Author Archives: Gray Transportation Blogger

Top Summer Truck Driving Tips

hot summer roads

It’s May which means summer is fast approaching, and the dangers of driving in high temperatures are coming right along with it. If you’re a full-time truck driver, the experts at Gray Transportation want you to be aware of these top 5 summer driving dangers and how you can avoid them:

Brakes – It has been proven that higher temperatures cause loss of friction for brakes. Brake components can’t absorb extra heat, which leads to brake fading. Be sure to check your brakes throughout the summer.

Blowouts – The summer heat is also hard on tires. Extreme heat can cause tire blowouts and when tires are deflated, the risk for a blowout is increased. Check your tire pressure often to avoid a blow out this summer!

Trucker’s Arm – For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term “Trucker’s Arm,” it is the strange tan line on one’s left arm, caused by exposure to the sun on just one side while driving truck. This occurrence is dangerous in the summer because of the risks of skin damage or even skin cancer.

Severe Summer Weather – Summer weather can be unpredictable. While winter poses its challenges, summer weather can change quickly and produce the most severe storms our cars have seen. Stay informed of weather at all times so you’re not caught in a sudden thunderstorm, hailstorm or tornado.

Construction – Possibly the worst thing about summer driving is the unbelievable amount of road work you can run into. In order to avoid a speeding ticket or even a crash, you’ll need to be extra careful around any work zones.

If you can think of summer driving dangers not mentioned above, please leave them in comments on our Facebook page or send them to our Gray Transportation team!

Top 10 Things to Bring on the Road

road trip items

Packing is a fine art. From personal care to truck maintenance, you have finite space for gear that will make your cross-country trip either a breeze or a headache. For young road warriors and veteran drivers alike, keep these ten essential items in your cab for a smooth ride:

Work gloves: This simple form of protection keeps our hands guards while unloading cargo or fixing small repairs.
Polarized sunglasses: Reduce glare, sharpen clarity in foggy conditions, and prevent eyestrain with polarized sunglasses. Keep a back-up pair stashed in the event of a break.
E-reader or tablet: Space in the cab is limited, so a streamlined piece of tech that stores books and digital entertainment is the efficient solution.
Emergency cash and checks: Drop your wallet while unloading? Credit card is declined at a gas station? Keep a ziplock bag of cash and a couple of checks stashed away for “oops” moments.
Baby wipes: From a quick freshen up to small cleaning tasks in and around the cab, baby wipes are a compact and multi-purpose cleaning option
Reflective clothes & flares: In the event of a break down, keep yourself safe on the roadside from passing cars with reflective clothes and cones that’ll help you see and be seen in nights and hazy driving conditions.
Extra pair of boots: You’ve just stepped in a puddle while unloading. You can either (a) drive barefoot, (b) sit in wet, chilly shoes for hours, or (c) make a quick change into a spare pair of work boots.
Slow cooker: Not only is it possible to eat healthy on the road, but it’s easy. Meat and fresh veggies can stew as you drive on a low power setting that won’t drain your engine’s battery, and your food will be ready when you are after a long drive.
Portable toilet & cleaner: Stuck in traffic? Rough driving conditions put you behind schedule? Missed the exit for the last rest stop for miles? Your portable toilet is the answer to your bladder’s prayers.
Seat cushion: Long hours on a standard seat can cause back aches and body stiffness. Invest in an ergonomically designed cushion that will pay for itself in total body comfort.

Since 1984, Gray Transportation has developed long-term relationships with truckers who make the freight industry thrive. Give us a call to get in touch with a team member excited to hear from you today!

How to Stay Connected to Family as a Truck Driver

blog

We love being truck drivers, but time away from family gets hard sometimes. Fortunately, in today’s technology age, there are many ways we can stay connected to our families. In today’s blog article, Gray Transportation identifies a few different methods for remaining close with your family and everything they have going on throughout the week.

VIDEO CHAT – Of course, the best way to stay connected to family is through video chat. However, reaching your family when they are home and you are at a convenient place in your trip to focus on the family can be complicated. We recommend setting a schedule with your family ahead of time so that they know when you are expected to be taking a break at the same time that they are home from their weekly activities.

Set a video chat schedule!

FACEBOOK/INSTAGRAM – Social media is a great way to stay connected with friends and family. Share photos from your trip and leave messages for those you’re thinking of while on the road. This will help your family share in your experiences throughout the week.

Share your experience on the road through social media!

VALUE HOME TIME – Most importantly, make your time at home memorable. What we mean is, use the time at home to connect with family as much as possible. This could be anything from going to a movie or playing golf to more affordable activities like playing soccer outside, going for a walk or going fishing.

Make memories when you are home!

MAKE IT FOR THE BIG MOMENTS – If you can, schedule in the big moments ahead of time with your manager. Make it possible to be home for that big birthday, football championship, spring music concert or prom walk-in.

Schedule ahead to be home for the big moments in your kid’s life!

These are just our ideas. We’re sure some of you have methods that work great for your family that weren’t mentioned in this article. We’d love to hear from you so please feel free to share your ideas in Facebook comments to help other truck drivers stay connected with their families!

The Ugly 8: Food to Limit to Avoid High Blood Pressure

High-Sodium Foods

High blood pressure can lead to a host of problems. Stroke, heart disease, eye and vision problems, painful edema…all of these can be career ending and even life ending problems for truck drivers. Gray Transportation wants to give you a list of foods to limit (we don’t like to say “never eat”) to lower your risk of high blood pressure.

Pickles- Give up the gherkins! Pickles are low in calories, but they are loaded with sodium. One medium pickle can have around 570 mg of sodium. The delay sodium limit is 2300 mg for the whole day!
Canned Chicken Noodle Soup- It may be good for a cold, but canned chicken noodle soup can have up to 880 mg of sodium in a one cup serving. And who eats just one serving?
Sauerkraut- Who knew? What’s a bratwurst without the kraut, right? Healthier. A half cup of Sauerkraut has about 13 calories, but it also has over 460 mg of sodium. Du meine Güte!
Fast Food French Fries- Sorry burger fans, but that tater is toxic! French fries still provide a large dose of sodium. A medium serving of fries has about 19 grams of fat and 270 mg of sodium. Never order fries with your canned chicken noodle soup!
Bacon- (Sorry about this one) Three slices of bacon (delicious, savory bacon) have 4.5 grams of fat and about 270 mg of sodium. Turkey bacon instead of pork is a “better” option. Make bacon a “special treat”, not part of every meal.
Frozen pot pies – Beneath that flakey crust lies trouble! A single pot pie equals a serving of about 1300-1400 mg of sodium. And about 35 g of fat! For you math folks, that’s over 50% of your daily recommended values for both.
Donuts – Who doesn’t love a donut? Just one donut those round and tasty breakfast treats packs in 200 calories with 12 grams of fat. So yes, those maple frosted donuts with bacon are a no-no. Again, sorry…
Booze- While alcohol may dull mind, alcohol causes the blood pressure to elevate. Worse news, it also damages the walls of the blood vessels, which leads to more health problems.

Gray Transportation cares about your health! Everything in moderation, and if you have to eat the bad (but delicious) stuff, balance it out with good stuff and exercise.

Naughty or Nice: Gift Ideas for the Truck Driver in Your Life

Gift-Ideas

Holiday shopping time is crunch time for many people, and can be a really stressful time if you have a truck driver or two on your list. Gray Transportation is going to turn that ho-ho-hopeless shopping experience into a great one with some really great gift giving ideas! So in more particular order, here is our awesome (you’re welcome) trucker gift ideas list…

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Time to Get Up and Get on the Road: How to Kick Start Your Morning

Mornings can be tough. Not everyone is a morning person but when you are a truck driver, you may have to get up and get on the road bright and early. But the energy you have while driving throughout the day is determined by your morning routine. Gray Transportation offers these tips can help you be more productive and energized all day long even if you have a hard time getting up in the morning.

Don’t Hit Snooze: When your alarm goes off, adrenaline kicks in and your body is ready to get up. Those extra few minutes are not work confusing your mind and body. Hitting the snooze button throws off your internal clock and can mess up your entire day. Get up and get going.

Don’t Drink Coffee Right Away: What!? We know that coffee is the solution to a rough morning for many (most) people, but studies have shown that caffeine has a better effect on you after you have been awake a couple hours. Try starting your day with a glass of water to wake you up and kick start your metabolism. Then coffee. It’ll be okay, we promise.

Eat Breakfast: The first meal you eat each day determines your energy levels when driving and working throughout the day. Even if you don’t have a huge appetite, fill your body with protein to help wake it up with foods like oatmeal, fresh fruit, or drink a protein shake. Save the donuts for special occasions.

Exercise: It may seem counter intuitive, but starting your day with activity (when you have little of it) will increase your energy and speed up your metabolism all day. Simple stretching or yoga poses can improve your day if you can’t muster the energy to complete a full work out. Stretching wakes up your mind and body and is great before sitting behind the wheel.

Gray Transportation wants you to live a lifestyle that is as active and healthy as possible. We want you to be safe and happy out there on the road.

Staying Awake Better and Longer- Tips for Truck Driver

Staying Awake Better and Longer: Tips for Drivers

Most truck drivers will tell you that sitting alone in a truck can make the body and brain tired, especially on trips and routes you know “in your sleep.” Changing shifts and hours can also mess with your internal clock. So how can you legally and safely stay awake longer and better? Here are some tips from the professionals at Gray Transportation.

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Keeping Our Drivers Heart Healthy: September is National Cholesterol Education Month

Gray Transportation wants all of our employees to live healthy. Sadly the trucking industry is not usually known for healthy lifestyles. We hope that talking about health and offer easy ideas for better health can change that, at least for our company.

September is National Cholesterol Education Month. What is cholesterol and how did I get it? Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that your body needs. We all have some and need some. The problem comes when we have too much of the bad kind and not enough of the good kind.

There are two kinds of cholesterol: high-density lipoprotein (HDL) the “good” cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) the “bad” cholesterol. When we talk about having high cholesterol, we are talking about “bad” LDL cholesterol.

What does cholesterol do in the body? Too much cholesterol in your blood can build up on the walls of your arteries and form blockages. Those blockages may lead to heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. High cholesterol in the blood is one of the main risk factors for two of the leading causes of death in the United States; heart disease and stroke.

Bad news, seventy-one million American adults have high cholesterol. More bad news, only one-third of them have the condition under control.

What can you do? Get screened. Screening is the key to detecting high cholesterol. High cholesterol does not have symptoms and many (most) people do not know that their cholesterol is too high. Your doctor can do a simple blood test to check your cholesterol level with a blood draw screening. The National Cholesterol Education Program recommends that adults aged 20 years or older have their cholesterol checked every 5 years, more often if your numbers are high or you have a family history of high cholesterol.

You may need to have your cholesterol checked more often if your total cholesterol is 200 mg/dL or higher, your HDL cholesterol is lower than 40 mg/dL or you have other risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Talk to your doctor about diet and medication options.

Gray Transportation cares about your health. If you are looking to drive for a great local company, please contact us today.

Trick Yourself into Drinking More Water

Let’s face it, while on the road you do not want to make too many stops, so you avoid drinking water at all costs. Avoiding drinking water may seem like the best idea, but in reality, your body needs water to survive. Gray Transportation wants you to make a goal this month to drink at least half your body weight in water. You can do this by tricking yourself to drinking more water each day. It’s as simple as challenging yourself and setting a goal.

Trick yourself into drinking more water:

Add drinking water into your daily routine. If you already have a great morning and bedtime routine set, simply add drinking more water into the routine. Right when you wake up, drink a glass of water and do the same right before you go to bed. Your body needs to be hydrated 24/7 and can possibly help you sleep a little better at night and wake up easier in the morning.

Get a nice water bottle and mark it with time-oriented goals. Using a permanent marker, write times in which you should be done with the water. Set a goal that by noon, the entire bottle of water will be complete, then refill and start again. Find a water bottle that is at least 32 ounces so you are more likely to drink a higher quantity of water.

Add some flavor to your water so you’re more likely to drink it. So maybe you just do not like plain water. That’s okay because there are solutions to this problem. Add a few lemon slices or pick up a bottle of sparkling flavored water if you are trying to ween off soda.

Gray Transportation wants you to stay cool during the dog days of summer. If you are looking for a career change this July, contact Gray to learn about driving for us.

Wake Up and Stay Up

Being a trucker means we have to be alert all day, every day. There’s no room for error while on the road, so that means alertness is vital to our everyday livelihood. Gray Transportation is bringing you tips for ways to wake up and stay up while on the road. Today’s blog will be filled with helpful information for staying awake on the road, which could save a life.

Tips to Wake Up and Stay Up on the Road:

Keep your emotions in check. Whether you were cut off by a car just a bit ago or had a disagreement with the dispatcher. Don’t let the event get to you and affect your driving ability. The frustration will wear you down, so just let it go before it gets too distracting. Keeping your emotions even all around will help lower your likelihood for distracted driving.
Take a walk or get exercise. Early this year, we gave you ways to exercise while on the road, use those tips because they can also help to keep you awake on the road. While at a rest stop or the truck stop, take some time to walk around for 10-15 minutes. You’d be surprised at how much energy you will have after that. Physical activity is important each day, so take the time at your stops to stretch, exercise or walk around.
Don’t get overly exhausted. Some days in the truck are longer than others, so don’t let the long days exhaust you. If you feel as if you are dozing off a bit, don’t take the chance of falling asleep on the road. Pull over on an off ramp or the nearest rest area to take a 30 minute nap. You’d be surprised at the amount of energy a short nap can bring you.

Gray Transportation understands the importance of staying awake on the road so we hope these tips help while you are driving. Interested in driving for Gray? Find more information here.