Life on the Road: The morning ritual

Have you ever had that dream, or nightmare, where you wake up at work? The one where you wander in looking all scruffy, in yesterday’s clothes, half asleep and wondering what day it is? Well for some of us out on the road, that’s a daily occurrence.

I get asked a lot of questions about being a long-distance truck driver. How long can you drive for, how do you stay awake, do you get bored, and how fast is your truck are the most common ones, all with easy answers.

The other one that comes up often is where do you sleep, shower and eat? The answer to that is never as simple.

For the interstate drivers among you this will come as no surprise, but rest areas and facilities for truck drivers are rarely taken into consideration by the vast majority of the population. So, when I’m asked the question about facilities, I always try to paint the true picture.

For me, I like to make as few stops as possible each day, so my choice of shower facilities usually involves somewhere that I can get breakfast and stock up on goodies for the day ahead. This usually means I park up at a service centre, where I can tick all the boxes and get set up for the day.

Regardless of where you choose to stop, there’s nothing glamorous about having a shower in a public facility. The quality and cleanliness of the facilities range from being better than I have at home to resembling an NCIS crime scene, and everything in between.

If you run the same road often enough, you’ll soon find the places that are good and those that are definitely not. Believe me when I say I’d rather skip a shower than use some of the ones I’ve seen. I consider sitting in my own filth to be less of a risk in some cases. Certainly, beggars can’t be too choosy, but it always pays to consider your own health and wellbeing.

A nice clean shower is a welcome luxury, and often influences my choice of where to stop. But the bathroom facilities are only one aspect of the equation, with the access and environment having a big part in the overall comfort of the situation.

At home, you climb out of bed and stagger to the bathroom in privacy. That’s not the case at all when you’re living your truck. If it’s just a quick stop for a shower and feed it’s not so bad, but an overnight stop creates the most entertaining example of a driver’s daily routine.

Having battled the noise of a busy parking area to get some average sleep, the alarm rings. When it goes off, you rub your eyes, climb out of bed and get dressed. Then you pull back the blind, look out the window at the parking area, and remind yourself where you are.

You get your stuff together in your bag, and climb out of the truck, basically stepping straight from your bed into full public view. What comes next is very similar to the good old walk of shame – minus the hangover.

As you may have guessed, I am not a shy person. I am very self- conscious though when I stagger into a packed service centre, looking rough and carrying my overnight bag.

Some of the newer service centres have a rear door that leads into the driver’s area, which softens the blow a bit, but the standard rules still require you to join the queue at the counter and swap your truck keys for a shower key.

This means milling around with the tourists, school kids, commuters and impeccably dressed business people, all before you get the chance to spruce yourself up. If you’re lucky, the cashier will see you coming and let you jump the queue, minimising the discomfort.

With shower key in hand, you make your way to the allocated shower cubicle. You never know what’s hiding behind the door – will it be clean, has the last user left a mess, and will there be any hot water? If you’re lucky, the shower is clean and comfortable, and you’ll walk out feeling the same.

We drivers complain a bit about the cleanliness and maintenance of showers, but we also need to take some responsibility in this area. I have seen the impact of these facilities being mistreated by users, from faecal matter on the walls to missing tapware.

I don’t understand why anyone would need to take a shower head with them but, believe it or not, it happens. As for the dirty walls, it makes you wonder how some people treat their own house. My guess is they wouldn’t do it at home, but think it’s okay when someone else has to clean it up. If we expect good facilities, we should also look after the ones that are provided. This not only shows a level of respect to those clean and maintain them, but helps in the fight to get more facilities built. But I digress.

That feeling of being clean, refreshed and presentable is something that everyone has a right to. Not everyone has the convenience of achieving that at home though.

It might seem like a strange concept to some people, but it’s all part of the job for many interstate drivers. It’s also one of the few situations where the general public interact with truck drivers in work mode, and so it does have a big impact on the stereotype.

When you see one of these drivers wander into the service station looking a bit rough, carrying their whole wardrobe in their bag, spare a thought for how you would feel in the same situation. Keep in mind they are not doing it by choice, it’s just a way of life, and they’re living the dream – or the nightmare, as the case may be.