Heavy Lifting on the Highways

​I-95 northbound (NJ Turnpike) EXIT 10 to I-287 (Edison Tpk), Matuchen & Perth Amboy, New Jersey 


Ok Roadtrippers now it's time for a Road Test. So prepare yourselves for the Fast Facts! The winner of this Road Test gets paid $20 by the driver..  Driver, eyes on the road!


Ok now, that is a good place to start. The road.


Look around you. Likely you see large trucks composed of two units. The truck and the load.  We call these big rigs "18 wheelers", or semi trucks or simply semis.  They are big and powerful and do a lot of good.  Big names in Trucking include Werner, Covenant, and JB Hunt. Also you see a lot of public companies represented like Amazon and Walmart.

​You might fly by them on the highway without thinking much about all that, but there's a lot worth knowing. The facts reveal that they are  essential to the lifeblood of America. What you probably don't know about them will surprise you.


Listen up! Now for the Road Test so here come the Fast Facts,:


Fact One: 18 wheelers transport over 70 percent of the goods in the United States.  That’s right; more than railroads or other things. They are the source of food on supermarket shelves, Amazon deliveries, even gas in your car.


Two: The maximum weight for a truck and full trailer is 80,000 pounds. To visualize that, it’s about 20 Indian Elephants. Ok that’s weird but it works for me.

Three: In 2016, according to Popular Mechanics Magazine, semitrucks drove 175 BILLION miles.


Four: Recent estimates suggest trucks deliver about 60,000 pounds of goods  per American — per year. That’s a lot of stuff, right? In fact it comes out to about 18.5 Indian Elephants. So each truck is almost entirely dedicated to you. Think about that.

Five: Truck Drivers work hard but by law must take rest stops every 8 hours. So yes most trucks have sleeper space behind the cab. The amount of luxury varies.  But it is not uncomfortable back there. Even basic sleeper cabs incorporate tables, closets, refrigerators, flatscreen TV mounts, and, of course, beds.

​Six: Some Sleeper cabs can accommodate even a small family or a pair of spouses.  They are not likely, however, to accommodate an Indian Elephant.


Fast Fact Seven: Spouses who both drive the truck are called a Tag Team.

​Now for the Road Test: you have 3 seconds to answer.   Now for the quiz: How many elephants are accommodated in a sleeper cab?  Three. Two, and one. If you said none, you win!


Ok Driver, cough up. Pay the genius twenty bucks. And be quick about it. 


#18wheelers  #PepsiProducts #JBHunt #Werner #Covenant #Semitrucks #PopularMechanics #IndianElephants #sleepercabs