Do you like/love?

I set goals for myself and wanted to haul gasoline because of the money and benefits. I've now retired from that and wouldn't want to do any other type of trucking and I've done OTR.LTL,flatbeds,doubles,and triples. I loved my job because everyday was different and I got to meet alot of different people. Of course with that comes alot of crazy stories because people will do just about anything at a gas station. But I've retired early with great retirement benefits because I'm the type that works to live and not lives to work.

 

What if I love to hate my job? Some need to hate something or somebody, just like Kris Kristofferson said.

 

Driving has always given me a sense of freedom. I am truly at peace with myself while behind the wheel.

I like my current job and the pay is adequate. Of course I would like to make more money for the work I do but that will come in time. I am patient and consistent in the things I choose to do.

Sometimes I am amazed that I actually get paid to drive around! So yes, I guess you can say I do in Fact LOVE what I do.

 

I fall into this category....and also as Kris said "Help yourself to me"

 

This is my second go-round in the trucking game and my love/hate relationship has changed with my changing as a person. My first go-round was in the 1970's and I learned to hate trucking real quick. I let myself (young & stupid) be pushed around by dispatch and drove illegal all the time, speeding, overweight, dodging scales...4000+ miles a week for six years. This "drove" me (isn't it funny how something so negative got me to go to school and make a new profession?) to college and that led to a 20 year career as a department chairman in forestry at a local college. Now, after retirement from that job (effective next week) I have been back to driving trucks (since last October) and I really, I mean really, love it. I drive nights across the Sierra Nevada on back roads...driving new equipment and I drive the speed limit at a maximum. No more looking over my shoulder for bears, no worries. I listen to my iPod played through the radio (if you have an iPod and don't know about Drive+Play PM me...) of books, podcasted radio shows (no-ads) and American history lectures. I love the solitude, the challenges, the immediate sense of achievement of a job well-done and done completely legally. My first day off I am wasted...but then I can't wait to go the next time! I wish every trucker could enjoy his/her job as much as I do. I hope I can do this until I can't pass the physical anymore...not for the money (if it gets to doing it for the money alone, I'll quit), but for the love of it!

 

Neal, it's cool to read that sort of thing here. I remember when I drove I had those sort of days. Those days would go something like this:
1. Monday would be a holiday, such as July 4th. The weekend would be four days, as my company's insiders worked bankers' hours.
2. I'd pick up a 2200-mile run on the Thursday before it all started.
3. I'd be scheduled to deliver the following Tuesday.
4. I'd turn my alarm clock off and drive, drive, drive...No boss. No phone calls. No scales. Nothing.

Good times.

 

EXCELLENT POST.....I've had several go rounds with it too and everytime I think I'll never do it again,along comes a Largecar with my name on it and away I go,talkin' the talk and walkin' the walk.

 

Because I like to do what I love to do --- that I don't hate.