Things I've learned to do as a Trucker's Wife

As the wife of a long-haul trucker, I've had to learn how to do a few things.  I thought I'd share a few of those new-found skills with you all today, not that these are all skills you will necessarily need to learn, unless you're also married to a trucker.  Anyway...

Skill #1: I have created a system of doing the dishes whereby I can fit two meals worth into one drying rack.  Actually, this might be a helpful skill to learn if you happen to have to do dishes by yourself on a regular basis.  In doing this, I save myself much time and effort in having to both wash and dry all the dishes.  If I fit them all into one rack, they can sit there and drip-dry overnight, and I can put them away in the morning without once picking up a dish towel.

Skill #2: I can find the fuel pump reset switch on a Ford Tempo.  In all fairness, my husband is the one who showed me how to do this, but believe it or not, I actually had to use this skill once when I was all by myself and he was gone on the road.  We don't have the Tempo anymore, but I'm pretty proud to say I could do this again if I had to.  :)  (And we won't go into many details about why I needed to use this skill...let's just say it involved coming around a corner to see a very unavoidable and large pothole and the jolt being such that the car actually shut off...)

Skill #3: I can check the PARS number on a shipment to determine if it's cleared customs yet or not.  Don't ask me what a PARS number actually is though.  All I know is that it's a bar code that goes on customs paperwork for a shipment crossing the border, and if it hasn't cleared yet when I check, it generally means Tim has to make a call to the load broker.  Also, if I remember the number when he tells it to me, I can later use it to find out what time he crossed the border, and I can have a better idea of what time to expect him home.  :)

Skill #4: How to not panic when I get a phone call saying, "I'm in a tornado!"  Okay, so I'm not so good at this skill yet.  However, I am pretty good at searching the Internet frantically to find out any and all weather reports for any given location.

Skill #5: How to drive near tractor trailers.  Some people could use a lesson or two on this.  Yes, they're bigger.  Yes, in Ontario, they're also limited to a certain speed, and depending on how heavy the load is, they take a lot longer to stop than the average passenger vehicle.  That said, I've learned never to cut off a truck, how to leave enough space for them to merge into traffic, and that sometimes following them in a snowstorm is a good idea.

So there you have it, a few semi-useful skills to have as a Trucker's Wife.  Enjoy!