Good morning all. Well does trucking get any better once you get your own truck? I am still training OTR with Werner, and my first half of training wasnt exactly a joy ride. The job I love but the lifestyle I did not.

I was put in with a male trainer and I guess you could call him a "cowboy" he ran prety hard and covered about 5,000-5,500 miles a week. Again, that didnt bother me, but what did bother me was anytime I needed to stop for a bathroom break it seemed like he was irritated with me (I am constantly sipping on bottle water so needless to say bout every 3-4 hours is was time to stop, lol). Mornings were bad too, first thing I have to do in the a.m. is stop, and sometimes I was stuck waiting for one and a half hours. And it really bothered me that we would only stop once a week for showers, I thought I could handle it since he told me all of this in the beginning. But its was a different story hearing it, then actually living it.

This second round I will have a different trainer and I think I will lay down some ground rules or I wont train with them.... but this first experience has me nervous to if I going to be able to handle driving and only getting home on weekends. So does it get better once you gt your own truck??

Another thing I am having problems with, I realize there will be some night driving, but I just cant handle driving much later then 12pm-2am, my body just shuts down. How much night driving do you have to do??

only thing that will get better is you won't have to deal with the slob of a trainer. You still will have to run, we don't just drive around sight seeing you know. Sound to me like most of your problems are with not having control to do what you need to do and that will et better when you are on your own to a point. You won't be able to make a living and make your appointments if you are toping every hour. Werner uses elctronic logs so once you stop the truck it logs you as stoped and if you hit your 14 before your 11 is up you won't make it very far in this industry.
ANd most importantly. If you can't handle only getting home on weekends then get out now. Most people in this industry wold KILL to "just" get home on the weekends. try 3 or 4 weeks on the road and see how you like things

Where I work it's all night driving!

Our drivers go out at night and sleep during the day.

There are alot of companies that have this schedule.


It took me a long time to get used to this shift.

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I worked a 2nd/3rd shift split for the last 7 years too.

The worst part I find with otr driving is that one day you may be driving days and two days later you are driving at night. One reason is the co making th appointments too tight and another reason is that if you are out for long enough the hours of service slowly rotate your driving hours unless you use your 14 every day and that's no way to make a living

Well like I said, I dont mind the driving, I can drive the 11 hours no problem. I guess like MedicineMan said I just dont like having control of being able to stop when I need to.

The last week of training with my trainer I was driving all nights, once in a while I can handle, but not all the time. Also, with this trainer we were drop and hook, so I am nervous as to how the Appointment routes will go. Well guess I will find out sooner or later.

Honey you'd better get tough quick. It is no peice of cake and there is no glamor. At least these days there are showers for women....I remember when that was not the case......we hauled bulk feeding ingredients in hopper bottom trailers that sometimes took several hours to get off. One time it took 8 hr. to get a load of fish meal off and we had to be down the road to get our next load.... we did get a shower in the men's locker room and I have no idea what the green and blackish stuff was that was growing all over the wooden slat floors but it makes me shudder thinking about it, but that was the better option of smelling like hot sweaty fish meal. We were not up against elec logs and many don't have them now, he was being shall we say not so nice.... and that served to benifit no one but his ego and it is sad that he was that pathetic that the only way he could feel good about himself was to be the backside of an animal.

Once you get your own truck, you will have a lot more control over your schedule. You will still be at the mercy of dispatchers, shippers, and consignees, but you will be Mistress and Commander of your own little world inside the truck. To be successful, you will have to work hard. In the beginning this may seem overwhelming, but as time goes on you will learn what works for you. Just remember that the anxiety you feel now is normal, and has been shared by just about every driver out here.

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Thanks everyone. I know it will get better, I just have to convince myself of that.

I just got done with my PTO, so I have a better look on things after stepping out for a week.

There is absolutely no reason not to shower every two to three days. It only takes 15 mins if you rush. Stopping to pee every four hours, too, is reasonable - just don't dally.

You'll probably have to do some night driving, most seem to, but hopefully not all night driving.

I agree - he was a pig not letting you shower and being annoyed at you having to stop for two minutes to pee every four hours. More often than that WOULD be a bit much but every four hours is not unreasonable IMO.

myminpins is sooo right. If he was only letting you shower once a week, how often was he showering? How could you stand it? Peeee-you!

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