Episode #058

How you doing it's Patrick with the 18 wheel talk podcast show on this episode, Janet and I talk about what to pack for the road, whether you're going away for the day, you're doing an overnighter going away for a week, or maybe you're planning a a month long road trip. We, we created a Traveler's guide eBook for you, and we wanted to highlight some of the important things from that eBook, which you could get by going to the number one, the number eight wheel talk.com/resources and click on the, get the book button. It's a free download because we're here to help truckers and travelers in their pursuit of health, happiness, and a better life behind the wheel. So, we hope you enjoy the show.

Are we live? I never know. Oh my God. Did, did he push the button? Oh no. Did didn't know push the button? I don't know. Did do, uh, I, yeah, I did. You pushed the button? I pushed the button. Oh, we got a show. Yay, boo. Boo. Okay. Anyway, welcome to the 18 wheel talk, podcast show. I'm Patrick. This is my cohost. Patrick I mean, Janet, you funny?

I know. Funny how funny? Ha-ha. Funny looking. Hey, hey, what's up? What's up with you tonight, Patrick. Oh, Sam old, same old, same old. How about you? Yeah, pretty much the same. Yeah. Is it raining over where you're sitting? Yeah, I looked out the window and it is yeah, not up there though. Thank you, Jesus. No, thank God.

It's not leaking in the office. Not leaking in the office tonight. Whew. Been there done that already last year. Yeah. Yeah. And we're done. I don't wanna do that again. Nope. N no, no. Besides my fuzzy slippers would get wet. We can't have that. No, we can't. We can't have it. No, no, no. Okay. What are we? Okay, what are we talking about tonight?

Besides fuzzy slippers and rain? Um, we're, we're gonna, we have an eBook. Ooh. That we put together. and I figured we would highlight some of the eBook and then direct everybody to where they can find the eBook. So we're just taking a highlight marker and showing the book on the screen. I said, there you go.

No. Oh, come on. That was funny. We got, we got, we got little notes. Oh, little notes. And we're gonna talk a little bit about our eBook. Oh, that type of high. I gotcha. Yeah. I'm feeling you feeling what? You're throwing down, picking it up. There's thousands of comedians outta work and you wanna fucking be one really?

Yeah, pretty much. I wanna be paid. Well, I want Jimmy Kimmel money. Let's be real. Yeah. Good luck. Don't thank you very much. Let's quit your day job. Oh, wait, you gotta have a day job to quit it. I do enough around here. That's a day. You do a lot around here. Anyway, you are, you are overworked and underappreciated.

what do you mean you don't appreciate me? I appreciate you. I'm wondering if the pugs do or not. Oh, they do believe me. They follow me around like puppy dogs. Yeah, they do. They sure do. yep. Anyway, what are we talking about tonight? We just discussed this packing your vehicle. Yes, we, we, you said an eBook. We, we, well, we created a Traveler's guide.

Yes. Traveler's guide to the galaxy. No, uh, it's a checklist to. to help people from here for the road. I can't read it. It's too far away. too far away. It's lying flat up. It's a checklist to help you pack. It's a C for the road. It's a checklist type of eBook where you can look at a page and go, um, and we're gonna go through the, you know, basically the table of contents.

We're gonna let you know what's gonna be kind of in it and give you a little bit of the, the important stuff that we. So there's sections to the eBook. Of course there are other pieces and within and within the sections, we're gonna kind of give you a brief overview of each section, but not all the contents of it.

Cuz if you want all the content we want, you guys get the eBook. We want you guys to go get the ebook. It's free. Mm-hmm why not right. That's right. So see what we're talking about. Cause we are here to help truckers and travelers in their pursuit of health, happiness, and a better life behind the wheel.

You remembered the whole. Yeah. Oh, okay. I, I say it enough. I, I always say we, we hide the wheel. I, I say it enough in our commercials. I ought to know I noted it. So, so anyways, first off you wanna, you wanna start or you want me to, oh, you can. No, go ahead. Oh, I insist ladies first. Oh, you're not a lady. Hey, what?

Shut up back there. First off when you're pet, I think your peanut gallery woke up. Ready now. I'm ready. You ready? Okay. So now we're I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready. Zip it Zippy. So now we did first off twice. So now third off. Remember when you're packing your vehicle, it's not the same as packing up or putting your groceries and stuff away at home.

True. You have to think about making things smaller, more co. Using things more wisely basically. And limiting the quantity on everything you're putting in your vehicle. No matter if you're putting it in a car, a pickup, an RV, a semi, whatever it is, chances are, it's not gonna be as big as your house. Yeah.

You know how, when you pack for a flight, you gotta roll your clothes up, make it fit in a suitcase. Mm-hmm , it's kind of like that. Roll your life up and put it in a suitcase. All that's I'm just saying, and it like, like Janet said, also depends on the type of vehicle you're in. You know, if you're in a car you're gonna have to condense even more.

Yeah. If you're in a semi that has a bunk, not so much, if you're in an RV, even you even got more space. Yeah. I've seen RVs bigger than apartments I've been in, but I've also seen some semis that have some pretty big, big bunks and they. They got full kitchens. Yeah. Lot of things and bathrooms and showers and everything else.

Oh my yeah. and bathrooms and showers on mine. So anyways and lions and tigers and bears. So, so keep that in mind when we go over this and when you download your checklist that you you're, you're gonna condense and only bring. Your vehicle size, you know, that's appropriate for the vehicle that you're gonna be in.

In other words, use your brain. I mean, if you're, if you're going to take your car and you're driving someplace, uh, a campground and you're gonna do some camping, okay. Then you're gonna have room when you get there. Yeah. But you're gonna have to condense it in your car to be able to bring it or in a car top.

Top or roof topper. Yeah, that's what I was trying to think of. But roof topper pack accordingly and use your brain and make lists of our use or make use of our list. Make use of the list. make use of our eBook. Yes. Our travelers guide, but make adjustments for your life is what we're trying to say. Mm-hmm so you also have to take into account how many people are in the vehicle.

Mm-hmm are you alone? Like a solo truck driver? Um, are you. RV with your entire family. Um, are you gonna be on the road for a couple days? Are you gonna be on the road for a week at a shot? Are you be on the road for a month? Are you gonna live in the RV for instance, or live in your car? I know people that lived in their car or their van or their right, whatever, you know, RV people live in RVs all the time.

So, hey we know a few people that did the van life. Yeah. So, you know, and. They sold their three bedroom, two bath house and they downsized and consolidated and lived on just what they needed in their van. Yes. So, so it can be done. You just gotta be willing to do it. Yeah. So, you gotta put a little bit of work in, so, so as we go through this, you know, we're gonna talk about some of the general, general items.

Mm-hmm um, however, you know, uh, towards, towards the end, we'll let you know where to go to get this eBook. Yeah. They also have to keep in mind where they're traveling. Okay. And what time of year it is? Yep. Because if you travel, like say you're a truck driver or an RV, or that likes to really travel around.

Okay. Okay. And you do Canada, the 40 lower 48 and Mexico mm-hmm or even just Canada in the lower 48, you can go from freezing. to burning hot in a matter of few days. Yeah. Depending on, like you said, depending on the weather. So you need to really adjust because I've seen snow on the 4th of July. Um, it proves you can, you can need a warm coat on the 4th of July.

Shut the front door. I know. Right. All right. Let's get into this. Okay. All right. I gotta adjust myself. Hold on. I was slipping. I was falling, I think. Did you get. . Yeah. Okay. Well, you, then you're not falling and you can't get up. I was falling and you got up. You look marvelous, darling. Simply marvelous. You want me to lower this?

No. You're. Oh, look at you getting taller every day. All here. Hold he's playing with this camera. You gotta see him on screen. just go to one eight. the number one, the number eight wheeltalk.com/youtube. say that five times fast. That, that, that, that, so anyway. Yeah, if you haven't subscribed our YouTube channel, all our episodes from episode eight to now.

Are on video minus eight. Oh, sorry. But no nine to now are on YouTube nine, nine. Yeah. YouTube banned our episode eight. And I'm working on a link. So that way, if you wanna see the banned video, uh, you'll go. We said bad things there. Yeah. Yeah. You you'll be able to go and check out the banned video.

Just so you know? No, no, we swear all the time. Yes, bra we're two retired truck drivers. He swears all the time. I let one fly once in a while. Listen, the F word, the F word is part of my vocabulary. As soon as somebody says it, it, it comes out like me, as soon as he says it, as soon as I say it once, that's it, it just flows like Butta, just like that.

Like beta, like Butta and hot some day in Arizona. What? Okay. Documentation. Yes, zero segue. Just documentation off the first on our list. Mm-hmm is its documentation. You gotta have documentation with you no matter where you're going. Yeah. If it's down the road on your thumb, you need documentation. You gotta have at least an ID.

Mm-hmm you, you, and, and if you're gonna cross a border, you gotta have an ID, at least an ID and insurance. Even if you're walking, you need some sort of insurance card. If you have insurance, have your card, bring it with you. Yeah. Always have your insurance card list of allergies. You might have medications, you might have to take emergency contact, anything, anything you're allergic to.

So, yeah. And in your documentation, keep it in a big Ziploc bag. If you don't have a way to keep it waterproof a big Ziploc freezer bag freezer bag, because the reason they're sturdiest yeah, the reason why we say freezer bags. In in our list is because they're a little thicker, 90% of the time we get the, the zip lock ones, not the slider ones, but the, the ones zip the accident, because there's two, there's two zippers that have to lock to lock the bag tight.

And to us that keeps it airtight and waterproof and Janet proof. Most of the time. Yeah. Most of the time Janet proof's cuz Janet can't get it open, but baby, can she turn into like a little girl sometimes, you know, I own guns, right? Like that don't scare me. I live with you and your guns. Oh yeah, my bet.

OK, so next step oh, okay. oh yeah. I forget. next step is roadside. What do you mean on the roadside? You know, like say you were to break down. Yeah. Uh, I recommend. At least the roll of duct tape. because if it's good enough for NASCAR, guess what? It's good enough in a pinch to, you know, you blow a, a, a radio hose, duct tape, you could wrap it in duct tape and at least get, get somewhere to where you could replace it.

Do you know what they in a pinch? Do you know what they used to call duct tape in the army? What? A hundred mile an hour tape. Yeah, because if it's good enough in NASCAR, no, because of winds. NASCAR uses it on the front of their cars. They do a hundred plus miles an hour. That wasn't why. Oh, I'm sorry. We used to have to duct tape Xs on windows in housing. Okay. During hurricanes. Oh, a hundred mile an hour tape. Yeah, I get it now took windows from shattering. Okay. On to the next step. So, if you don't have duct tape, don't remember, or remember if you can't fix it with duct tape, gorilla glue will do.

Yeah. So this is true. Yeah. Um, uh, we also recommend a fire extinguisher charged one. Yeah. One that's, you know, not, not expired and charged, charged. Uh, basic wire repair kit, you know, it's got like everything in it. Yeah. It'll have, it'll have like the wire nuts, the cutters, the tips, the tape, the electrical tape.

Uh, what are the tips called? Uh, wire nuts. Oh, I call 'em tips. uh, sometimes they'll have the little, um, the little. Clips. Yeah. And they'll have this, that'll have like the screw, you know, the, the, the round end that, that you put on a negative side. Yeah. And the PLIs have strippers and crimper and everything all in one.

Yeah. That's why we, that's why we recommend like a basic kit. Yeah. Everything that we talk about in our book and our guide and our eBook, we have links to, there'll be links to, to products that we recommend that we currently use and recommend and recommend. That that are inexpensive. And some of these products we've used, like I've used some of these products and I know you have since like before 2000, so, oh yeah.

Many, many, many moons, many moons’. Yes. So many, many moons. Um, and, and the other thing is never forget water. I have to bring that up. Never forget water for your vehicle and your person. That's not that wasn't on the roadside. yeah, it is. Oh yeah, it was. But anyways, it's in the list. It's on every list.

It's it's on every list. Wow. Always, if you can bring a case of water with you, keep it with you. Bring a case of water. If you got a cooler, okay. You know, keep something the cooler with ice. So salute while he's drinking. Next up is clothing. So probably sounds silly us telling you, Hey, this is what you need for clothes, but recent experience with a new driver taught us that sometimes you gotta be literal.

Yeah, we won't mention any names, Dawn, my niece, your niece, your niece Dawn. So basically what I wanna tell you is you don't have to bring everything in your wardrobe. You have to bring some, all season stuff because you never know the, whether you're gonna get into, but you're gonna be doing laundry once a week.

If you're gone more than a week now, I always, before I hit the road, mm-hmm I always, I mean, usually the news will, when they forecast the weather, they usually do like a seven day. Yes. And they're usually pretty accurate mm-hmm and nowadays everybody has an. Mm-hmm so you got a favorite weather channel or a weather person you listen to because you think they're the best.

They're the most accurate. This guy knows more than that one. Then, then by all means download the app and check and see what the weather's gonna be like, and then pack accordingly. Well, and that works most of the time mm-hmm but like when I would go out, when I drove cross country, I might leave on the beginning of the month and not be back for three weeks.

Well, that's why I said, I drove, at least if you had the app, you could look it up and say, they're not gonna tell you three weeks out effectively on all 48 states. I know, because if I started a week, okay. You know, you, can you check it? Yes. You know, but. If I started in Montreal and had a load to LA, I never knew where my next hall was.

That only took five days of my okay. Three weeks out. I might be going back up to Canada or I might be going to Florida next. So I had so, so when you, when you get your next load, you look and say, all right, where am I going? Or I'm going here whatsoever. Weather's gonna be like, I couldn't reload. My truck is what I'm getting at.

So I always had a little bit for every season. I gotcha. Now, you know where I'm going with that? I gotcha. Now. Yeah. That way I had long sleeves and short sleeves and mostly long sleeves cuz I'm Janet, you know, and if you're named Janet, you're always cold. I don't know what you're talking about. You know, I had to make a rule that when it was over a hundred degrees, Janet, couldn't go outside in a sweater.

Aren't isn't the sky pretty tonight. I know. Look at the butter. What are you talking about me? I dunno what you're talking about. It'll lose your talking boots, soap. Uh, do you wanna bring up, uh, any hoop back to list to my favorite subject regarding what you wear? No, you go right ahead. Oh, flip flops, because you love talking about damn shower shoes, flip flops.

I call 'em shower shoes. Um, they're for the beach. They're for the. They're for the shower. They're the shower. they're shower shoes. They're not for driving. They are not for driving any vehicle whatsoever. Yeah, we not a bicycle even. Yeah. We have seen, unfortunately, a lot of accidents happen due to flip flops.

Yes. Um, unfortunately, and you can Google this 2011. Voorheesville, NY Voorheesville, NY. Do you wanna spell it or do you want me to V O O R H E E S V I L L E New York, a woman wearing flip flops. Um, her flip Flop got stuck underneath the gas pedal, and I guess she was leaning down to try and unstick it and killed three people.

She lived, but she killed three people. Well, I get it. So flip flops, you don't drive with them. So with that story in 2011, I believe she was just moving the car and had her husband's flip flops on and it got stuck under the gas pedal mm-hmm so there you have it. And I believe that's the one that went through the bus stop, crash into a church.

Yes. But I've also seen a lot of drivers get out of trucks at fuel islands wearing flip flops and fall on their butt. Yeah. That's the come on represent, represent, yeah. Act professional. If you're dressed like a slob, your company looks like a S slob and they're the ones that pay your bills. E exactly. So, so boots, sneakers, whatever, uh, is secure on your.

Mm-hmm that's a good idea. Good Lord. You know, flip flops. Yes, please. Good Lord. All right. We're loose sandals. I mean, they're fine. If you're gonna park your vehicle and then go in and take a shower by all means where are your damn flip flops in? Yeah, shower, shoes, whatever. And when I parked my, I used to do a lot of haul on a Bing cherries up out of Michigan on the lake there.

Well, lake cherries, I know I liked haul on 'em too. Cause I always got samples anyways, so I would park. Truck on a Saturday morning at the lake and take my 34 because I was only five miles from my delivery spot where I dropped my trailer and then they loaded it and then I picked it back up. Mm. And I kept sandals with me.

So of course they weren't flip flops, but just regular sandals. And I would switch to my sandals and take my dog for a walk and everything else and enjoy the beach, of course. But then when it came time to drive that five miles back to pick my truck up, I put my sneakers back on or my boots back on because I drove in cowboy boots because you were a professional driver.

Yeah. Cowboy boots and jeans go figure, wonder her daughter. I am what mm-hmm mm-hmm . Wow. No, that . This is where we mentioned that if you're ever stranded in a vehicle in the winter and you lose heat in your vehicle, I don't care what the vehicle is. You lose your heat layer, anything, layer, everything to stay warm.

Yeah. Take, take whatever you brought with you for clothes. Um, You can stuff, paper towels up your sleeves or down in your pant legs. If you have to exactly wrap your feet and paper towels, and then put 'em in your socks and shoes, plastic bags. Mm-hmm . I used to do in the wintertime. I used to put a, uh, pair of socks on plastic bag, no pair of socks, another pair of socks.

Then my boots. That way your feet stayed dry when you boots down giant worn. Yep. Yep. Felt weird at first because you you're, you know, your foot sliding around on the bag. You get used to it though. You just kind of learned to adjust a little. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, so next step to reiterate. Let's let's let everybody know.

All right. We're talking about packing our, we, we came up with a ebook mm-hmm uh, the 18 wheel talk podcast show travelers guide. Okay. It is a checklist for packing a vehicle on the road for the road, for the. yeah, don't pack it on the road, pack it for the road. I mean, if you're getting ready to go for a day, two days a week, a month, you know, you're in a car you're in a big rig RV, pulling a camper, you know, this is just our way to help you a little, little way that we, you know, we, we have combined between the two of us, um, 32 years of driving.

big rigs. Ah, more than that, I, I lost track. I, I, between you and me combined, I think it's higher than that. Eh, but anyway, I think it's about 32, maybe 35 years. Yeah. Something like that, you know, plus we've driven cross country in our personal vehicles and RVs and you halls more than I can count. So we, we feel we're pretty much experts at.

And tons of, of, uh, camping trips too. So, so to reiterate, we talked about documentation, be sure you have, you know, insurance cards, driver's license, photo ID of some sort, um, yeah. Emergency contacts, stuff like that. Yep. Check the checklist, you know, uh, roadside emergency kit. Yep. Uh, we, we recommend at least duct tape, a basic wiring kit, a charge fire extinguisher.

That's not expired. We got, uh, we, we talked about clothing. Mm-hmm, , uh, you know, all season pack pack for every season, you know, because even in the desert, it gets cold, especially at night, you know, especially at. You know, when once that sun goes down, the temperature will drop 10 degrees. I mean, as soon as it and people, and there's those people say, oh, Phoenix gets really hot.

The pavement holds the heat. Yeah. The pavement holds the heat. When you get out in the desert, there's no pavement out there. It does not hold the heat the way that the city does. So, and then we also recommend, uh, um, don't don't drive in flip Flos. Yes. Thanks. We recommend sneakers. Boots or boots or whatever, but no flip flops.

Yes. Cause we've, we've been witness to an accident that killed treat women at a bus stop because her flip Flo got stuck under the throttle and she couldn't get it out swerved. And, and what I learned from that lesson is flip flops, kill. Okay. Onto the next item. I really hate those suckers too. so basically, basically.

accordingly. Yes. If you know where you're going is gonna be a little colder. You wanna bring long sleeve shirts, a warm jacket, yada, yada. Yeah. If it's under a hundred, bring your long sleeve shirts and at least one sweater, something hoodie, you always always have a hoodie, warm jacket. Mm-hmm , you know, uh, personal items.

Can I bring the kitchen sink? If you're in an RV you might have. That's not a personal item. Uh, no, it's you, you don't, you don't need to get you saving so space saving. Yes. Oh, okay. Fine. Yeah. We're thinking contact stuff, glasses stuff, toiletries, your personal stuff. Your, well, let, let's put it this way.

Anything that makes you smell good? I like, yeah, smell good and not get bit, yeah. By bugs and stuff, you know, I'm just saying, or the sun, the sun bites stuff to wash with mm-hmm , you know, I don't use shampoo conditioner, however, Janet would, uh, would need shampoo and conditioner. Wait, go back. Why don't you use shampoo and conditioner?

I don't have any hair and I'm just getting the news. Oh my. Really you're going there. really, Hey, listen, Amanda and Samara have a secret. I know. Right. And it's a secret. So we can't talk about that. And I don't wanna talk about your secret either. So we'll just go on. I don't have any hair. That's a secret.

It's not a secret. If anybody watched their YouTube videos. Well, if they watch, they'll find out what the secret is, I can go to 18 wheel talk.com/youtube, and you'll find out the secret and subscribe, why you're there and have, have. Subscribe like the video, share it with a friend. Say, go get this ebook.

Say it. Don't forget to hit the like button and subscribe. And ring the bell. You can ring our bell you can ring our bell. Ding, dun he's been a ding. Dun. She just wanted to sing. I wanted it to sing. That's that's that's all she wanted. She just wanted to sing. I like doing that. I can't help it. Okay. So, all right.

What's next pet items. If you have a pet. All right, so, so personal hygiene, that's it just use your. Bring bring what you normally would do if you, but we, we do have a list because if you've ever gone somewhere and then you open up your suitcase and you're like, oh, damn, I don't have deodorant. Yeah. How did I forget deodorant?

Yeah. There's, there's a, there's a list of person. I, but we just say, Hey, you know what, if you, if there's something that you need and use, bring it and add it to the list. Cuz I'm when we go somewhere, I make a list, I type it up and then I check it off. As I put it. Car. Don't forget it PA as soon as you pack it, check it out.

Uh, so be sure to get our, get our ebook. Yes. And stay tuned to the end. We'll tell you how to get it correct to Mundo. All right. So next on our list is pet items. If you're traveling with a pet, don't forget about your pets. Uh, don't forget their, uh, they need a bed mm-hmm of their own. They need any documentations.

Yes. You know, rabies shots are really important. And we prefer to have our pets micro chipped, highly recommend that because if your pet ever gets lost, that's how people find them and get 'em back to you. Yep. You want, you know, uh, weighted food, food, food, and water bowls. Yeah. Those are handy. Not necessary, but very handy, but they are handy.

Yes. Um, and they don't cost that much. No. You know, and they last forever and, and at least, you know, a toy or two they're St Stupp or whatever you wanna call. Yes. And, and harness harness and leash harness and a leash. Yeah, because most dates have a leash law. Yeah. And if, as opposed to a collar, if your pet has a collar on and you open the door, there are some doors that have things at the bottom, like of RVs or semis that a dog can choke to death on.

Yeah. So we recommend, we recommend a harness that, that, that way closer on their belly, if it gets caught, it's catching on their shoulder, not their. God forbid. Yes. So, so highly recommend that. And we'll have, like I said, again, all the, all the, all the stuff that we talk about in our ebook, we will have links to, uh, products that we actually use.

We, we won't tell you about something that we don't use. These are actual products that we are familiar with. We have used ourselves and recommend to our friends and you people. Yeah. We travel with pugs, our fans. so next step is kitchen items, kitchen items. So even if you're traveling in your car, unless you plan on eating gas station food for your whole trip, I recommend, I recommend the sushi.

I mean, I, I recommend don't eat gas station sushi. um, there's some things that we do recommend. So the checklist might help you out because it's some things you might not have thought of. A lot of people say, well, I got this cooler and I can put ice. Who wants to be dumping ice, water out and buying more ice all the time.

You know what I would do? I would, I would filter that, that water as you bring it out. And now you got ice water to drink. Have you ever tasted the water that comes out of a cooler? It does. It does taste. I would use it for my car or my semi, but I, but you know what I mean? Yeah. In a pinch, in a pinch, I would drink it in a pinch.

However, I would use a plug-in cooler. Like I've always. well, yes. You know, us being truck drivers, we had plugin coolers. Yes. Cause they have 12 volt. They have, they have those car, uh, 12 volt that plug in your cigarette lighter or outlets. They have, they have those 12 volt. They, I call 'em cigarette lighter, uh, you know, outlets.

Yes. All, all over the big rig. Yeah. Uh, because most everything is done that way. Yeah. And, um, you can even buy a power inverter that plugs into a cigarette. And, and bringing home appliances with you. If, if you need it, you, but you have to make sure that your power inverter is a high enough watch. Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah.

Yeah. To cover your home appliance. Yes. If you buy a small power inverter, like say a 400 wat power inverter, don't bring a 600 wat appliance. No, otherwise you're gonna have a 600 wat fire. Yeah. Right. Uh, bring a coffee. If you drink coffee. Yeah. You drink coffee, bring your own, bring your own coffee pot.

You'll save a ton of money and there's really good coffee pots. And we will have a link. I know to this, there, there are inexpensive pod, you know, those little, little pod makers, coffee, pot makers. Sorry. I'll let you talk. There is I'll shut up. Coffee maker that I bought. And I, I know the link because I've already put it in it.

Ha you can put ground coffee in. basket that is removable Uhhuh or you can switch and use pods either, or? Yeah. So if you that's what I finish. So if you like pods, you can use pods. If you like GRA to save even more money and don't mind rinse in the basket, you can use a basket in your own grounds. Yeah.

To save even more money Uhhuh. whichever you prefer. And it does more than one size of coffee. Mm-hmm so you can use a coffee cup or a travel mug. Yep. And I've even. Take the coffee grinds and chew 'em on the campfire. Mm-hmm and it, it kinda wards off the, uh, skiers and smells good. Yeah. But yeah, smokes a little, but that's it's to get rid of the bugs have out in the garage.

What? We got one of those out in the garage. What? Coffee makers? Coffee. Pod makers. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Arch is in the garage. I know. Oh, I I know that. So, so anyways, if you are a coffee drinker, don't forget your coffee pot. That's all we're saying. Yeah. And we'll recommend the one that we use.

Mm-hmm and you'll be like, holy shit. I did not know that they made something like this. It's really, because I believe it's ours is the one that we have is tall enough so that you could take a travel mug and actually put a travel mug in there. Yes. Yes. So also I have to mention. You got, if you're gonna live in your vehicle, you gotta get a slow cooker.

Yeah. They may go a quart and I have the link, a QUT and a half slow cooker that plugs into a cigarette style outlet. Mm-hmm highly recommend. And I have tons of recipes coming. Oh, I went there.

and for dishes think non-breakable. But not paper. Yeah. I mean, save the environment. I mean, here's the way I look at it. I always brought a small thing of paper plates because worst cases, the next day it's fire started for the camp.

Mm-hmm , you know? Okay. Because. It'll have it'll like, if you're, if you had hamburgers that night and they were, they're pretty greasy, that grease will light pretty goddamn. That's true. Quit. That's true. And it doesn't matter if the woods we or not. It'll like, but if you're not camping, I'm just saying if you're camping network times.

Yes. As this is true fire starter that that's all Betty, Betty too. And if you, but if you're not camping though, in a pinch. Yeah. You know, I didn't keep paper in my truck. I just didn't. I kept paper towels in my truck. Oh. Always, always keep a roll of paper towels or. You know? Um, so yeah, there's a lot of choices on dishes and we do have a recommendation.

Um, also, you know, some, some containers, I've got some recommendations on those that we're gonna put in. We always carry, we always keep freezer, freezer, uh, ziplock back gallon, gallon freezer bags, because like I said, they're and you could store anything and everything in 'em you can store. your food in them.

You can store spices, you can put silverware, you can put just about anything. You can pack anything in them and yeah. And they're, and they're thick enough that documents that it's hard to puncture they're waterproof. Yeah. So I highly recommend it. And then, and we'll put a link for, for zip, the Ziploc bags that we use.

Yeah. I really, you know, I mean, in spite of the fact that I have to open him with my teeth or have him open. I re just cut. 'em open. I don't cut. 'em open. She cuts the zips off of it. She goes, I needed to get in it. I do not, but I opened the box and I, I to open the back. Yeah. Look, what are you doing? I was, I was opening a Patrick.

On the cleanup. next oh, but it, before we go to cleanup, yes. If you're in an RV or camping and have the space, there's a lot more items that you can have than if you're in a car or a truck or a semi mm-hmm , um, make use of the space, but make use of it wisely. Yes. If you can have an electric skillet, you.

Get rid of a lot of pots and pans and don't get one of those little round burners. Right. And put a big pan on it, cuz that is, people are like, oh, that works great. No, it doesn't because they're so easy to tip over. Yeah. I have seen so many people spill hot food all over the inside of vehicles on people.

People get burns. Not to mention, you can start a fire with them once you spilled stuff. What? Yeah, no. So electric skill, it would be the route to go there. Obviously obviously clean up, clean up aisle, three paper, towels, towels, paper towels. I used to keep easiest, inexpensive. I used to buy Coke, like we still do and keep a bunch of them in the, underneath my bunk.

Yep. It, they they're, you could use it for anything. Literally anything when you're checking your oil, cleaning your windows, cleaning your seat, swiping down your dash, gotta wipe your face because you're you, you sweaty. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Um, eating, using for a napkin. It's like, yeah, totally. I don't use a lot of paper.

I do use paper towels. So, uh, we rec we recommend like a dere. Of some sort and a good cleaner, good hand cleaner and a greaser, you know? Yeah. Um, worst case, get a bottle of Windex cuz the ammonia clean everything. Oh, I never thought about that. Yeah. The ammonia in it, I automatically have Windex in every vehicle.

I I'm just saying in a pinch you can use Windex to clean whatever, you know? Oh yeah. I never, like I said, I never thought about it, but yeah, you're right, because the ammonia Theon will kind of disinfect it, but it'll also burn off. if you're, if it's a grill or something, mm-hmm , this is true, you know? I do know.

So very good. Very good. Very good. Very good. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. And we have more on our ebook. Yes. Yes. Be sure to go and get our ebook stay tuned. We're gonna tell you in a minute. Yes. All right. So we have things that make life better. It's called home things. Yep. Why do we recommend home things? um, because you don't wanna sleep on a cheap mattress.

Was the sleep with the sleep bag thrown on top of it. Did you know anybody that did that when you drove? If it, I would do that. If it was, if it wasn't my truck, if I had to, if I had to borrow somebody else's truck mm-hmm and they had, they lift their stuff in there, I mean, in their own. The someone that did that all the time?

No, I had my own, I had made up my own bed. Sorry. No, but then again, my , I barely slept in my bunk. I'm talking about when you were over the road. Yeah. You didn't sleep in your bunk. I barely slept in. You slept at your steering wheel, didn't you? Uh, yeah, I was running a regional board. Okay. Anyway, I did 20 minutes behind his steering wheel.

I would, when I was over the road cross country and had a nice sleeper, I invested in a good mattress topper. I had a decent mattress. Um, my boss asked me what I wanted and I told him, boom, he bought it. So I bought a mattress, topper sheets, had sheets, blankets the whole bit. I had a heated sleep, heated sleep or heated mattress pad too.

Oh, geez. Well, my dad recommended it. I know. So anyways, if you're in a big R. And you don't like your mattress. We have a recommendation that would we, we, or in an RV. Yeah. Or I was gonna get there. Okay. Or an RV we have, you know, and you don't like those little thin mattresses and you have, you can get a regular mattress or a van conversion.

Yeah. And you got room for mattress. I think it's a twin all the way up to king. Uh, it might be California king. I'm not sure. I'd have to look again, but we, we go, we go through allswell mattress and we have a link for that. We bought one, their mattress. We bought one, three years ago. Or is it four?

No, it's five years. I checked it's five years. Five years ago, we bought five years. Our mattress is, is five years old. Oh my God. It's still as good as it was when it was brand new. Yeah. It came in a box. I remember that came in a box. It was like the vacuum shield bag. We cut the bag open. It was like, woo

We were like, whoa. Yeah, scared the pugs, never, never, ever had a mattress come out of a box until then. So we highly recommend them. And the whole point is I knew a guy when I was driving cross country that also drove cross country that slept on a two inch mattress that came with the truck. and a sleeping bag.

Yes, he is the whole time. And I knew him for two years to do that. I, I understand, but he complained the whole time about, I could never sleep. I'm never comfortable. Yada, yada, yada. I'm like, okay. You own your own rig. Yeah. Go buy a good mattress. And a set of sheets and a pillow and a blanket. Exactly.

You're, you're telling me you're always cold and you're never comfortable. You sleep in a sleeping bag do to you. Yeah. And you roll your, your sweat jacket up for a pillow. I mean, come on, be an adult for once in your life. Come on, man. Put your shit together. Yeah. I told him, but anyway, it's worth it. It really is.

If, if you're gonna live in a vehicle. You might as well make it your home. Yeah. Yeah. Um, bring, if you got a laptop, bring your laptop. If you got a, if you got a, a Kindle, bring a Kindle. Yeah. You can, you know, bring, bring your, bring your watch TV, play games, do puzzles, all sorts of stuff you can do on a tablet or a laptop.

Yeah. Um, but I also wanted to say that you can also buy your pet beds. Through Allswell. Oh yeah, I forgot. They do. They have, yes, they do. Allswell has two sizes. Yes. Small for small dogs and big for pugs. I mean, for big dogs. Well, we, we, we would, we get the big one for, we have two pugs, our pugs who are bed HOKs they would sleep in a queen size mattress by themselves if we let 'em.

Yeah. So, so anyway, um, so now we're gonna go, we're gonna, we're gonna briefly talk about food. Mm. Because, you know, have you ever really given thought on

the food that you eat in a week? Not just you, everyone in your family. Have you ever, have you ever really sat down and said, okay, we had, you know, Janet had like this much chicken and Patty ate this much chicken and you, but you know what I mean? And actually, well, what you do is you get a notebook and you give each person in your family, a notebook and, and, and keep you tell them.

Every bite you take every drink, you stop every cup of coffee, you stop and buy every soda, every Gatorade or power drink or C4, or, um, C4 S energy drinks. Yes. Or every taco bell, or I like taco or burger or whatever, snack. Just, just keep track of it every single for one week for one week, then add it all up at the end of the week, what you're gonna find.

Your grocery list does not match what you. I know, right? Because you're, you eat more than your grocery list. You eat what's in your pantry plus your grocery list. Plus all those one to two to three to four to five items stops on the way home from work. Yep. Plus all those little stops. Oh, I'm just gonna stop and get coffee on the way to work anyways.

It's a good experiment. Yes, it is. We to try, you have fun with it, you know, we have fun with it and we go, well, yeah, well, yeah, that counts. Well, No, that counts. Well, yeah, that counts you. My coffee was free. It still counts. It still counts. Sorry. It was free. I care. It counts. Yes. Anyways, every bite, every drink for every person.

So that gives you an idea of how much food you need. Just try it. And then it gives you like, like she said, it gives you a rough idea how much food you need to bring for, for a day. Uh, for your family for, for, well, you're gonna do it for a week. So, you know, so you can bring a week's worth of food with you.

If you're going camping RVing, or for however many days, you'll figure it out by the day. And here's the best part. If say you screw up and you don't bring enough. Mm-hmm what do you do? You click on our link. Mm-hmm and you go to Instacart. I thought you were gonna say called Ghostbusters. No, but you call Instacart.

I believe Instacart has an app, but we also have a link. Yes. Use the link use started use the link. It lets Instacart know that we sent you and it helps out our show and it helps you out. And it doesn't cost anything extra to help out the show because, because if you can have, if you're at a campground, they have an address, they, they get mail.

Okay. So you get their physical address. Instacart can deliver to. yes. Same with a truck. Stop. Same with a truck. Yeah. Yeah. You truckers at a truck. Stop. You truckers there. You know, if you don't wanna pay trucker, uh, truck stop prices, you get the address of the truck stop. It's usually on your maps, your GPS, it's usually on the bill for the fuel.

Yeah. It's usually on the and you, or, or your scale when you get your, when you weigh, if you, if you weigh your truck, it's gonna have the physical address. You order your Insta. You go in you, you fuel, you take your shower, take your shower, do everything within an, within two hours, you should have your delivery.

But what you do is you have them meet. You like meet me at the front door to the text. Me when you're here, here's my phone number, text me. And I'll guide you to my truck. Yeah. Because I've ordered delivery food like that when I drove. Yep. And that's what I did. I I'll meet you at. Front office or the front door to the TA and delivery in two hours.

Yeah. And as little as two hours. Yes. And I said, meet me at the front door to the travel America and you know, the TA. Yep. And then I'm like, okay, I'll walk you back. They're like, oh no, you can hop in the car. And she was real nice. And so I hopped in the car and I'm like, okay, take a right. And then left.

And I'm back there. I'm right here. Yeah. But yeah, uh, like I said, just walk in, park a truck, go in, find out the physical address, write it. Just, all you gotta do is ask, Hey, what's the address? You know? And you can have Instacart delivered. Literally. They can go to Walmart. They can, they can go multiple stops.

Yeah. They, you they'll do Walmart parking lots. If you got I'm saying they go they'll they'll oh yeah. They'll shop at Walmarts. They'll shop at Walmart target. Yeah, they'll go to Walmart. You know, hell they'll they'll go to Walmart for you and deliver it to you in their parking lot. As long as you got a physical address,

All right. So where were we have food? All right, so we talked about water, always water, water, water, water, water, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, water. Because water, you gotta have water. And it, and it, heaven forbid you break down on the side of the road, you got your duct tape, you tape up the hose that, that leak, you got water.

You can add to it, to at least get you to the next stop. And you got water to drink water, to drink water, to make coffee. Yes. Cause you brought your coffee and li that's life's blood. Um, basic condiments, peanut butter because it's high protein. Most people like it, easy to store. And if you have peanut butter, you gotta might as well.

Well, bring. Yeah. You know, and crackers. Yeah. Because in a pinch at least crackers will settle down your grumbling stomach. Yes, they will. Until you get to where you're going. Yep. If you've got GRS, but we do have a big list. There's a, there's more to this list. There's get our ebook. It's free. Go to the number one, the number eight wheel talk.com/resource.

It'll be at the top of our resources page. It'll be at the very top. It'll say free ebook, click here. I'm making it as easy as I possibly can for you. I'm pantomiming your stuff. feel free to use your words. Oh, I thought I was just here for the entertainment factor.

I was Canto minding you . Okay.

so, yes, it's free put a lot of work into it. Um, gotta tweak it just a little more and then it'll be all ready for you, but it's, you're gonna, you're gonna hopefully like it, hopefully it, it helps you and, and, and it makes you think like, oh, wow. I didn't even think that, you know, I should bring this. Yeah.

You know, because a lot of people don't think of certain things, but it's on our list. Bring it if you want bring it if you don't want. Yeah. it, it's just, it's a list we created it. Use it. Don't use it, get it. Don't get it. Well, and it's one of, it's a checklist. You just check it off if, and if you wanna add to it, you can add to it.

Yeah. And if you don't want it, just cross it out. Yeah. That's, it's that easy basically. Okay. Awesome. That's it. We appreciate you. Awesome. Awesome. We appreciate every one of our listeners. Oh. And if they'd like to support the show Patreon. Yes, we have. You can go to patreon.com and look this up and, and, and it's 18 wheel talk.

I believe it was 18 wheel talk. Yeah. 18 wheel talk. Mm-hmm . or you can go to the number one, the number eight wheel talk.com/patreon. It'll take you right there either way. We appreciate it. And you get stuff too. Yeah. And plus it's really funny, Paige. Yeah. Help support the show. Uh, I think our most popular one is a bum.

You wanna be a bum? It's a couple of bucks a month. Yeah. You wanna be a hobo starts at three dollars a month? Just there's all sorts of choices. Same level, just, yeah. Different. Just, just, you know, anyway, to change the name, it's gonna cost you to protect the innocent. Yeah. I'm just saying anyway, you wanna go witness protection?

You could do that. That's gonna cost you. That's our last one. Witness protection wit sec. Yeah. I'm telling you wit sec. Mm-hmm on that. Thank you for joining us today. Remember we're here to help truckers and travelers and your pursuit of health, happiness, and a better life behind the wheel.

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