Keeping a Dog or Cat on the Road

It seems to be one of those driver issues that you’re either for it or against it. Having a pet in the cab for some is like breathing - they can’t log the miles without the companionship. Yet for others, it’s inconceivable to have an animal in the truck with them due to the time and effort that goes in to taking proper care of them. There are pros and cons, of course, but it comes down to personal choice, and knowing the ins and outs of caring for a pet on the road.

The old movies and TV shows made it seem easy- the Snowman had Fred, BJ had the Bear, and Clint Eastwood had Clyde. But animals need to be taken care of, fed and walked… and cleaned up after. For many drivers, this is second nature to having a cat or dog in the cab with them on long trips. The practice takes some getting used to, as well as some training, but it is possible.

Size matters

The larger the animal, the more care it will need in the form of frequent stops for exercise. To take it a step further, a well-trained dog can be let loose at a rest stop for a bit of running around, but a cat… it could be a tough life for a feline. However, a cat with the right temperament can survive a pampered life on the road with proper consideration. Having things such as a bed for them to spend quiet time in, free access to the sleeper cab, as well as small, dangling toys hanging from the walls to play with, is a step in the right direction.

Bathroom breaks

The higher up on the food chain a pet is, the more frequent it will have to go to the bathroom. A dog in the cab will need to be well trained to wait until your rest stops, but a cat will need something a bit more timely. This means keeping a litter box handy, and that can be smelly when in close quarters, even if it is well cleaned after every use.

As pets get older, their bladders become weaker and controlling accidents can be more difficult. If you are considering keeping your pet with you on the road, be aware that accidents may well happen. You should also realize that pulling over to clean up can take away precious time from your delivery schedule.

Emotional stimulation 

Cats and dogs, because they are of a higher intellect than other animals, need emotional contact in order to be happy. Just having them with you is a start, but they also require you to speak with them, scratch them behind the ears, pet them… all the things that make having an animal worthwhile.

If you’re bringing one on the road, be sure to keep them happy and healthy. That way, you’ll be feeding into your own happiness by having a furry companion share your ride.

$4 Million to be Spent on HOS Study

The Hours of Service (HOS) rules will be the subject of an extensive study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute as they have been selected by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). The purpose is to restart the provisions for the HOS rules to view their impact and make any recommended changes.

The FMCSA is conducting a study of the 34 hour restart rule by the order of Congress as they stipulated in a bill passed last December that rolled back the restart provisions. About 250 truckers are being sought out for the study and they will be split into two groups. One group will follow the restart rules as they are written now while the other will use the 2013 restart rules.

$4 million has been allocated to conduct the study to see which set of rules works better for truck drivers. Once the study has been completed, the results along with the approval of the Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General and the Congress, will establish which set of restart rules will be put into effect for the foreseeable future.

Essentially, the effort will track and compare both sets of drivers in order to study fatigue and safety performance. One group will be able to take two nighttime rest periods during the 34 hour restart break while the other group will take less than that number during their respective restart break.

The drivers themselves will be recruited from all types of fleets and carriers ranging from small to medium to large in terms of their operations. Plus, they will be picked from regional, long-haul and short-haul groups as well in order to provide the best statistical analysis. Even the haul types will vary between flat-bed, dry-van and refrigerated tankers.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has conducted studies of this nature before, but this will be the largest one ever overseen by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. They were selected for their knowledge and experience with these types of tests. Monitoring the drivers will be researchers who will track the time on the road and the resting or sleeping status of the drivers through onboard electronic devices that will require being logged in and out when the driver is on duty. The measurements taken will also take into account events that are critical to the safety of the driver as well.

An interesting part of the study is that the fatigue levels of the drivers will be monitored by high tech watches that the drivers will wear upon their wrists. This will allow for constant monitoring so that the most accurate measurements can be made. The point of the study will be to monitor driver fatigue because it remains arguably the biggest safety issues that drivers face. By better understanding driver fatigue, greater safety measures can be instituted.

The Hours of Service (HOS) study will take some time to monitor and complete the study, but the end result promises to either keep the new rules that were recently passed or revert back to the older 2013 rules that many of the drivers have operated under for that time period. 

History of Iowa 80 Truck Stop

The trucking industry is one of the biggest and leading income generating sectors in the United States. It involves the haulage of goods from one destination to the other. Regardless of the country of production, this has not deterred people from using this industry for their needs, as individuals require trucks to move goods from seaports to their various destinations such as distribution centers, homes, as well as stores.

As a result of this, it was essential to provide truck stops for these truckers. The history of Iowa 80 truck stop dates back to 1964 when it was opened for business as a standard station. During this period, the interstate highway was far from accomplishment and only a few such as the Mile marker 284 were functioning.  Regarded as the world’s largest truck stops in history, The Iowa 80 truck stop was the first major truck stop at Walcott exit.

A company known as Standard Oil constructed and opened the truck stop. In 1965, Bill Moon was given an opportunity to take over the administration of the truck stop when the lessee in charge left. He was a motivated man who had worked in Korea, then furthered in his education to college on the G.I. Bill. He studied chemistry as a way of attaining an improved approach to life.

Bill always considered Iowa 80 his personal project and he was excited to be presented with an opportunity to take over its management. The truck stops thrived under Bill’s administration and in 1984, Bill Moon acquired the truck stop from Amoco. He made his friend, Tom Campbell a partner.

Between 1969 and 1977, Bill Moon accomplished another feat creating Truckomatic, a truck wash company and also the CAT Scale Company. Truckomatic is currently known as Truckomat and it operates in 11 states with 12 locations. His scale company was the first of its kind in history. It was an automated, full-length scale that could conveniently weigh both trailer and truck at the same time.

In 1978, Bill nurtured the idea of celebrating the American truckers and after so much perseverance and planning, the first Walcott Truckers Jamboree was born in 1979. Till date, this Jamboree is the largest event for truckers in the world. The 2-day event not only honored truckers, but also served as an exhibition ground for dealers to display their rigs to thousands of people.

Annually, the truck stop is patronized by over 64 million customers. This figure is twenty times greater than Iowa's total population. Over 20 percent of the population are long-haul commercial truckers that search for place to eat, do their laundry or even have a meal when travelling and decide to sleep for the night.

Over a period of time, the Iowa 80 TA Truck Stop has experienced series of noteworthy development projects to be recognized as the largest truck stop in the world. The truck stop comprises the following:

•        Kitchen referred to as ‘the Iowa 80 kitchen’
•        Restaurant that can hold a capacity of 300 people
•        Barber’s shop
•        Warehouse for truckers
•        Dentist and
•     Food court 

    Recently, the truck stop ventured into the mail order business. The Iowa 80 catalog was created in 1997. Nowadays, truckers now order for a variety of product from the Iowa truckstop, even if Walcott is not their route. 

Although Moon died in 1992, his family still runs the truck stop with their primary aim being customer satisfaction and uninterrupted development to prove it.

Why Use a Single Side Band CB

While out on the road, you may have heard talk about some drivers using a single side band CB and became curious. A little research and asking around might have turned up that it’s more powerful, but other than that, what does it do that a normal CB radio won’t? It’s the thought that makes you scratch your head- if it’s more powerful, then why isn’t everyone using it?

SSB radios

A single side band CB simply is a refined frequency off of AM, with a functionality that uses the transmitter’s power and bandwidth much more efficiently than standard AM or FM, in that it cuts the bandwidth by half. To make it simpler, AM uses an output that has twice the bandwidth, and SSB uses the single stream. This gains the signal more power, up to 8 watts more than a standard CB radio. This means communications can reach further with less power output – it’s even conceivable under the right conditions to reach around the globe, though it’s not a good idea.

The FCC bans anyone from using SSB to speak to anyone greater than 90 miles away without a license (think ham radio operators, who work on SSB as well). But within the 90 miles, it is a beneficial bandwidth for a truck driver to be on, but there is a drawback.

Reception

Not everyone can receive the SSB signal and translate it through their radio units. It takes a specialized SSB receiver to do that. For this purpose, SSB rigs are often the toys of larger fleets, which might be in a specialized need on the road.

To clarify, SSB is not its own frequency, nor is a section of a particular band. In fact, it is considered a mode of transmission, much like AM or FM, just much more efficient. The receiver isn’t necessarily seeking the exact bandwidth a transmission is coming in on, either. The efficiency of the original broadcast makes a specialized SSB receiver more of a fine-tuner, modulating the sound waves on the mode to sound their best. With a little fiddling of the dial, voices coming over SSB can sound high pitched or low, duck-like and ‘quacky,’ as some drivers have described it.

Your antenna array will be the same as with a regular CB rig if you are interested in exploring further. But you will find that not many folks outside fleets will use the SSB due to its complexity and difficulty of tuning in a clean signal on the receiver.