Stilton: I envy you being what and where you are - life on the road (not the tramp kind ;)) has always had a 'real' appeal to me, despite the fact I live in the UK which is about the size of some of the trailers you pull and can't drive anything bigger than a modestly sized lawnmower. But there's something about the simplicity of you, your truck and where you're going that I like. Its bound to have its downsides, some of which you have mentioned, but being on the move has a definite emotive pull.
This is actually my second career. After getting a master's degree in math, I taught for 11 years, but I gave it up because I got tired of dealing with parents who would take no responsibility for their kids' behavior and administrators who wouldn't stand up to these same parents when they would complain about their kids' failing grades.
I've been driving a truck for about 7 1/2 years now and I love it. With the exception of the occasional "stupid people" (more on that below), this really is the least stressful job I've had in my life. I keep telling people that one day I suppose I'll have to find a real job again. :-) I'm not sure if I would enjoy it as much as a job in the UK... America certainly has its problems, but it also has miles and miles of wide-open spaces and roads going through them.
jackster79: Also, each game has its own forum here on GOG, so if you like applying modding / additional patching / etc. to games you acquire here and such things exist for the game in question chances are there is a sticky at the beginning of each of those forums.
Anyways, you're quite welcome! Hope you enjoy whichever game you pick! :-)
Yeah, I noticed that as I bought games during this sale, the list of forums on the left side got longer and longer. I haven't checked any of them out yet, but I definitely will!
xjay73: Anyway, after a short drive today to get close to where I'm delivering tomorrow (hello to anyone in the Houston area!), I am parked at a truck stop that, through an additional service, allows me to hook-up directly through an ethernet cable out in the truck! So I can download some of these games today and bury my nose in good new excitement for the rest of the day! WOOT! :-)
CarrionCrow: Okay, that's cool. Haven't heard of that being available. Take full advantage and gear up.
Also, I'll tell you what I tell people I know in similar lines of work - Take care, be safe, and watch out for stupid people.
It's actually part of the service called IdleAir. It's a unit that fits in the passenger-side window of the truck that provides, among other things, climate control for an hourly rate, so I don't have to idle the truck to keep comfortable, and the rate is about half what it would cost me in burned up diesel fuel. It also gives access to some network TV and some other things, and internet for an additional small fee. I don't use it often, mainly because it's only at a handful of truck stops nationwide, but it's a must in the deep South in the middle of summer.
As far as "stupid people": Not long ago, a firm conducted a survey of American drivers and asked them to rate their driving ability as average, above average, or below average. Over 90% of the respondents said "above average."
Well, we Americans always have been a bit proud of ourselves, haven't we? :D I have hours and hours of dash-cam footage from my truck to support my conjecture that only about 20% of American drivers know what a turn signal is and how to use it properly, just as a quick counterexample.
So I'll finish by telling you what I tell other people who tell me to "be safe": Thank you, and don't be one of those stupid people. :)
