Almost everything but your kitchen sink!
I've made a list of things I carried around in my truck as an OTR. Your needs may differ from my own.
-Cash, credit cards, and your CDL, of course. Leave high-end valuables at home. You may even spring for some restaurant gift cards. I would buy me several, for all the fast foods, Subway, etc. Fast foods, Subways, Pizza Huts- these are the types of restaurants that you'll find at or near rest areas and truck stops.
- Goodies and snacks to munch on. Unless you can plan your diet to grow an appetite when you pass a McDonald's, you'll need some easy to pack snacks to take along with you: potato chips, Doritoes, apples, oranges, bananas, pudding, granola bars, pretzels, etc., etc. Don't forget soft drinks, Kool Aid, etc. If you don't already have one, maybe grab a small cooler and a used microwave at a yard sale or thrift store (If your truck doesn't have a powerful enough inverter, you won't need a microwave.)
- Obviously, don't forget such essentials as medications, Tylenol, soap, deodorants, razor blades, towels, changes of clothing, spare change for doing laundry at truck stops, etc. Maybe buy some mosquito repellant if it is summertime.Clean pairs of socks, a spare spare of shoes
- A decent, detailed road atlas geared towards truckers. Don't use a cheaper model for ordinary passenger cars. The ones for truckers are well worth the small extra cost. If you have a truck-based GPS, bring it. DO NOT RELY ON A CHEAPER GPS DESIGNED FOR AN ORDINARY CAR!!!!
- Entertainment: A laptop, maybe some DVD movies, books, magazines, pens, paper, a writing surface (your sleeper may already have a slide-out desk-type arrangement). Don't forget your cell phone and it's charger. Maybe a 19" flat screen / DVD player combo.
- A heavy duty flashlight, spare batteries, work gloves, a tire gauge, a hammer and some basic tools, rubber bungies to tie down your loose wares as you are mobile, truck grade motor oil, windshield wiper fluid, a clean unused oil filter, etc., etc. Some of this stuff will be given to your at your company's maintenance dept for the asking. While you're at the maintenance desk, ask for a few spare bulbs for each of the types your truck uses. Ask for a few spare rubber grommets for the air line connectors, and some company seals, be they plastic or metal.
- The sleeper cab has a bed, obviously, but the one you are assigned likely won't have sheets, a pillow and blankets. Bring your own. And if it does come with those already supplied, would you really want to use them?
- Paper logs, if your company uses them.Grab a few extras as well. Grab a few of everything that your company is handing out. You will never know when you're going to need that stuff.
- Plastic bins for easy storage and carrying. You can buy them practically anywhere, and in almost every size imaginable. I used the ones that were about as big as a shoe box, since they could easily fit in overhead bins and such.
- Will you need internet service as your shut down for the night? If you use your laptop, you might spring for one of those USB-based broadband plug-ins and pay for monthly service. The truck stops you crash at each night will have wifi, but it will be costly, and you'll be sharing it with every other trucker out on the lot, so it'll likely be slow (those truckers are going to be downloading LOTS of bandwidth-heavy porn!). And be sure your internet is secured so the trucker next to you can't tap in to your account!
- Cleaning supplies: maybe some mirror and window cleaner, some paper towels, definitely some toilet paper. One trucker I met carried with him a 5-gallon bucket. When I asked him what it was for, he said it was his emergency porta-potty! Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go!
- I always carried a bag of road salt with me in the winter to melt ice. A rain poncho isn't a bad idea, nor is an umbrella. I also carried nylon rope for those times when you never know when you're going to need it. As a CDL trucker, sometimes you are simply all on your own, until your company's help wagon arrives, or whoever they send to get you out of trouble.
- A CB. They're hardly used anymore. I never used them to listen to the mindless chatter amongst the truckers in close proximity. I used my cheap portable that I bought off ebay to listen for calls at large companies. Security might say, "Tune to channel 14 for your truck number." You don't want to miss hearing your truck number and risk missing your loading or unloading appt.
- Other odds and ends and misc supplies- a hand held calculator, erasers, white-out, cough drops, chewing gum, candy bars, band aids, condoms (hey, you never know! LOL)
I've made a list of things I carried around in my truck as an OTR. Your needs may differ from my own.
-Cash, credit cards, and your CDL, of course. Leave high-end valuables at home. You may even spring for some restaurant gift cards. I would buy me several, for all the fast foods, Subway, etc. Fast foods, Subways, Pizza Huts- these are the types of restaurants that you'll find at or near rest areas and truck stops.
- Goodies and snacks to munch on. Unless you can plan your diet to grow an appetite when you pass a McDonald's, you'll need some easy to pack snacks to take along with you: potato chips, Doritoes, apples, oranges, bananas, pudding, granola bars, pretzels, etc., etc. Don't forget soft drinks, Kool Aid, etc. If you don't already have one, maybe grab a small cooler and a used microwave at a yard sale or thrift store (If your truck doesn't have a powerful enough inverter, you won't need a microwave.)
- Obviously, don't forget such essentials as medications, Tylenol, soap, deodorants, razor blades, towels, changes of clothing, spare change for doing laundry at truck stops, etc. Maybe buy some mosquito repellant if it is summertime.Clean pairs of socks, a spare spare of shoes
- A decent, detailed road atlas geared towards truckers. Don't use a cheaper model for ordinary passenger cars. The ones for truckers are well worth the small extra cost. If you have a truck-based GPS, bring it. DO NOT RELY ON A CHEAPER GPS DESIGNED FOR AN ORDINARY CAR!!!!
- Entertainment: A laptop, maybe some DVD movies, books, magazines, pens, paper, a writing surface (your sleeper may already have a slide-out desk-type arrangement). Don't forget your cell phone and it's charger. Maybe a 19" flat screen / DVD player combo.
- A heavy duty flashlight, spare batteries, work gloves, a tire gauge, a hammer and some basic tools, rubber bungies to tie down your loose wares as you are mobile, truck grade motor oil, windshield wiper fluid, a clean unused oil filter, etc., etc. Some of this stuff will be given to your at your company's maintenance dept for the asking. While you're at the maintenance desk, ask for a few spare bulbs for each of the types your truck uses. Ask for a few spare rubber grommets for the air line connectors, and some company seals, be they plastic or metal.
- The sleeper cab has a bed, obviously, but the one you are assigned likely won't have sheets, a pillow and blankets. Bring your own. And if it does come with those already supplied, would you really want to use them?
- Paper logs, if your company uses them.Grab a few extras as well. Grab a few of everything that your company is handing out. You will never know when you're going to need that stuff.
- Plastic bins for easy storage and carrying. You can buy them practically anywhere, and in almost every size imaginable. I used the ones that were about as big as a shoe box, since they could easily fit in overhead bins and such.
- Will you need internet service as your shut down for the night? If you use your laptop, you might spring for one of those USB-based broadband plug-ins and pay for monthly service. The truck stops you crash at each night will have wifi, but it will be costly, and you'll be sharing it with every other trucker out on the lot, so it'll likely be slow (those truckers are going to be downloading LOTS of bandwidth-heavy porn!). And be sure your internet is secured so the trucker next to you can't tap in to your account!
- Cleaning supplies: maybe some mirror and window cleaner, some paper towels, definitely some toilet paper. One trucker I met carried with him a 5-gallon bucket. When I asked him what it was for, he said it was his emergency porta-potty! Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go!
- I always carried a bag of road salt with me in the winter to melt ice. A rain poncho isn't a bad idea, nor is an umbrella. I also carried nylon rope for those times when you never know when you're going to need it. As a CDL trucker, sometimes you are simply all on your own, until your company's help wagon arrives, or whoever they send to get you out of trouble.
- A CB. They're hardly used anymore. I never used them to listen to the mindless chatter amongst the truckers in close proximity. I used my cheap portable that I bought off ebay to listen for calls at large companies. Security might say, "Tune to channel 14 for your truck number." You don't want to miss hearing your truck number and risk missing your loading or unloading appt.
- Other odds and ends and misc supplies- a hand held calculator, erasers, white-out, cough drops, chewing gum, candy bars, band aids, condoms (hey, you never know! LOL)
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