With each new wave of craziness in 2020, we keep on trucking. Our world turned upside down in March, and yet in many ways, nothing has changed. We travel with our dog, Texas, and our kitty, Squeaky, and you can ask them if anything has changed, and they would both say, nope, life is great.
The first difference that we overcame was when the dine-in restaurants closed, which turned out to be a bonus for us. Not only have we saved money, cooking our meals in the truck, but we are also eating healthier. Not eating out is a habit that I hope does not change.
We listened to the media and read articles that made us afraid that once we picked up a load, the customer was going to be closed when we tried to deliver. Not once has this happened to us and in time this fear went away, and we continued trucking as usual.
For a short period, we enjoyed less traffic on the roads and fewer accidents. Road construction flourished, and that caused some slowdowns but nothing major. I am sad to say traffic has returned to normal and we are experiencing the typical traffic jams morning, evening, and sometimes in between.
For a while, we saw terrific signs posted on the overpasses, and beside the roads “Thank You, Truck Drivers,” those are all gone now. Those signs, I believe, were something we will see only once in our lifetime.
For a while in Florida, the trucks bypassed the scales, and the cars had to enter them. I have wondered if some of those people now know what that feels like to us truck drivers that sit waiting at the scale to enter states.
A few of our deliveries and pick-ups we have been required to have our temperature taken and to answer a few questions. While this is a minor inconvenience, it has not proven to be a big deal. In a few instances having our temperature taken has been downright funny as the person trying to take our temperature is struggling as much as us to learn how to do this right.
Some of the towns that we are in and out of daily started experiencing protestors and riots. We have been able to plan our routes to avoid any issues and have not experienced any problems. Our trips were planned to be out of the cities before the curfews took effect.
Next, we heard about cities being taken over by outsiders, and once again, we listened to the news and did not look out our windshield. Our fears escalated until we realized we did not see any problems, and it was back to trucking as usual. Our eyes still scan overpasses in case anyone is positioned to drop something on the truck.
We have been away from our home for three months and not sure how much longer we will stay out before going back home. Our travels have taken us all over our beautiful country, and we have come to realize that we can deal with the minor changes that have happened.
We usually do not stay out this long, but 2020 has proven to be an atypical year.