“You have a kind of temporary family with whom you have Christmas dinner,” says Ms. Fanjoy, 48. Every holiday season she hangs a stocking on the driver’s side window and on Christmas Eve she pours herself a mug of hot chocolate – a tradition she used to have. her family enjoyed driving through neighborhoods and looking at Christmas lights.
“I really can’t do that in a 75-foot vehicle,” she said with a laugh.
Not every truck driver celebrates Christmas. Rafique Smith, 33, a driver from Philadelphia, treats it like any other work day, and this year he will likely eat a simple meal like baked salmon or a tuna wrap. (For Ramadan, on the other hand, he breaks his fast at Outback Steakhouse.)
Sunny Grewal is usually more concerned with going home to Fresno, California, for Diwali, the festival of lights, celebrated every fall in India and its diaspora. For a year he was called to work during Diwali, so he had shahi paneer and naan from a local restaurant delivered to his truck.
It’s easiest not to plan too much for the holidays, said Mr Grewal, 32. There’s always a chance he’ll be asked to make a delivery, and his plans will be disrupted.
Ms. McKinney, the driver who stopped to cook in Connecticut, has a more positive outlook. She is considering starting a YouTube channel to teach people how to cook in trucks and to show that trucking can be a great way of life.
“There are so many things that we have no control over,” she said, “and to put ourselves in danger multiple times a day, there just has to be a place where I can go where I can have some peace and quiet.” ”
And what better oasis, she said, than a well-stocked, well-organized kitchen?