2 Ways to Have EGGS AND BACON on the Truck

I'm the kind of person who's fascinated with those tiny, minute aspects of people's lives. Take breakfast for example. What do all cultures of people around the world eat for breakfast? What did my grandparents eat for breakfast during WWII? What did people eat during Charles Dickens' time? During Jane Austen's time? What did you have for breakfast this morning? I just can't get enough of stuff like that.

So I suppose that it's only natural that I'd be wondering what truck drivers eat for breakfast!  Do most of them buy it at a truck stop or fast food restaurant each day?  Do they go to a restaurant mainly? Do they have on-the-go stuff like granola bars, or do they eat cereal? Or do they have something else entirely, or even nothing at all?

While I don't have the answers (though I'd love to do a poll if I was so inclined!), one thing I do know is what we two truck drivers eat for breakfast! Therefore I'm going to share with you one breakfast that can easily be eaten while driving, and one breakfast that can be cooked in a 12-volt truckers stove.

In case you're not familiar with a truckers stove, it looks like an old fashioned lunch pail. Inside is ceramic that heats to 300 degrees F. We use the Roadpro brand which can be bought at any Pilot or Flying J, and unlike most of their other products, these stoves seem to last and last. We have had the same two stoves for two years now. They look like they've been through the wars but they work perfectly!

Before I go into it, I should just mention that when we're on the truck, we try to stay away from added sugar and all refined and starchy carbohydrates.  Therefore, we do eat more fat to compensate. We've been eating this way for about a month and a half and so far we're both thrilled how much better we feel and I've even gone down a jeans size.

Breakfast 1: The Bag O' Breakfast

This is my daily breakfast which I prepare before getting to bed the night before. I wake up at 5:30am and start my shift at 6am, so I neither have the time nor desire for food before my shift begins. I love this breakfast because I can easily eat it without distraction while I'm driving and it keeps me going for hours. There are no crumbs and it's not at all messy.

What my Bag O' Breakfast consists of is 2 boiled eggs, 2 bite sized chunks of cheese (the ones in the photo are havarti, but I like cheddar too) and 2 strips of cooked Oscar Mayer bacon which I tear in half to make 4 smaller pieces (making it easier to shove the whole piece in my mouth). All of that goes into a Ziploc bag.

All of these foods (including the precooked eggs) are from WalMart.

Breakfast 2: Eggs n Bacon

This is Richie's breakfast of champions. He wakes up around 3pm and doesn't start his shift until 6pm, so he has the time to cook himself a hot breakfast each day.

First, he lines the stove with foil, adds some olive oil and preheats the stove for 10 minutes. Then he cracks 3 eggs into the stove.

He leaves the eggs to cook between 8-10 minutes (depending on how runny he wants the yolks). About halfway through, he adds a few slices of the Oscar Mayer cooked bacon so they can heat up. Finally, he slides it all onto a plate, adds salt, pepper and hot sauce, and devours it before you can blink twice.

Well, there you have it! I'll be sharing more of the kinds of meals we eat on the truck in future posts. 

What to Expect at Truck Stop Showers

Before I started this job, I had no idea what it would be like to shower at truck stops. In fact, the whole idea was so disturbing to me that I simply DIDN'T think about it.  I mean, what normal person not driving a truck or not even planning to drive a truck would bother to wonder what truck stop showers are like?

If I did happen to devote 10 seconds to the thought, images of dirty high school shower rooms, prison showers (or, as I imagined how they'd be), smelly communal college or gym showers. You get the picture. Basically, the stuff of nightmares!

"OK," I told myself, "Maybe it won't be THAT bad!"

I remember my very first shower when Richie and I were with our trainer. I was given a receipt with a PIN code and you input the code using the key pad next to the shower door you've been assigned to and WOWEE! A whole private room to myself, complete with toilet, sink, huge walk in shower, clean towels and bench! It was nicer than the nicest hotel shower! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. So THIS is what truck stop showers look like!!!

Just to give you an idea of how swanky they can be, here is truck stop shower photo that I've been lucky enough to use.

Two years on, I've experienced varying degrees of 'niceness' in showers but even the most disappointing of shower rooms was still a million miles away from the nightmarish images I had before starting the job.

Unlike 'normal folk', who take their daily shower in the morning for granted, Richie and I don't have the opportunity to shower daily. So when we do shower, it's an Event. We really take our time and treat it almost as a spa experience! Now, instead of rushing through the chore of a shower like I used to when I lived in the 'real world', I look forward to my next one and plan what toiletries I'll be using.

The contents of my bag changes with each shower. Since being on the truck, I've come to adore scents and for me, shower time is a way to try them out. I therefore have a bunch of soaps, shower gels and body lotions and I don't use the same one twice in a row, preferring to rotate everything. Some things, however, remain the same until I'm done with the product.

Here's a look at what's in my shower bag for the shower I had today!

OK, first confessed time. I have a teeny weeny obsession with Body Shop. I love pretty much everything they make and if I had a limitless gift card, I'd just buy one of everything!

From the left, there is a Satsuma shower gel with scrubby bits in it and next to that is a Satsuma lotion, both from the Body Shop. To me, they smell so citrusy and amazing!

Next is my face wash, from CeraVe, and it lasts forever.

In front of CeraVe is Body Shop Vitamin E face moisturizer. My face tends to get oily and this is nice and light and has a pleasant mild scent.

Next is Aveeno shaving gel which smells slightly of marzipan. I use a Gilette Venus razor but there's a basic Venus blade on it. I had been using the Venus Embrace ones but as they're super expensive, I thought I'd try the more inexpensive basic ones. Bad idea! With the Embrace blades, one could last me for weeks. With these basic ones, I get nicked with a fresh blade! An example of the old saying 'you get what you pay for'. I'll definitely be going back to the Venus Embrace once I'm out of blades.

Next is my Secret gel deodorant and Herbal Essences lotion for preventing frizz. During winter, my hair gets so much static and so this helps.

Next is Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner in Moroccan My Shine. I think these smell absolutely fantastic and the scent can linger in my hair for days!

Finally, though it's not exactly in my shower bag, is my COFFEE! After all, I think it's so luxurious to take my time with a shower while at the same time having a cup of delicious coffee to sip from! Today's coffee is Columbian.

Once a week, I also use a facial mask and deep treatment hair conditioner but today was not that day.

Do you have a favorite truck stop shower? What products do you love using? Please let me know in the comments!

How to Make a "Trucker Parfait"

I bet you never thought you'd associate "trucker" and "parfait" with each other, did you?  Well that's exactly what I'm going to do now! Not only is the Trucker Parfait delicious, it looks so pretty, is super quick to make and best of all, is packed with nutrient-rich foods, no added sugar and is super healthy!

Richie and I make every effort to remove added sugar from our diet except for occasional treats.  Here's a little of what I understand about sugar:

1. It quickly raises blood sugar levels, giving you that initial rush, but as the body quickly seeks to regulate blood sugar levels, you crash down and crave more fatty and sugary foods.

2. Sugar has been shown to contribute to storage of fat especially around the middle which in turn puts strain on the heart and increases risk of heart disease.

OK, lecture over, it's Parfait Time!

Parfaits are usually served in clear, tall glasses. But let's get real, this is trucking life after all and parfait glasses aren't exactly an essential item. What I use are clear, disposable plastic cups. You can buy packs of them at WalMart and you can use them for all sorts of things.

Parfait options are pretty much limitless but I'll show you one option. It's a blackberry, raspberry and almond yogurt parfait.

Ingredients needed:

Yogurt. Our favorite, hands down, is the Fage 2% Greek Yogurt. It's so decadent and creamy and has none of the chalky consistency that fat free yogurt can have.

Blackberries

Raspberries

Slivered almonds (you can find them in the baking aisle)

Clear plastic disposable cups

How to make:

1. Put some raspberries in a bowl and mash with a fork. This shouldn't take more than 10 seconds as raspberries mash up really easily.

2 Spoon some yogurt into the bowl and gently swirl the raspberry mixture in. It will look like this.

3. Put a small handful of blackberries in the bottom of your clear cup.

4. Spoon half  of the yogurt mixture on top.

5. Add a sprinkling of slivered almonds on top of the yogurt.

6. Repeat steps 3-5. Add a blackberry in the center to top it off.

7. Take a moment to admire the beautiful parfait you have just created before digging in!

We enjoy these when we want something sweet. Making the two parfaits you see in the photo took me less than 5 minutes in total.

I love making them as there are so many different foods you can use. I'd love to hear what your favorite combinations are and I'd love to see pictures of your trucker parfaits! 

Now You Struggle.....Now You Don't!!

Last week we were traveling on I-80 through Nebraska when the road conditions became icy. We received a message from our company's weather department telling us to shut down at a safe location due to dangerous driving conditions. We ended up being shut down for over a day before we were given the all-clear to roll again.

I was asked by someone if winter shutdowns are the worst part about being an OTR driver.

For me, the answer is a resounding"No way!"In fact, I'm grateful for and take comfort in the fact that our company values drivers' safety over getting the load there on time - "No matter what, so man up and just get it there!"

So what, you may ask, do I struggle with the most about OTR driving? For me personally, I can struggle when customers cancel loads that we have been given a preplan for (I.e. our next load).

I'm a planner. I love making and becoming attached to even the most mundane of future plans. "Right, we'll deliver to Nashville on Friday around noonish. We'll then stop at such and such a WalMart to buy the week's food. We'll then go have a shower at the T.A. on the way to our next pick up in Atlanta and maybe stop at Denny's too for a treat meal and maybe I'll order..." You get the idea.

I will literally spend hours planning this stuff while I'm driving!

Then out of the blue BAM! We get a message telling us that our next load has cancelled. My plans are flushed down the proverbial toilet just like that.

This kind of thing used to really upset me. What about our shower? Our food shopping? Denny's? IT'S SO UNFAIR!

These cancellations however are part of the nature of being a truck driver. Customers cancel. I understand that, of course I do.  But knowing that doesn't make it any easier for me when these things do inevitably happen.

But here's what I'm starting to discover. When loads cancel and plans are no more, something good can usually happen as a result. Here's an example of what happened last week.

We were due to deliver in Chicago and immediately head for pick up in Milwaukee for a load to Nashville and after we delivered, we would then have over half a day to do what we wanted. However, while driving east through Iowa, I got a message saying that the Milwaukee load had cancelled. We received a new load picking up the next day in Decatur IL (about 140 miles from Chicago).

Not exactly thrilled, I brooded and grumbled to myself a little. However, here are the good things that happened as a result that would not have happened had the load not cancelled:

1. I was able to have a long, peaceful night's sleep in a non-moving truck at the Petro in Monee, IL.

2. We had a voucher for a free dessert at Iron Skillet and Richie went in and came back to the truck with a gigantic round brownie with a cookie in the middle complete with 2 scoops of ice cream. It was enough to be a generous dessert for each of us - and for free!

3. When I woke up the next morning and went into the Petro for a shower, the shower room I was given was massive!

4. On the way to the pick up, we stopped at a WalMart in Kankakee IL. It was super easy for me to get in and out of and the store had stuff I'd never seen at other WalMarts. I was well impressed and pleased to add this new finding to our list of great trucker friendly WalMarts.

I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that I'm no longer bothered when loads cancel. No, if our next load cancelled now, I would probably experience some distress.

However, I am starting to trust  that by recognizing and acknowledging the good things that can potentially happen as a result of a seemingly negative event, over time, the struggle can lessen more and more.

I know my struggles with loads cancelling certainly has lessened a lot, and I mean a LOT!

Trucker Chocolate Fondue for Valentine's Day!!

In honor of Valentines Day, I thought I'd share our very favorite decadent treat that we enjoy making. For us, this beats any sugar-laden, chemical filled dessert out there. I call it Trucker Chocolate Fondue! 

Fondue? On a truck? Mais oui! But of course, and it's unbelievably simple to make! You just need to pick up a couple of things at any WalMart and you'll also need access to a microwave at a truck stop.

What you'll need:

1 bar 70% chocolate (I like Lindt brand best but any brand is okay as long  as the cocoa content is 70% or higher).

Some heavy whipping cream. Strictly speaking, this isn't absolutely necessary but I love using it because not only does it makes the fondue richer but it also stabilizes the chocolate. Chocolate is extremely temperamental and it's all too easy to scorch it. By adding cream, the chocolate won't scorch.

Some fruits for dipping into the fondue.  I'm using a couple of bananas from Flying J. If I had planned better, I would have gotten some strawberries too at WalMart when we did our food shopping the other day in Nebraska!

A microwave safe bowl

Directions:

1. Break the chocolate up into little pieces into the bowl.

2. Add the heavy cream. It's hard to say how much but maybe enough to cover the chocolate but not drown it. You can always mix more cream in later if you want.

3. Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir. If it's not yet melted, put it back for 10 second increments until melted, stirring each time.

4. Dip fruits and enjoy the chocolatey goodness!

This is the perfect treat to share with your Loved One, your Liked One or even your Barely Tolerable One .

Here, Richie and I are enjoying our fondue at the Flying J in Aurora, Oregon. This is the only truck stop we know of that has cafe-style seating and we love hanging out while we're there in between loads.

Of course there's absolutely nothing wrong with making sure you don't waste a drop of the fondue, so after the fruit dipping is done, use your finger to get the rest!

I hope I've given you some inspiration and shown that it is very easy to make and enjoy something luxurious and decadent on the road. After all, who says that just because we're truckers we can't enjoy treats like this!

A little about me Karen....and my husband (and team driver) Richie!!

My name is Karen and together with my husband, Richie, we are team company truck drivers.  We've just started our third year and we go all over the country, living on the truck for 12 weeks at a time with one week off.  I suppose you could call us Professional Nomads!

Here's my story and I'll tell you a bit how we came to choose this life on the truck.

My world started a million miles away from the trucking world - in Japan to be precise. I graduated from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts with a B.A. in Japanese language and culture.  Having graduated with no career prospects or direction, I found a job doing the only thing I knew how to do: type and be a secretary.

Utterly dissatisfied with this, I decided to try teaching English in Japan. I taught adults and children for almost 4 years. While there, I met Richie, who had come from England to teach.

After a couple of years dating in Japan, in 2005, we returned to the USA to get married. We then decided to settle in the UK to start our new life together.

Again, I fell back on my secretarial skills and worked as a secretary for about 6 and a half years for a very fancy law firm. One day we realized that with our salaries, we were never going to  be able to even afford a down payment on a cheap house as cost of living (rent, utilities, phone, food) was eating up well over half of our  meager pay each month.  We felt really stuck and disheartened over the lack of opportunities available to us.

One day in 2010, I thought that it might be a good idea to move to the USA as with my secretarial experience, I could get a much better paid job than if I remained in the UK. Richie had been a van delivery driver and he could either do that or train for something else.

Richie told me that he was thinking of being a truck driver. I told him no way, I'd never see him! Later that evening I felt bad and decided to do a bit of research on the internet. It was there that I accidentally discovered a concept called "Team Trucking". Hmmm, I thought, I hate driving a car and have never in my life thought about trucks, but why not? We had no kids, no home of our own, no money, what did we have to lose?

I remember skipping into work the next day in my pretty dress and stiletto boots and exclaiming "Guess what? Me and Richie are going to be American Team Truckers!" The responses I got were those  mildly patronizing smiles as if to say "Yes dear, of course you are".

Fast forward to January 2013. We're in America! We just passed our tests for CDL school and have departed on the Greyhound bus for orientation. Even then, the idea that I was actually a licensed truck driver wasn't really computing as it was still so surreal!

In the time between gearing up to leave the UK and boarding the Greyhound bus, I can't tell you how many hours I spent desperately combing the internet for some insight into the lifestyle we were getting ourselves into. I wanted team trucking anecdotes, ideas, stories, hints and tips but most of all, I wanted inspiration!  I wanted to hear from others who were already doing what we were about to do. I wanted to know that we wouldn't be alone. I guess you could say I wanted a kind of "Big Sister" so to speak to guide us and ease the culture shock of this completely alien and mysterious lifestyle of team trucking.

Did I find what I was looking for? No. Not at all.

As a result, my first year (after the novelty of the honeymoon period wore off) was hard for me. The culture shock of my new life was often painful. We suddenly had no society and no real idea how to do anything other than exist on the truck and get by. "This is no kind of life for a woman!" became my almost daily battle cry. I was convinced that I was all alone in my struggles. I was so grateful for Richie's support but I felt lonely and isolated from the rest of the world.

However little by little, we were able to carve out a life and lifestyle for ourselves on the truck. We slowly went from"existing" to "living". Not only that but our savings account reached figures previously unheard of for the likes of us! We went from merely wanting enough for a small house to wanting early retirement.

I want to be of benefit to those thinking about getting into team trucking. I want to let other teams already on the truck know that they're not alone. I want to welcome everyone, and especially women, into our little world.  Basically I just want to share aspects of our life, from food to exercise to naps. Whatever takes my fancy, really, and gives a bit of insight into how this particular team lives. I want to tell women that you can be a trucker and still be girly!

I'm no authority on anything so whatever I talk about will merely be saying"Hey, this is what we're doing and feel free to use any ideas that you like (or not)!" I am not saying "This is what you should be doing!" Our lifestyle is always a work in progress and we're constantly seeking to make our lives on the truck better and better.

So again, welcome to our world!