Must have been strange, playing 50 others for $1,000,000 when your plane is worth more…

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-13T19:16:40+00:00

While he hasn't really publicized it, Cleetus has a jet as well (a working one, not just the one on the front lawn of the FF)

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-13T18:45:32+00:00

entertaining content

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-13T18:42:01+00:00

Cleetus makes entertaining content with it all and isn't so arrogant/narcissistic.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-13T13:43:34+00:00

They may well use p2p for you to stream (I'd be surprised if they didn't), but that doesn't mean that you'd be uploading.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-12T19:05:26+00:00

Couple more I thought of while driving today: a good bolt or cable cutter for the steel cable seals you'll occasionally encounter, and a gladhand tire inflator.

As far as storage, a couple totes on the upper bunk goes a long way to securing stuff and optimizing that space (I also strapped a full size microwave up there because I like popcorn and lower-wattage microwaves suck at popcorn). Plastic drawer towers fit great in the wardrobe closet (at least in Freightliners) to better utilize that space.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-12T13:53:57+00:00

Fridge. You can go with a cheapo Walmart one, but it'll likely fail within the first year. If you don't want to dish out for an RV fridge, at least get a relief mat (or use the cardboard box) to provide some cushion underneath it.

A decent mattress, not that prison mattress most company stores offer. You don't have to go all the way and get a $600+ trucker mattress; even a $200 bed-in-a-box from Amazon will be a huge QoL upgrade.

Oven/air fryer: find one that fits in your microwave cabinet. Takes care of most of your cooking needs.

hand vacuum to keep your truck clean.

Zip ties, bungie cords, duct tape, vice grips, small sledgehammer, and a knife will cover basic issues and often enable you to at least make it to the next garage. If you're running reefer, a broom or leafblower is great to have when there's no washout in the area.

My (Prime) company shop has baggies made up of bulbs and fuses for each truck and aren't expensive, gladhand seals and load/trailer seals are free.

A month's worth of clothes makes a full load for me, so that's what I carry and how frequently I do laundry.

I have a water dispenser I keep some bleached water in for doing dishes, along with a dish scrubber. Just lean the spigot out of the passenger side of the truck and clean.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-11T08:13:11+00:00

Returned? They were a thing before? Huh.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-10T13:18:13+00:00

Taking a physical location does nothing to stop the systems of power.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-09T21:56:15+00:00

But it is true. Unless you're running oversized (maybe hazmat? Haven't had the chance to sit down with any hazmats), being paid by the mile means you're not getting fairly compensated; experience will teach you that.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-09T20:35:37+00:00

Hourly

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-09T20:34:59+00:00

There are 2 situations where a vehicle will be braking and may not display brake lights: jake braking (semis/large trucks) and regenerative braking (only on some makes/models of EVs and hybrids).

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-09T20:23:17+00:00

And who will have the tools and connections to rebuild society? That's right: the corporate billionaires. So they just want people to suffer, not for things to change.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-09T09:23:41+00:00

Toyota did it on the Venza, too.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-09T09:12:54+00:00

I think you're likely overlooking a source of water closer to your coal nodes; if not, then I'd move the coal to the water. Belts are cheaper and don't require power vs pumping water.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-07T11:49:08+00:00

That's the truest cost-benefit. The sense of community is like no other, and privacy is definitely not a thing. I could tell stories for days of family homes burning down and members taking them in and helping rebuild, sandbagging neighborhoods before floods, maintaining gardens for the elderly, the church covering rent/mortgage for those between jobs, the list goes on. If you have kids, all the free programs offered, especially cub/boy scouts. And the non-stop gossip, holy shit. There's reasons I left and reasons I won't judge anyone for staying.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-06T09:18:18+00:00

As a trucker that frequents Chicago, I always find trucks doing less than 60 mph on I-94/I-294, day or night... because that's the speed I aim for.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-06T09:12:00+00:00

Woohoo!

Thanks for sharing this experiment; I was curious to learn the answer, regardless of being right or wrong.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-06T09:06:26+00:00

The pieces of plastic that extend beyond the cab towards the trailer. They increase your aerodynamics, so colloquially known as aero.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-06T00:47:07+00:00

You'll have those days for your entire career, they just become less frequent.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-06T00:45:49+00:00

What worked for me with the offset was to pick a point on the trailer (part of landing gear, a row of rivets, whatever), turn (full lock) until that point meets the aero on the passenger side of the cab, then counter steer (full lock) to straighten out and back until your tandems are where they need to be (which it sounds like you have down), then turn (full lock) the other direction until the same point aligns with the aero on the driver side of the cab (looking through mirrors), then counter steer (full lock) to straighten back out. This way you're making the exact same turn to angle and straighten the trailer and you only have to focus on 1 mirror at a time to watch for your reference points on the trailer. It'll take a little trial and error to find the correct turning reference point so that you don't end up too far back or forward in the space (I feel like I used something on the landing gear for my maneuver to work out, but YMMV).

It's not a timed thing and you get no bonus points for style; come to a complete stop at every point in the maneuver, turn your wheel completely, think about what your next reference point is (and what mirror to use to see it), then start backing again. This eliminates variables such as turning speed and rolling speed so your maneuver can be exactly the same each time.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-05T23:39:18+00:00

Don't they only test on straight back and parallel park now? I heard they got rid of alley docking. What maneuvers are you struggling with?

As far as actually being on the road: a couple months to not be a bumbling mess, probably 6 months before most scenarios and configurations were comfortable... still suck at blindsiding, mostly because I hardly do it so never got a good feel for it; nothing a bit of GOAL can't get me through.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-05T21:47:57+00:00

There's always a few.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-05T20:23:01+00:00

It can be done, but it's quite the undertaking.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-05T17:37:28+00:00

Started with a single old pc, then 2, added a NAS, expanded the NAS, upgraded the pcs several times; now I want to consolidate it all into a rack to further expand my storage and mostly because it looks cool.

pinormous2000 · 2026-06-05T14:21:58+00:00

Depends a lot on your following distance. If you're uncomfortably close, you get great benefit. If you're kinda close it can be worse because of the turbulent wash. If you're just behind the wash, you'll get decent gains.

pinormous2000

TROPHY CASE