Motel Parking Can Be The Real Chitz Sometimes.

Well. I have arrived safely in Des Moines, IA. Weather not too bad. I discovered the manuals in the truck's bin above the sun visor. I read the one on the radio to figure out how to set the clock. I read another manual to figure out how to "temporarilly" disable the pesky lane-departure noise-maker. There is a switch on the dash for that but you have to hit the switch again every 15 minutes to turn it off again while driving.

Many large trucks I see will hug the white line along the shoulder and often the tires will touch the white line or cross over it somewhat. It is normal to do this to maintain greater distance from the lane on the left for safety. I don't like to be too close to oncoming traffic on two-lane highways. So, I like to cower right close to the shoulder when traffic passes me. Also, going around curves, it is human instinct to hug the line on the inside of a curve. A shorter curve radius means less centrifugal force on turns.

The stupid lane-departure thing was not designed with real human driving instinct in mind. It just makes noise and interrupts the music playing on the radio. Wheels are going to touch lane markers from time to time. This is why there are notches, tick marks, carved into the pavement along lane borders. Big loud tire HUMMMMMM!

I've never like the internationals either. Fortunately, we only have 2 or 3. My current tractor is a 2018 Peterbilt with a little over 850k miles. I'm happy with it.

International trucks were better made and designed when they were once International Harvester. Older-model International moving trucks I've rented from Penske in the past were not nearly as bad as this latest one, it seems. It has airbag suspension on the rear but a lousy suspension on the front. It bobbed up and down quite frequently like a coin-operated charlie horse. A large highway paint mixer shaker.