Some Days This Job Stinks!

"Living on the road my friend,
was gonna keep you free and clean.
Now you wear your skin like iron,
and your breath is hard as kerosene."

                            -Willie Nelson


Those lyrics, if I even have them correct, come from a distant memory I have of a song called "Pancho and Lefty" about two bandits living on the road.

Life on the road is not easy.  Many truck drivers that I come across do not take the best care of themselves, and I am learning that it is very easy to gain weight out here if you do not take determined steps to avoid that problem.  Some of them don't even bathe regularly.  It's frustrating being relegated to public facilities all the time, but you still have to do what you can to keep from being a "stinker!"

Not too long ago I was sitting in a drivers lounge at a truck stop - I wasn't really interested in watching the T.V., but sometimes you just need to get out of and away from that truck for a little while.  It was bad weather that day, so I went inside and just sat down a while in there.  Pretty soon a very bad odor was almost choking me.  I mean it reminded me of trips I have taken to the public garbage dump in my home town.  It was pungent, strong, and offensive to my olfactory senses.  Turns out it was the truck driver who had sat down on the chair behind me.  I had to get up and leave the room.  Later in the day I returned and he showed up again a few minutes after I had settled in, with the same disastrous results.  I know it is hard to get a shower every day when you are out here doing this job, but anybody can manage to get two or three showers a week if they want to.  We get the showers for free because the truck stops issue us credits for the showers based on the fuel purchases we make.  So, there is no actual cost to the driver.  I have often times given showers to the homeless folks I see begging for money or food at the truck stops.  They always appreciate it, and I'm happy to share my credits with them.  They need a shower more than they need another bottle of beer, and at least this way I know what they are doing with my meager generosity.

Another foul odor is the public restrooms at the truck stops, I have no idea about the ladies room, but 98% of the men's rooms smell atrociously.  My friend Daniel B. says it is because truck drivers have such a poor diet.  He told me once that if he has extra shower credits he will sometimes use a shower credit just to go in there to that private room, which gets a good cleaning after each individual use, just so he can relieve himself in there without having to endure the stench of the restroom.  I've never gone that far to avoid the foul smell, but it is bad enough at times to make me think about it.

Even the parking lots of most truck stops stink like stale urine... I'll leave that to your own imagination, but trust me it is bad in the heat of the summer.

Just the other day I was working on putting my tarps onto a load of aluminum from Delhi and I kept smelling a bad smell like old stale sweaty body odor, almost locker room like.  I was scolding myself inwardly for becoming like so many of the truck drivers that I despise, but after I got through with the job and sat down in my truck with the A/C going I noticed right away that I didn't smell the odor anymore.  After a brief investigation it turned out that the leather gloves I was wearing were the culprits.  I guess they have soaked up enough sweat in them that they are starting to stink.  I discarded them and started out with a new pair, I guess it was time.

You don't even want to hear about what it is like to try to sleep in your truck on a hot summer night when one of those "cattle trucks" parks next to you at the truck stop... that is a stench that is really invasive.

Well, I always look forward to my time at home with my good smelling wife, in our tidy little house.  Some days I look forward to it more than others, and maybe this post will give you a little understanding of why I feel that way.