A PSA from your highways

Were you aware that the average loaded semi truck weighs an estimated 44 THOUSAND pounds? I did not. It was not until I drove this rig for the first time that I had an interest in just about every vehicle that was passing me. The heaviest load can be up to 80 thousand pounds and when you put two of those surrounding a little sedan it just feels silly. When you see those sedans zipping between the trucks it just seems insane.

Our combo weighs roughly around 20 thousand pounds and let me tell you, 20k  pounds does not like to stop at the speed you would like it to at times. Long trucks also do not turn on a dime and backing up requires physics that my brain does not like to understand.

I started driving the trailer a couple of times ago and it was relatively simple, though five minutes in and I was missing my cushy passenger seat. Long travel days in a passenger seat means coordinating snacks, handing water bottles around and checking in on what CNN is calling the latest crisis. Long travel days in the driver seat means keeping all that you hold dear alive from point A to point B while you are not 100% sure that those around you have that same interest at heart.

"This is going to change the trip for me!" Chris said. While I was happy to hear that, I was sad for him that it took this long for me to step up and become comfortable with driving our trailer. Truth be told, it is not hard, per se. There is no manual strength or difficult equations to figure out, but having a steady concentration is a must. Our poor guy has been working continuously and then manning the wheel with no break and I'm happy to lighten that load and add to Chris' experience of this year, but I have not let him off the hook for backing this baby up for the final parking job. 

A couple of spots ago, in Hunting Island State Park I was mightily impressed with myself for navigating around the trees that seemed to grow for the exact reason which is to cause heart attacks in RV drivers. Chris was to back it into the nice large site we had, though the new moon caused for tricky lighting at 10pm. It was quickly apparent things were not going well and we called it quits when we were operating within two inches of a tree that was not going to move. We laughed as we turned off the truck, but if we had scraped the side even a little bit we would have been looking at hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of repairs. This is something all RVers know, but unless you have invested in them, you would not know the amount of fear an RVer has of others not looking out for their rig. It is with this mind set that we took off for Charlotte with me behind the wheel. There is a very narrow bridge that enters Hunting Island and it is hard not to be nervous if you had two VW bugs passing one another. We had a motor home coming toward us and I slowed down to 35mph. All went well until I looked in my rear view mirror and the side of their rig scraped along the side of the concrete barrier. My eyes and heart cringed for them as I watched the sparks fly off. It is hard to know if they were nervous of our back tires hugging that yellow line or if a wind gust pushed them as they came out from behind our trailer, but either way they have some hefty repairs ahead of them and I still get sad thinking about it. That moment was an eye opener for me and I feel like it was a little introduction to the road warriors club. So, on behalf of those driving very large vehicles down the road, let me say some things. 

1. We do not want to sway. For some reason there are air currents and when you are essentially a large medal kite, sway happens. We are sorry. 

2. If you would like to help us get over, go ahead and flash your lights at us to let us know our behinds are cleared. My friend Caitlin taught me this in college as she loves communicating with everybody, and that includes truckers. Now I see why that is so helpful as depth perception in rearview mirrors while barreling forwards is not an easy trick to learn.

3. We take our time, and space, in turning. This is not to be obnoxious, but more of an effort to leave stop signs and lights where they are supposed to be. I am sorry if I have to wait for all lanes to be clear to make that turn.

4. Stopping takes a while. If you would like to merge into my crowded land, come on over. It might be better to do so behind me rather than squeezing in front and putting on the brakes unless you want to play bumper cars on the highway.

5. While we are not afraid, we are aware of how large we are. In a car, I hate to pass semis or RVs because I think they might not see me or try to come into my lane or just move over on accident. As a driver of a large rig, I can promise you I have never been more aware of my surroundings. I would like to think that anybody who is zipping around carrying that much weight would say the same. Even though I am aware of my size, it doesn't mean I can just slow down or move over to the furthest lane as that is actually more dangerous with all of the merging and mandatory exits. What it does mean is that I am aware of you, and if you are aware of me, let's give each other as much room as we can and get to our destinations safely.

We have a couple of long trips coming up and I think Chris is excited to play car attendant to our little passengers in back while I take the wheel. I just hope that when we get there I can release my white knuckles in time to help out with my next new found skill, managing the sewer system.