Iowa 80

What surprised you about this reading?
The main thing that surprised me was how it was called a "modern trucking village" and that's just what it was. It has everything from restaurants, a shopping mall, a hair salon, a movie theater, and an exercise room. The truck stop is advertised as "the largest Amoco truck stop in the world" taking up over 50 acres. The size and amenities of it all just really surprised me; not what I was expecting.
What intrigued you about this reading?
What really intrigued me was how much effort and time goes into trucking. I had no past knowledge on this so I found it very interesting. The whole concept of the logbooks also was interesting. The truckers have to cheat on them in some way to get paid what they know they should be getting paid. And in the paper they mention how logbooks may be computerized soon. Since this was written in the 90's I'm wondering if they are computerized now.
What disturbed you about this reading?
It really disturbed me how the truckers get paid by the mile. I believe they should get paid by the hour, not only when their truck is moving. In the paper they talk about how it could take 8 hours to unload the truck, and during that time the truck isn't moving so no money being made. It seems very unfair. I also didn't like how the truckers were so wary of him and kept calling him a "spotter". I guess I'm just used to people being more open hearted and not so guarded.