I am sure there are some really deep answers to this questions and some very basic ones.... but I really want to know....

What makes a man or woman CHOOSE to go out on the road with all the traffic and bad truck stops and sleeping wherever, whenever OVER being home and being with their families and attending family or childrens' events?
Some of the drivers on here sound very dedicated to their families. What makes you want to spend so much time away from them? Do you talk to them often? What makes wives/gf's/husbands willing to take on the role of running the entire family so that their spouse can head out on the highway?
Everything I have read on here indicates a rough, hard life out there with a lot of downs vs ups.... loneliness, bad food, idiot drivers ...
I've always wondered..... and would appreciate your insight.

There are many reasons, but for many with kids, it's for the money. They make the sacrifice for their family, so they can enjoy a better lifestyle. After all the union jobs are gone and competition for higher paying jobs is fierce. If you don't have a lot of education (sometimes even if you do) or specific skills (sometimes even if you do), you don't have a lot of options. Think of it this way: If you work for WalMart at $10/hr. That's $20K a year, so then you aso have to work a second job. So you work another 25 hrs/wk at McDonalds for $7/hr and bring in another $9K/yr. If you do that you are only making less than $30K a year and the only time you spend at home is sleeping. No quality time at all. If you work as a trucker, you are making $40K-60K/yr and providing a better life for your kids. The time you do have at home is quality time and you appreciate the family more.

Ask yourself this: Why do people make careers in the military? They are gone for long periods, shot at, blown up, etc.

The simple answer is sacrafice for your family and others.

back in the day when i started this it was about the money. today i feel it is more for the love of the road. i did my otr time and will never do it again. i paid my dues and look back and i had some good times but i prefer being home everyday now and have become very used to taking a daily shower and eating out of my fridge and walking to the bathroom in boxers in the middle of the night and not getting dressed in the morning just to shower. the way the H.O.S are changing i don't see how people are gonna make money anymore. i make more being at home everyday than i would out there.

For starters money.

Now days, it amounts to the same thing. MONEY

Truth be known, I would probably be homeless if it weren't for trucking. I have little Patience for idiots and over bearing/abusive management types. And none for total idiots.

The ability to work without direct/constant supervision.

I'm home more often now, than in the past. But, I still have the ability to request EVEN more time off. Very few industries allow that to happen, at ANY level.

What other job will allow me to have 2 weeks during the summer, the first 7 days of Bow Season, the first 3 days of gun season, and 2 weeks off during Christmas and New Years?????..........Name one !!!!

Oh...and did I mention shopping with family, spending....money

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I'm gonna kill the next SOB who tells me I look stressed out.

--Unknown

It's called...."Driving your life away syndrome"

That's why men and women do this job. They love it! Couldn't picture themselves doing anything else in life.

Most of the truck driver families that I know are willing and accepting of the job and are strong by nature. Very independent people and know how to get along and work situations out at home alone.

We cope and endure just like everyone else in life.

There's alot of truck drivers that don't much care for being away from home but, they do it knowing that they have their families blessings and can go and run the ROAD, put the miles in, and make the money.

It's a TEAM effort!

It's a lifestyle that works for me and mine and we would not have it any other way.
GOD BLESS our TRUCK DRIVERS!

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The Truckers Report Merchandise

I spent many years fighting my natural sleep/wake patterns to work a 'normal' job. The jobs weren't bad -- never really hated any job I had -- but the routine of it -- wake up, go to work, work all day, make myself go to sleep then do it all again was what I hated. While I was out of work for a short time, I realized that my normal sleep/wake pattern was going to bed rather late (or early in the morning if you prefer), sleeping 5-6 hours and staying up for about 16-17 hours until I get sleepy enough to go to sleep. When I started driving, it took me no time at all to adjust to the sleep wake pattern -- it was much better suited to me than all of the 'normal' jobs I ever had. So, me and my college degree, all of my experience in the world of stocks and bonds and my talent for promotions are blissfully happy driving 80,000 lbs down the road for hours on end, even with the traffic and being away from home and missing events. BTW, my only son started college this week, my co-driver and I put our stuff in storage and we are technically 'homeless' since we live in our truck. I guess this just goes to prove the old saying " to each his own". While I am happy living the 'trucker' lifestyle, someone else would find it to be unbearable. While millions of people find 'normal' jobs make them happy, I find them unbearable. To Each His Own

I've always had what a friend called a wandering jones, I hear the hear the wild geese calling and I have to follow them, trucking is merely a way to do it where they pay me for my addiction.

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The road goes on forever and its all marked -Under construction, fines double

Its hard to explain what makes a truck driver tick, and probably harder for the non-driver to understand. But be glad that plenty of guys do, so the rest of us can enjoy the things they haul.

It truly is just like the song says "jammin gears has gotta be a fever".
One week off the road is about all I can stand before I wanna start jammin some gears and feel the massive torque of a big CAT pulling over a mountain. It gets in your body and stays.

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Simply put, it's an addiction! I can't go with mine, because of the company he is with... I'm working on getting my CDL and going anyways! It's in the blood for some of us!

Bonnie

ISITPOSSIBLE, I agree with everyone that has posted here, but let me give you some insight on myself, I worked in factories for 5 years making barely 30K and to raise a family on that was not the best thing to do... So what I did was start looking into trucking companies and for a company driver they pay upwards to the 40-50K a year, and that helped with the family financies, but Like it was posted when I would get home my family would greet me with open arms, and the time together would be that much better because we all knew I had to leave again, now let me tell you when you have a little one crying her eyes out because you have to leave it tears at your heart... But you know if it wasn't for that truck out there your family would be struggling. Now I have been trucking for 10 years now, I have went through two divorces but that is another story, and I am currently working in Iraq behind a desk... When people ask me what I am going to do when I return to the states, I simply tell them I am going back to drive my truck.... Simply put the road can be called an addiction, I call it a adventure, you never know what is going to be around the next bend, But best of all I have an office with a view, a view of america, the good and the bad, I have seen some of the prettiest sunsets while traveling throught the Rockie mountains, and I have set at dock and watch the sunrise to shed light on the world that we all know... The things I have seen will never cease to wonder me.... I know I have been rambling and a few of my friends here will agree. Trucking isn't for everyone, but if it is for you and you get it in your blood, to do anything else seems unnatural... I hope that helped.