Oversize hauler's shower solution for small sleepers | Long Haul Paul's 'winter from hell' on I-80

Owner-operator Andy Freeman, headquartered in Richland Center, Wisconsin, hauls in a 2014 Freightliner 122SD pulling a much newer Trail King RGN mini-deck, outfitted for what are mostly oversize loads on the hook. I caught up with Freeman in Orlando, Florida, on the site of the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association’s annual Specialized Transportation Symposium.

Freeman, leased to Landstar now for many years and hauling most aviation-related freight -- “airport to airport,” as he puts it -- had his rig empty and set up in the conference hotel parking lot where Florida Highway Patrol inspectors demonstrated a walkaround Level 2 inspection of it for conference attendees.

The trailer was empty, that is, unless you looked a little more closely:

About dead center lengthwise on the minideck was this itty-bitty chained-down toy loader. Turned out it wasn’t just Freeman's attempt at good humor for conference attendees – and those inspectors -- but rather a long-used tool for cheering up fellow travelers along the road, among other things.

Overdrive Radio sponsor There’s more to it in the conversation with Freeman in this week's Overdrive Radio podcast, likewise the owner-operator's fortuitous find delivering a solution to a long-suffered problem for many a heavy-specialized or other open-deck hauler. "Sometimes, you just want to have a shower," he said, particularly after solving the securement puzzle on hot days. For those of you with no more than your standard sort of 70-inch sleeper, as is the case for Freeman's 122SD, listen on for an off-the-shelf (mostly) solution to that issue he's carried with him since this past December: