Good morning or is it afternoon? Maybe evening? Whatever the case, hello, fellow truckers. Today we are going to talk about how to stay warm on the road. Winter is steadily coming. You might even already feel the cold weather impacting your driving and warmth.

Preparation is the key to preventing accidents and staying on the road. While also delivering your hauls on time and efficiently.

Let’s get started! Here are 5 tips to stay warm on the road.

1.Bring wool clothes

Wool, wool, wool! If possible, buy full body clothes made out of wool. Wool clothes are a bit pricier than standard cotton or synthetic clothes. But a huge advantage that they bring is that they keep the body warm. You might be thinking, why would I buy more expensive clothing when I could buy an extra sweater to stay warm. Well, wool clothes are more durable. They’ll last you a while compared to other types of materials. Plus, these clothes aren’t only good for winter. You can wear them in warm weather! I know. Crazy. Wool is an amazing material for keeping your body temperature stable in warm or cold weather.

Unrelated to wool clothes. A great tip to keep warm is to wear a hat. Scientists have found out that 20% of your body heat escapes if you don’t wear a hat. So, note to self, wear a hat.

2. Keep your food and drinks in insulated containers or aluminum wrap

If there’s one thing that we look forward to when freezing to death, it’s a warm bowl of soup or a nice cup of coffee.

To stray from the subject real quick, don’t drink coffee or alcohol to keep warm. They make your blood vessels shrink and expand, respectively, which makes blood hard to circulate. So, stick to drinking water or tea.

Back on topic. Insulated containers are a great way to keep your food and drinks warm. You can find an insulated container + a thermos for around 40$ together.

Just imagine the feeling. You finished your haul for the day and pulled up at a truck stop. You’re sitting in your air-conditioned truck, and you feel hungry. You open up your insulated container and immediately smell chili con carne—the aroma of finely chopped beef, chilies, and seasonings. And the best part is, it’s warm. Warm all day from yesterday, when you made it. You dig in and finish eating in under a minute, that’s how hungry you were, and you enjoyed every last bit of it.

Whoa! We should be cooks, not trucking industry workers. We hope that got you drooling for food as much as it did us.

3.How to stay warm in the truck overnight

There’s always a possibility of getting stranded on the road with no help coming to you for hours in winter weather. Trucks aren’t built for you to be able to sleep in sub-zero temperatures. But, there are ways to survive that one long night. If you have to stay warm in your truck overnight and don’t have fuel to keep the air conditioning running, we can help.

Bring with you and wear extra layers of clothes.

Find every bit of clothing you have lying in your truck and put them on. It’s not a great solution, but it will keep you warm.

Clear your tailpipe of any obstructions.

When there are 6 feet of snow around you, the last thing you want to do is die of carbon monoxide intoxication. Before you go to sleep, check your tailpipe to be safe.

Keep your body hydrated.

The dry air of winter means your body uses bodily fluids faster and needs extra fluids to keep warm. So, note to self, drink a lot of water.

When you’re sitting down in your truck at 3 am, it’s easy to fall asleep, especially since your heart rate slows down from the cold weather. Try not to fall asleep since you might get hypothermia, and let’s not talk about the worst-case scenario. Set multiple alarm clocks during the night (which is pretty easy with today’s smartphones) to wake you up if you fall asleep.

Ok. That got grim pretty quickly. Why can’t we talk about delicious food all day?

4. Workout

We are crazy, aren’t we?

How are you going to work out in -4 F?

Well, the most important tip is to wear dry clothes. If you get wet, heat will escape your body faster than you can say, Jack Robinson.

Also, don’t forget to wear gloves. Extremities are very important to protect when exercising in cold weather.

You might be wondering, what in hell am I going to do for exercise? We weren’t thinking of doing anything extreme. Just do something simple. Let’s say, 20 push-ups or 10 jumping jacks.

Why?
To get the blood flowing! A simple exercise like this will bump your body temperature immediately and keep you warm for a while.
But if you’re enthusiastic, you could do a full-body workout. There’s this app called 7-minute workout. We talked about it in a previous blog post. And it is exactly that, a 7-minute workout.
After the workout, if you have access to a shower in your truckstop, go for it!
You will feel invigorated and will feel like you can lie in the snow just in your underwear. You’ll feel like those Russian bodybuilders who have balls of steel and go straight up naked in the snow.

5. Insulate your truck

This is the most expensive way to prevent cold from getting into your truck (which is why it is last). But it is also the most effective. We won’t talk about prices, but you can find insulation packages online which vary in price.

Just imagine this for a second. You’re sitting in your truck; outside, it’s below freezing. You see people passing you by, and you notice they are wearing multiple layers of clothes and are freezing. You start laughing. Why? Because you’re in a t-shirt with air conditioning turned on, on minimum. Why are you wearing a t-shirt? Because you insulated your truck so well that you could practically make a pool party in your truck. You’re so warm that you need a cold drink to cool you down.

Think about it. It is a good investment. Do you want to spend this winter freezing? And the next one? And the one after that?

So, truckers, have you found these tips helpful? Did you already know most of these and their benefits? Would you like to add something? Let us know!