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how do you stay awake at the wheel
0311marine
Member Posts: 3,233
driving back from seattle today it was a 4 hour trip down I-5.i got up a 5:30 am went to bed late last night and paid for it. 2 hours of the drive it is boring and desolet it was raining and cold so i had the heater on and the wipers going ,i tried a few things to stay awake count signs,petted my dog riding next to me ,rolled down the window,smoked a cigarette,blasted music,drank alot of soda,then i tried a new trick i took a empty pop can and crushed it with my head, i know it sounds stupid but it worked pretty good kept me up,usally if i feel like i'am gonna fall asleep at the wheel i pull over and take a nap what do you do to stay awake while driving long distance?i wonder how those truck drivers stay awake for those long hauls?[|)]
SEMPER FI
SEMPER FI
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No way I can fall asleep listening to that.
I will also stick my head out the window like a dog, specially if its cold or raining, a second or 2 of that and I'm awake[:D]
JuJu (who really does not drive much anymore)
AlleninAlaska
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I have a high-strung buddy, a salesman, with a fast metabolism -- always on the go, go, go. He can have a lot of trouble staying awake when he's driving tired at night. I guess it's a case of a hard charging metabolism demanding rest on cue. He is more easily overcome by his own body chemistry. I don't know why. But then he used to be wide awake and going at 5 a.m. -- just as weird to me.
The opposite of me is the guy that uses the car like the living room -- conversation, reading, kicking back, yacking to the passengers, listening to the radio, checking the road from time to time out of the corner of his eye (!), and getting caught up in either music or the talk show debate, so that he's only driving with a quarter of his brain and has more than just his car on cruise control. His level of road awareness usually is only to note being passed by other drivers, which usually elicits remarks something like, "what's his hurry." Either that or the ever-popular "oh, am I still driving in the passing lane?"
I don't know why the fast metabolizers fall asleep, but the daydreamers are not as much of a mystery. It's a short hop from daydreaming to dreaming.
T. Jefferson: "[When doing Constitutional interpretation], let us [go] back to the time when [it] was adopted. [Rather than] invent a meaning [let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed."
Oh Hoppe's No. 9 you are so fine.
Also, I found the best way to stay awake is to fall asleep and run into the ditch. That happened years ago when I was working third shift. I was on the way home and fighting it the whole way, I dropped one side of the vehicle off the shoulder but safely pulled it back on. Not only did I not have any trouble staying awake the rest of the way home, I didn't sleep for several hours when I got there. [:0]
When all else fails try eating something that you know will give you a TERRIBLE case of indegestion. Oh, did I mention that I normally go through 1.5 liters of very strong coffee for every 10 hrs of driving.That in itself ought to cause enough pressure on your bladder and kidneys to make you very uncomfortable.
For me a 10-20 minute 'power nap' is good for another 2-3 hours of alert driving. Above all, be smart enough to realize arriving a little late is better than not arriving at all.
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I like to drive at night, so I slept the day before and left home at around 5 PM. Lots of music and singing, and stopping at every other rest stop for a 10 or 15 minute walk around. I do time over distance-to-destination equations in my head to try to figure when I'll be at a particular town or landmark. I don't drink coffee much, but I have a Coke now and then. After passing Sacramento and starting to get tired, I would stop at all night joints every couple of hours instead of the rest stops. I don't eat very much before I leave, and almost nothing while I'm on a trip. If I get real tired, I'll do the open window and power nap thing. I know when it's time to nap if all of a sudden I realize that I don't remember the last few miles. I really enjoy driving in crappy weather. I think the increased concentration keeps me going.
I spent many years as an on-the-road salesman and developed these habits from that.
Anyway, I got to LA a little after noon, took a heavy 4 hour nap and was ready to rock.
It had been several years since I'd driven that trip, and I was surprised at how well I did. Spent 4 days down there, then drove back the coast route. Took two days comming back and 29 hours of driving.
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Been there done that, and it sucks to wake up in the ditch.
Some guys like a mag full of lead, I still prefer one round to the head.
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Works Great.
Mass quantities of Copenhagen and Mountain Dew also.
Kind of ironic and you don't hear it often but.... smoking saved my life. I tell my wife that every time she gets on my case about smoking.
Jon
I am confused at times.
We park on driveways,
and drive on parkways.
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I agree with the others who have said to keep yourself cold. If your all warm in your car you tend to nod off more. If your freezing your ghetties off you ain't too likely to fall asleep..
Sunflower seeds. They keep me busy for awhile.
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Pack slow, fall stable, pull high, hit dead center.
Coffee, and coke, one then the other. Hard pretzels, the big sourdough ones. Gum, snuff, toothpicks. Calculate how fast I could get to the next town from the distance given on the road signs and check my time against the next sign. Calculate how fast I could get to a really far town given on a road sign at mach 1. I had a tape of Adam Ant that someone left at my house after a party, that was good for 70 miles or so. Figure how much something is going to cost using a overtime monetary system (that rifle would cost X hours OT) after taxes, then do it using a beer case, that rifle would cost 37 cases of Sam Adams.
I try to avoid any driving straight over 6 hours anymore, just isn't fun anymore.
Those people who see nothing but grey areas, no black and white, are lost in the fog.
I always try to get a full night's sleep when I make trips like that.
Once years ago I brushed the rear wheels of a tractor trailer while dozing at 60. It woke me up like a shot but that only lasted about 1/2 hour.
I pulled over at a rest stop and got an hour or two's sleep.
JC
Ted Kennedy's breath has killed more people than my car.
One of the best long distance trips I've ever taken!
NSDQ!
"To every man, there comes in his lifetime, that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered a chance to do a very special thing, unique to him and fitted to his talents;What a tragedy if that moment should find him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour." --Sir Winston Churchill--
Now what burns me is the hypocrits that will drive a large camper, a pickup with a horse or car trailer or even the guy who loads his family up in the car and heads out for a 1000 mile non stop trip but will turn right around and tell the truckers to stop after 10 hours or 500 miles. You cannot make a law that makes drivers safe, 10 hours may be good for you but for me 10 hours and I'm just getting started, and as far as the log book goes..........[:D][;)][}:)]
It is simple, if you get tired, pull over and sleep but do not tell me I have to stop after 10 hours because I won't. I kow this doesnt pertain to you folks but it does pertain to long drives, "Truckin Aint For Sissies", so whether you truck in a car, camper, pickup or a large truck, if you cannot handle the drive, pull over and let someone else do it.