I have enormous respect for OTR truckers. Here's why:
In 2004, I drove a 24' ex-Uhaul moving truck from California to Minnesota when we moved. I bought it from UHaul. It was a 1986 Chevy truck, built for UHaul on what I later learned was a school bus chassis. Five-speed manual transmission with a granny gear as 1st. it had 186,000 miles on the odometer.
I loaded it top to bottom and front to back in California, and then took it to the scales. It was 400 lb. below the 18,000 lb GVW. I had a long drive ahead of me, and the truck was maxed out, load-wise. Before loading it, I had taken it to a truck garage to be checked out. They did about $600 of work on it, and the shop said it would make the 2500 mile trip OK if I took it fairly easy.
We took six days to drive from CA to MN on I-40 to I-35. Now, I've driven that route before in a car, but I had no idea how many uphill grades there were. That old UHaul was way under-powered for that load, so any grade meant dropping into 4th gear and barely holding 45 MPH. Sometimes, I had to drop down to 3rd gear and 35 MPH.
I can't tell you how many times I was using a ramp to get on the Interstate and had a trucker back off and block traffic for me and give me space to accelerate onto the interstate. My wife was driving a minivan following me, and she ran interference for me for lane changes I had to make. I'd hit the turn signal and wait until she made the change behind me and blocked traffic for me. But it was the big rigs that slowed down for me that made it possible to enter the Interstate safely.
Anyhow, it was a slow trip, and hot, since it was late June. The truck kept wanting to overheat. The temperature gauge didn't work, but I could hear the electric radiator fan kicking in fairly frequently on upgrades. The AC in the truck didn't work, either, so it was like 120 degrees in the cab. I drank through two cases of bottled water on the trip. Finally, outside of Amarillo, I pulled into a "No Services" rest area. I decided that I'd get better cooling if I removed the AC condenser from in front of the radiator, so I rolled up the back door to access my tools, and was up working on that job.
A trucker saw the truck's front end raised up and pulled in behind me and walked over to check on me. I explained what I was doing and why. He said, "Well that ought to work." So, I pulled the condenser while we chatted. My wife was sitting in the minivan with her AC going. Anyhow, I finished up, put the tools away and jammed the condenser in the back of the truck.
The guy who had stopped said something uncomplimentary about under-powered UHaul trucks and said, "I'll run behind you for a ways. If you think your little truck is doing OK after about 10 miles, flash me, and I'll go on past you. By the way, nice job of loading in the back there." I thanked him profusely, and flashed him a few miles down the road and he rumbled past.
He didn't have to stop to check on my hood-up little truck, but he did. Those other trucks didn't have to give me space to merge onto the Interstate, but they did. I appreciated all that very much. I wasn't even driving a real truck. Just a pretend truck. Nice guys.
We stored our stuff in the truck until we found a house to buy in Minnesota. Then, I sold the truck to someone else who was planning a move. Before then, though, I took it to a shop and had them replace the power steering pump and steering gear, which was leaking. I didn't get all of my money back on the truck, but buying that UHaul ended up saving us quite a bit on the move.
So, to all those truckers out there - Thanks for keeping things moving and thanks for the help!
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that we use a lot. the big trucks almost always change lanes if they are clear to let us on. regular vehicles almost never do, even if they are totally clear - front, back, and side. they are the same assholes who won't move over for brake-downs or traffic stops.
you want to see truck driving skill and courtesy (and experience real fear), drive mountain roads in Mexico 
and then there are a couple more that got installed when one of the natural gas lines went in, so we actually have 4 on the ranch plus two interchanges. this place has seen a lot of "progress" over the years. with the traffic so reduced right now it is almost like a calm residential street, except most of the vehicles are big trucks. I bet they are kind of enjoying the decrease in car traffic. of course it seems like most of the cars still out there are some of the biggest idiots so that may balance out the over all reduction.
a funny thing about ranching with an interstate is if an animal gets out, law enforcement has no problem with me driving like a loon - cruising the emergency lane or crossing the median to turn around, but if I just want to take a short cut to get to my eastbound gate from the westbound lane I will get a ticket from the same patrolman. 
no functional frontage roads for much of that. when there is a blockage like a wreck or dust storm traffic really backs up.
I can think of about a dozen access gates between Willcox and Tucson, just because that is my normal driving section.
if you recall the stretch through Texas Canyon (hint: big rocks and the Thing? Mystery of the Desert 
) you could have honked or waved. 
