Why did you decide to become a trucker ?

After I got out of the Army, I decided to go to college.
I have a good mind when it comes to numbers and dealing with a variety of personalities.
Studied business and went into retail management.
After 25 years I got tired of dealing with the politics.
California changed the rules so much, it made it almost impossible to do my job.
Decided to try something different.
Got my CDL, started driving.
Absolutely love it. Been on the road 14 years, have over 2 million miles under my belt.
I keep asking myself, why I didn't do this a long time ago.
I get a chance to see this great country, meet a lot of interesting people, get to try a variety of great foods, and I get paid for traveling.
My dispatchers leave me alone.
They tell me where to load and unload, and they leave the rest up to me, which is the way I like it.
This job can be great and very rewarding or it can be a royal pain in the backside, it is all what you make it.
I am one that chooses to enjoy the ride.

 

I was a yard jockey at a big DC and enjoyed it so much that I decided to get my CDL and give driving a try. Since I didn't know if it'd work out, I made a promise to myself to invest as little as possible into it. I went through truck driving school on a grant and went to work. Now, I'm closing in on 10 years and 1 million miles. Trucking has been good to me.

 

I'm very free spirited girl....it just went with my personality, and I figured why not, I'm very adventurous and like to walk on my wild side now n then....lol...

 

I don't get along with the general public. School wasn't for me and I felt like I've always been a good driver so why not drive something bigger. Always been around the industry so I said screw it, took a breath and here I am. I love it.

 

Do you have any hearing at all, with or without a hearing aid?

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

Respectfully speaking, if every stripper working in strip clubs was told "NO OPENINGS", chances are that their lives would have been much better, happier, and a LOT LESS DANGEROUS.

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

I worked in an office years ago as a clerk. The "office politics" was enough to choke a horse, not to mention, "very disgusting". I kid you not.

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

Born three months early in the 60's Incubator brought me up from 500 grams to 4 pounds. I should be dead but Im here. Hearing aids started at 7 when a doctor realized nothing wrong with my mental health. They were shipping kids to become wards of the state in insitutions as deaf mutes and not educating them.

Columbia school for the Deaf was a matter of state law in the 70's that was my ticket to freedom with knowledge. Then after years of being told to go out and do what I think I should do in life despite discrimination I went into trucking. Deaf people do not get to do the things Ive done. But Im pretty sure I proved them wrong.

At the same time I had to spend time in with the hearing world as well. So Im in both worlds. In my area, I try to lead by example because here in the south, the deaf still should not do things most people do. They stay home sheltered. That is no way to live.

For every one of me that escaped the system, there is about a thousand who did not, cannot and probably lived out their lives in a careful structured workshop and kept out of trouble in group state homes. So I Keep them in mind.

One word. Freedom. Everything else is ########.

 

I thought that 35+ years ago but today? Not so much . . . Too many hours, traffic, and regulations!! In a way driving LOCAL, home every night is worse because if one attempts to have a LIFE away from "trucks & trucking" exhaustion sets in quick!! 13 hours "ON DUTY" becomes a joke when struggling with traffic and jobsites oftimes more than 11 hours "DRIVING" everyday . . . With half hour commute each way sometimes just parking, eating out and rolling into a bunk seems APPEALING, with nothing else to do??

 

It's about the only career you can start after age 55 and not have to climb an income ladder.