On Living The Night Life
As this is being published, I am about three weeks into the “real life” phase of my new career of driving a big truck. I am enjoying the experience quite a lot. One aspect I am enjoying (that I did not expect to enjoy) is driving at night.
I am not new to night work. Years (decades) ago I had a job that required some night work. I will write about that job someday, but I adapted to the hours pretty well. My mother worked a night shift as a hospital nurse at the time, and I recall one Christmas morning when both of us got home from work a little after 8 a.m. and woke my sister up so that we could exchange gifts.
The company for which I drive is a twenty-four hour operation. It is a contractor that delivers large quantities of U.S. Mail between postal facilities, and that mail has to move all the time. When I was assigned to a trainer, I spent the first couple of weeks on that trainer’s route, which was a day that ran from roughly 4 p.m. to 4 a.m, five days a week. Believe me when I tell you that the final four hours of the first few shifts were a struggle to one long used to arising at 5:30 a.m.
The biggest adjustment as one in his 60’s (as opposed to one in his 20’s) has been the readjustment of my highly effective “body clock”. I have been an early riser for many years, so training my system to sleep into the afternoon was a problem. Fortunately, that adjustment was accomplished after about the first week. The payoff has been that night driving has so much less traffic and congestion. I could even describe it as peaceful.
Now that I am driving on my own, it has been a boon to the schedulers when I tell them that I prefer nights. This would not have been true when I was younger and we had a busy house full of kids (and their associated activities). But now, Marianne and I live by ourselves. Also, Marianne has always been the night owl at our house. These last few weeks have usually seen my workday end with a breakfast brought in from an early morning drive-thru window and shared before we both hit the sack. Marianne says that this routine stretches her night-owl abilities a little too far, so we will see if this changes as time goes on.
I really like the peacefulness of night driving. The roads are not completely empty at 2:30 or 3 a.m. like they were during my youth, but there are few enough people out that there is plenty of road for everyone. I recall more about the title than about the plot of the old movie “They Drive By Night”. Hopefully I can avoid the murder and intrigue that enveloped Humphrey Bogart, George Raft and Ida Lupino in the 1940 Warner Brothers film noir. But isn’t real life almost always more mundane than life as depicted in film?
The other reference that comes to mind is a book we used to read to our children when they were small – a book entitled “Night Cars”. Marianne found the hardcover in the sale sale bin at a bookstore and brought it home some time in the early or mid 1990’s. It is a book (originally published in 1989) about a baby who cannot sleep because of a fascination with all of the activity happening outside of his window in the busy city at night. I found this YouTube video which reads through the book (though a little slower than I might prefer) – It reminds me of how much I loved the artwork.
I am now the guy driving that “night car truck” past houses full of sleeping people in the wee hours. I feel a little bad for those who live along the routes I must travel to get to my appointed destinations. I feel especially bad for those who live on a hill, where there is no avoiding a diesel engine at full bellow as it pulls its load to the top. I wonder if those who hear my truck at night (certainly with some annoyance) know that I am bringing the mail that might be delivered to them the next day. Almost certainly not. I wonder if they feel sorry for me, as one of the people who works at night to make everyone else’s life happen during the days. I would tell them there is nothing to feel sorry for – I get to lounge in bed while they are hard at work doing something else, so it all works out.
I have been blessed to have good weather as I settle into this life. I am sure the bad weather will come, but the good news is that less traffic will mean lots of room between me and other traffic. This, along with a healthy respect for slick conditions, will all but certainly see me through the winter weather that will be here all too soon.
For now, though, I enjoy the peaceful solitude. Some time is spent on podcasts or audiobooks, and some is spent just listening to the sounds of the truck as it motors along the interstate highway at sixty-five miles per hour (the maximum speed limit for trucks in my state). Some of the trucks have more personality than others, so some of them are easier to listen to for long stretches. At some point I will be assigned a truck that will be mine (at least mostly mine). For now I am enjoying the variety.
Some day I will probably transition back to living life during the daylight and sleeping at night. But for now, I am enjoying this new kind of night life.
J. P.'s Blog 
I’m a big fan of the night, and twilight, that period just when the sun is setting, and after when it’s still fairly light out. I spent a lot of time walking in that period when I was younger, and sometimes in the winter, still walk then. Can’t say I stay up late tho, I’m usually dead to the world by nine pm!
I spent many days of my misspent youth working odd hours late into the night, and sometimes worked 24 or 36 hours straight to complete projects for advertisements that had to go out to meet publishing deadlines. There’s the old trope about not making your mismanagement of time my problem, but back in the 70’s, that’s basically how the advertisement industry worked. One of the things I realized when I was young, was that I could work almost any schedule, provided it didn’t change. You want me to work second or third shift? It’s ok as long as that’s what I’m always working, I can’t work 11pm to 7am today, normal tomorrow. One of the local big printers, after most of the unions were broken, used to work people 12 hour days, three days on, four off, fours days on, three off, then seven days on, seven off, and then reverse the morning people to night. People would get sick and never get well, lose marriages, and have industrial accidents. In the end, and still today, they have trouble with employee retention. The kids that work at my local coffee shop, and have worked a lot of odd ball retail jobs, complain about the tyranny of poor scheduling and “clopening”, apparently a newish term for those that have to close one night and open the place the next day.
All I can say about your current schedule is be careful. Crime has exploded in my city and car thefts are up over 400 percent from a few years ago. There’s an entire underclass of teens that are spread out all over my city every night, stealing cars, and driving them (many of them aren’t even old enough to be licensed), haphazardly and wildly all over, and cracking into other cars, running over pedestrians, driving into houses and bus kiosks, and then just getting out of the totaled cars and running. The cops seem powerless to stop this behavior, and it’s one of the things causing my reassessment of my current living situation, and possible relocation to a smaller market. The street thefts and crime at night has even curtailed my night walking. Keep your eyes open!
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I am another who would have a great deal of trouble switching work schedules between days and nights. My company tries to keep people on the same general shift – I have been scheduled for some runs that start in mid afternoon and others that finish as late as 6 or 7 am, but I can deal with stretching the time window at the edges for a day or two.
You raise a good point about nighttime crime. Fortunately, most of the places I go are areas that are not affected much by that kind of thing – the stops are on large pieces of property and most crooks don’t mess with the postal system, and most routes are main roads in and out of the cities and towns.
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I like driving at night, too. I always enjoyed the night shifts when I was a security guard, as well.
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If the rest of your life works with sleeping much of the daytime and working at night, the actual night work can be great. I am fortunate that my life meshes with night work pretty well.
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As expected, it’s fascinating to be reading something same-writer-different-vocation. Is it really still you, J P? You might have to throw in an occasional post about old-school food products to keep us believing. Seriously, I look forward to the next account of your night life from the cab. I expect a ghost story or two, or at least an odd encounter with a fellow driver via CB (is CB still a thing?) Closing thoughts. One, I recently finished a very good Nora Roberts novel called Nightwork (same time of day, totally different topic). And two, is it just me or does the “They Drive By Night” promo look like Dorothy and the two men she dreamed playing the Scarecrow and the Tin Man?
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There are some guys who still use a CB, but they are not all that common any more. I am enjoying having time for reading again, only by listening now. I am nearing the end of “The Maltese Falcon” by Dashiell Hammett. The 1941 Bogart movie is one of my favorites, but I had never read the book. My adult children have been a fountain of suggestions for podcasts to check out – one of those will be next on the list.
As to your last observation – I had not thought about that, but now that you mention it, I can totally see it.
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BTW, They Drive By Night is still in regular rotation on the Movies! channel, a broadcast movie channel in a lot of markets with Film Noir Sunday nights and all day Thursdays. Shows up about once a month….
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I can just see you behind the wheel with a big smile like in this capture of the old Cannonball series from the late 50s. This one was not so much at night, but you get it.
Enjoy your driving!
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Haha, I had not thought of that reference!
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Well, you slid behind the big wheel and into this new livelihood just fine didn’t you? Having driven so many years in ice and snow, you have acclimated to those conditions and driving with less traffic on the road in the overnight will certainly help matters as well. It’s great you can listen to podcasts and audiobooks … next you will getting a CB and a “handle”. Keep on truckin’ JP!
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It will be interesting to experience bad weather from the seat of a big truck instead of a car. As for the CB, the guy I trained with is the only one I have come across who uses one. I think I will like the opportunity to listen to interesting discussions on podcasts or to read/listen to good books.
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With such a large vehicle, I would think you would be safer than in a car. I have never honed my Winter driving skills even though my parents made me take driver’s training in the Winter just for that reason. I took the bus when I worked downtown and walked to the bus stop just a block away and only drove for my first few years of college until I switched to Wayne State University in midtown Detroit so I bussed there/back. I guess the heyday of CB radios has come and gone with the advent of satellite radio, podcasts and audio books.
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You adaptability to differing schedules is quite admirable. I can get up early, and love the few hours just before daylight, but still wilt by 10 pm regardless.
I had to give a two hour deposition today. It was not the most fun I’ve had this week. The defense attorney, who I was working with, is based in Kansas City and is likely in his early 60s. As we chatted for a minute prior to showtime, I told him of your career change. He said similar has crossed his mind also but due to a different inspiration. The drummer at his church is a retired music professor who started truck driving. He loves it and is so happy to have left academia for something in which he feels he has made a tangible contribution to society.
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I always loved those early, quiet hours too. And like you, I was almost always out of gas by 10 pm. But there is also something to love about the quiet hours at night too, and after getting my sleep schedule turned around, it is now around 5 am or so when I start to wilt.
I keep being surprised at the variety of people who leave other careers for trucking. One thing I keep having to work on is my tendency to turn adversarial in the face of pushback from people – usually those running loading docks at postal facilities. A good litigation lawyer has almost always needed the ability to turn into a complete jerk from time to time, but that is not helpful in my current line. A few deep breaths and a smile usually bring me back to an even keel. 🙂
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Wow – night driving? You definitely have to be a night owl for that. I’d be falling asleep. We look forward to hearing about this new adventure of yours.
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I would have been falling asleep too, just a couple of months ago. It took about 2 weeks for me to really settle into this new schedule, but I feel a sense of accomplishment at having done so. I’m not as inflexible as I thought I was. 🙂
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LOL – I think you’re right, we are more flexible than we think!
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I was anxiously waiting for a report on your driving career. I used to work 3rd shift (Midnight-7am) when I was young and single. I loved it. We were paid for eight hours while working only 6.5 hours and work was lightest on our shift while the other two shifts worked the full eight hours. I slept less because I couldn’t sleep much past noon, so I had more free time than my friends.
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The inability to sleep late dogs me no matter what my schedule, so I have to be careful about not staying up too late – even now.
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Glad to hear it’s working well so far. Do you get enough parallel parking practice or are you able to do some practicing on the side?
Like Jason, I love the early morning but have trouble staying up late. When I was a single guy I used to love leaving on a motorcycle trip at 4am and watching the dawn unfold.
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The instructor in driving school would scoff at how useless of a skill the parallel parking test is to get a CDL. Almost all of my parking involves backing into loading docks, and I get to do it at least twice a night, sometimes more.
I was an early riser almost my entire life. That was always my favorite way to take a trip in the car. I remember driving to Philadelphia in the late 80s – I had my 66 Plymouth with only an AM radio, but before sunrise I could pick up those strong clear channel AM stations from all over the country. I think it was WABC from NYC that I remember listening to as I drove across Indiana in the early morning hours.
Now, I enjoy my “morning” coffee early in the afternoon.
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I’ve never worked nights, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be as adaptable to it as you are – I’m very impressed.
There’s definitely pluses and minuses to night driving – the reduced traffic and overall relaxed nature of night driving is balanced by reduced visibility. I hope your company replaces their trucks’ windshield wipers often – for me that’s the worst part of night driving.
And I wouldn’t feel too bad for the houses full of sleeping people along your routes. They’re undoubtedly used to the Night Trucks. We live right on a 4-lane US Highway, and get all kinds of traffic driving by at night. It just blends into the background, and as hard as it is for some people to believe, it becomes reassuring background noise. When I was growing up, I also lived on a 4-lane road, and when I moved away, I actually missed the traffic noise.
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I had not really thought about how people get used to background noise, but you are right.
I have been fortunate to have only been in real rain a couple of times. There is an on-site maintenance/repair shop and we fill out a daily inspection sheet at the end of every trip, so if there is a problem with the wipers it is easy to get fixed.
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