The High Road of Adventure

[Laurasea]

And here we are for our daily romp

I love how Dandy looks like a Halloween ghost in this picture!!!

 

[18WheelsOfSteel]

And here we are for our daily romp

I love how Dandy looks like a Halloween ghost in this picture!!!

He's an absolute goober given to odd fits of shenanigans, to say he was the high energy one of the two would be an understatement. He isn't terribly fond of physical contact, might never be, but we have a routine all the same and he likes to talk with me while I putter about the truck, or while I drive, Belle is far more cuddly/physically interactive, but is very quiet, I catch her singing very soft sometimes when Beau hushes up (rare time indeed other than sleep) and she absolutely is the dominant half of the cage. Boy howdy does she ever rule with an iron fist too lemme tell ya.

 

[Kiwibird]

What a fun and interesting life for your birds! Honestly, I think many parrots would do well with long haul trucking or “RV-ing” as a lifestyle, so long as proper diet could be provided. Most parrot species don’t stay in one small area and while not necessarily migratory birds, most have large areas they move about in. It makes sense being on the road would come fairly naturally. If I’m not mistaken, budgies follow seasonally changing food and water sources over hundreds of miles in their natural habitat. As many members on here can attest to, even short trips out and about are highly beneficial and mentally stimulating for birds. Just have to get them used to the sensation of riding in a vehicle and they’re good to go.

Very interested to hear more about bringing your birds with you to work!

 

[18WheelsOfSteel]

What a fun and interesting life for your birds! Honestly, I think many parrots would do well with long haul trucking or “RV-ing” as a lifestyle, so long as proper diet could be provided. Most parrot species don’t stay in one small area and while not necessarily migratory birds, most have large areas they move about in. It makes sense being on the road would come fairly naturally. If I’m not mistaken, budgies follow seasonally changing food and water sources over hundreds of miles in their natural habitat. As many members on here can attest to, even short trips out and about are highly beneficial and mentally stimulating for birds. Just have to get them used to the sensation of riding in a vehicle and they’re good to go.

Very interested to hear more about bringing your birds with you to work!

I think it probably has taken longer for them to acclimate to the environment, but they are every bit as happy and engaged as any bird I've seen on YouTube or wherever, they were absolutely terrified the first time we had to abandon ship for a couple of days to a hotel room, but they don't mind near as much anymore, the diet is hard, given schedule, but we do our best and make due. They still generally restrict themselves to the top bunk for the most part, but they are gradually exploring elsewhere.

 

[18WheelsOfSteel]

Alright gang, seems the limit of photos is going to be a problem, any suggestions for a hosting site? Photobucket is no good and I have never fooled with any of the others

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

How do the kid's handle it when you are grabbin' gears late night or early morning? Are they good sleepers while you are mashin' your motor? I can only imagine what a Diesel Cop would say if/when he saw two little budgies giving him the 'ol stink eye! lol.



Jim

 

[Tami2]

Create an Acct on here:
https://imgur.com

 

[18WheelsOfSteel]

How do the kid's handle it when you are grabbin' gears late night or early morning? Are they good sleepers while you are mashin' your motor? I can only imagine what a Diesel Cop would say if/when he saw two little budgies giving him the 'ol stink eye! lol.



Jim

I generally give them 10 hours a day of sleep, fortunately flatbed freight tends not to have hard appointments like box and reefer freight do, we have a specific day and most places are first come first serve, and it isn't often a problem with getting up super early. I did have one DOT cop in, you guessed it, California, this summer that wanted to argue with me about being able to idle my truck to keep the temperature safe for the birds (apparently I am just chopped liver to them) and things got uh...less than completely professional but his supervisor told him I had to be permitted to run the truck because of animal cruelty laws. For the record I was, and am perfectly prepared to go to jail behind it, though other than that it hasn't been a problem...I will tell you that hotels are an awkward time, everybody wants to put faces to bars and stuff and I don't really appreciate it, I am almost positive it stresses them out and I do everything I can to discourage them

 

[18WheelsOfSteel]

Create an Acct on here:
https://imgur.com

Awesome, your a gem among women

 

[Laurasea]

Alright gang, seems the limit of photos is going to be a problem, any suggestions for a hosting site? Photobucket is no good and I have never fooled with any of the others

You can create an album here on your profile page and load from your phone, then click on the picture and there are two lines under the pic copy paste the secondine go to your post and paste. Not good at explaining, maybe some one can go better. There is a limit to photos in your album like 70 I think.
Thanks for pics and posts.
Make sure you offer leafy greens like romaine, my budgie love greens.

 

[18WheelsOfSteel]

Alright gang, seems the limit of photos is going to be a problem, any suggestions for a hosting site? Photobucket is no good and I have never fooled with any of the others

You can create an album here on your profile page and load from your phone, then click on the picture and there are two lines under the pic copy paste the secondine go to your post and paste. Not good at explaining, maybe some one can go better. There is a limit to photos in your album like 70 I think.
Thanks for pics and posts.
Make sure you offer leafy greens like romaine, my budgie love greens.

We are still working on taking leafy greens, it's a process, but they do eat peas, and one of the veggie chop recipes I got here, getting close to having to make more, it goes bad fast if it doesn't get frozen, so we are working on that still

 

[18WheelsOfSteel]

So is there a way to share specific photos without permitting imgur to have unrestricted access to my phone? If not I'll have to look for another service

 

[Anansi]

So is there a way to share specific photos without permitting imgur to have unrestricted access to my phone? If not I'll have to look for another service

Absolutely. When first importing a pic, you'll see a drop down that says 'Public'. Click on it and you will see an option for 'Hidden". Choose that, and then the only people who will be able to see it are the ones with whom you have shared the link... ie, us. Lol!

Further, people will only be able to see the pic from that specific link. They will be unable to access the rest of the pics from your account.

And Imgur, in this circumstance, wouldn't have unrestricted access to your phone. Simply whatever you upload to their site. Hope that helps! But ask away if you have any further questions.

 

[wrench13]

Welcome and be welcomed. A good tale in the making, I look forward to the next installment. Try jalapeno and other hot peppers for the birbs, full of vitamins etc, and since parrots have 1 taste bud for every 100 of ours, the heat of the peppers is immaterial and I know my Salty loves them, the hotter the better (habenero, ghost, hot chilies are favorites).

 

[18WheelsOfSteel]

Ok, let's see if a couple of links work, testing 1 2 3

Epic failure...lol

 

[18WheelsOfSteel]

It appears the linked image is too large...imgur have any way to compress photos?

 

[Scott]

Thank you for creating a phenomenal blog! I've always been fascinated by the self-contained yet mobile world of the OTR lifestyle. Hope you share some of the more technical aspects of the rig and operations!!

Of course, anything specific that interests you?

Electrical power during overnight rest stops. Does the rig have a large battery to power 120v AC items via inverter when engine is shut off? Or is there an auxiliary power unit that runs as needed?

 

[18WheelsOfSteel]

Thank you for creating a phenomenal blog! I've always been fascinated by the self-contained yet mobile world of the OTR lifestyle. Hope you share some of the more technical aspects of the rig and operations!!

Of course, anything specific that interests you?

Electrical power during overnight rest stops. Does the rig have a large battery to power 120v AC items via inverter when engine is shut off? Or is there an auxiliary power unit that runs as needed?

I had to wire in my own inverter, it can provide 2500v and doesn't work so good if the truck isn't running, some things, like my tv and DVD player and crock pot don't take much power and can run for a few hours at least without cranking it up, other things, like my griddle, microwave, toaster oven, and dual hot plate require the truck to be running during use. It runs on a battery bank containing 4 individual batteries wired to run in circuit.

 

[18WheelsOfSteel]

Object lesson for those who dream of doing this "professional tourist" thing as a career, here is how this morning is developing.

0600CT reveille, out of the rack, cold this morning and the half mile walk across the lot to the latrine was brisk to say the least. Personal hygiene and dishes conducted, return to truck, wake up birds, fresh food and water.

0645CT begin pre trip inspection, ensure proper tire inflation and tread depth, ensure all lights and markers are functioning as designed, test air brakes, air horns, ensure presence of emergency equipment, test all belts, fluid levels and visible hoses/motor components for safety, log starts today at 0645, on the road by 0700, approximately a 1 hour trip from the truck stop to my delivery, upon finding the appropriate entrance (second one, new building under construction with no signage to indicate which, entry off a busy road) I manage to get into the construction area to be unloaded, at 0800 I have still been treated as though I am a carrier of the bubonic plague and no on site personnel want anything to do with this load, it's always "someone else's stuff" and phone calls begin, approximately 1 hour of phone tag ensues and I finally get ahold of the woman in charge of getting trucks unloaded, let's call her Lisa, I am informed that this load was not supposed to ship until tomorrow at the earliest, and that they will try to find time to unload me today, but it might not be until tomorrow or possibly Wednesday.

Side note, these types of delays are relatively frequent, and as the more observant will recall, I have a load scheduled in Russellville Arkansas tomorrow, and a 350ish mile deadhead to get there, we are beginning to have a serious complication on timelines.

Around 1000 hours I am called by the broker and informed that this delay is not going to be paid for by either shipper or receiver and that there is nothing that can be done to speed this up, as it is out of their control. I really am not looking forward to potentially living in a parking lot for 2 days, pretty sure I am better than that lol...maybe McDonald's is hiring.

It's not all roses and sight seeing out here, hopefully the delay will be relatively short, in the meantime, I am feeling like it is playtime for the birds, of course Belle is more interested in her mid day snooze, it's hard work being that good looking let me tell ya, Beau is chatting up a storm with me and I believe he is in full agreement with the condition of the daily developments.

 

[18WheelsOfSteel]

Bit of patience, bit of petulance, and we finally get unloaded around 1500CT today, I have heard that all is fair in love and war, well I think business might as well get added to the list, not at all the way I wanted this week to start, but a helpful KS law enforcement officer got things sorted out in an acceptable fashion. Late night and the birds definitely picked up on the elevated stress level, they are generally being left to themselves after about a fifteen minute session with them, guitar and green tea, will be a fairly early morning tomorrow trying to salvage this unexpected and unappreciated deviation from the plan. I will try to work out the technical difficulties of uploading pictures from Imgur to here, for now we are full on photos