Stuff to bring and sleeper cabs

The school originally told us to bring enough clothes to go twelve days without laundry. I don't know about you, but I've never owned more than eight or nine underwear at a time. So I'm now bulked up with twelve underwear, twelve undershirts and twelve pairs of socks. I suppose I'll find out soon enough how much clothing the truckers actually bring on the road with them.

I was hoping I'd be driving down south and could leave behind much of my cold weather gear (and keep from buying more). A few of the students had those nice heavy cotton duck Carhart insulated overalls and they seem really warm. Much of our driving training was out on the 'backing range' in single-digit temperatures where long johns under sweats, under jeans, and seven layers of upper body clothing still weren't quite enough to stay warm while standing around waiting for my turn driving the truck. But it seems in the normal course of trucking, we'll be outside no longer than a half hour before and after each driving shift - climbing around under the truck doing a pre-trip inspection. I'm thinking those old-style ski warm-ups that simply zipper up the sides of the legs will be more than adequate and a lot more convenient that struggling into the coveralls. The truck cab has been warm enough that I've been stripping down to my undershirt while driving. Maybe this is a situation where a single thick layer of warm covering is much better than lots of thin layers.

I also don't know exactly how much time we'll be driving and how much time we'll have for other things. Theoretically, with no loading/unloading stops, just fuel and bio-breaks, two drivers in a single truck can get coast-to-coast in less than seventy hours. The Department of Transportation has fortunately limited our driving time to no more than eleven hours of driving following ten hours of continuous off-duty time (hopefully spent sleeping). So two drivers could keep alternating shifts of ten hours of driving and sleeping and get coast to coast in just under three days. I'm sure plenty of people do that, and I'm prepared to try it for awhile if my instructor wants to 'run' like that. But I've brought enough clothing that we could also go see some sights without me looking like a truck driver. Hopefully that's how he runs instead. If I'm still doing this in three months when I get "solo-certified", that's how I plan to run. Might as well make the most of it. It would be pretty sad to drive all over America for a few years and never stop for anything other than loading docks and truck stops.

Yes, these trucks we drive have "sleeper-cabs". Much bigger inside than I thought. Two beds that fold up against the back wall of the cab when not in use, and lots of shelving and closet space - sortof. So when one of us is off-duty but we want to keep the truck moving, the other driver pulls the curtains, puts in some ear-plugs, and straps himself into the bottom bunk with what looks like a cargo net. The motivation to keep the truck moving continuously is that we get paid by the mile. So when the truck isn't moving, we're not making money. Many of the drivers have leased a truck with a weekly payment of something more than $400. So as long as the truck is moving, they can make their payments.