck stop who tells you that all he had to do was throw a temper tantrum and he got his own way at the shipper or receiver. Temper tantrums are not effective tools in this industry.

Whether you are dealing with clients, law enforcement, your dispatcher, the cashier at the truck stop, or just your fellow drivers,  a nasty attitude will seldom get you very far. A smile a kind word and a little bit of courtesy and you will be down the road before you know it.

 Most of us get paid by the mile and it's a sad fact that the pay per mile is the same whether you drive with a grumpy face or a smile on your face. But an upbeat attitude can make those miles go by a lot faster

You can click RIGHT HERE to see what other participants around the world are sharing this week.