Negativities. People trying to talk me out of driving a truck.

About 2 years ago I had the son of a very close friend ask me about trucking. However, he wanted me to give him the bad parts of the story. The actual words were "tell me the truth". I did. He still went to a school got his CDL and seems to be happy today driving for Crete. As with any job, there are negatives about this one. Just looking at the high turnover rates should cause anybody to look at trucking with sober eyes. I do hope you find what it is you are looking for as a driver.

 

There have been times Ive crossed Sandstone on the way home and run into people wrecked among the rocks (I-64 VA I believe) anyway, in those days you tried to help them a little bit that mountain is pretty far from any help which will get there eventually. (Golden hour rule)

Shook it off get home later and settle at the dinner table. Family asks how are things to me and I say well... 2 did not make it this morning back in WVa-VA and three were hurt pretty bad. IS that the question you were looking to ask me?

Silence the rest of the dinner hour.

I had friends in the area at home who understood trucking because they did it also. And they proved to be really good in many ways when some days I show up like a old woman at their home for a Friday night or whatever. They usually cleared that out right quick. They are friends to this day even if a few of them have passed on. Those are the ones you want. No one else not involved in the actual doing of this industry is really capable of understanding.

In the end, it takes a special person to be out here doing this. Not everyone is going to do it. Or should. And not everyone is going to retire from trucking at 65 because some were killed, disabled or prison etc. Who knows. It's a journey in life. None of that micromanaging 9-5 crap in a office roiling with politics and god only knows what else. Ultimately prior to 9-11 it was a great form of Freedom. You had the entire USA as your oyster. Most people do not get out of even one county.

 

All my life, people have told me I can’t do this. Can’t do that. They don’t do. They just tear others down. Noticed the better I’m doing. The heavier the BS blah blah is coming out of them. No negativity? I must not be doing something right!

 

Amen!

 

I would love to see a total shutdown. Nothing moving. Not even gas to power those ignorant little Honda's that make life miserable for drivers. Fix some issues with regulations, give drivers more input with rulemaking. Largest thing is kicking people out of the food chain that add nothing back. Get drivers paid for their labor and time.

These things have been the topics in truckstops and CB chatter for decades now. I have a serious doubt it will ever come close to happening. The only real way to stop it is to stop the fuel flow coming out of the refineries. Good luck with that.

 

Two negatives equal a positive.

 

The shutdown won't happen. 3,500,000 drivers won't shut down because a few want them to. Even many saying they will shut down, are just all talk and no action; CB Rambo's.

 

One thing I do know and I'm not a trucker...yet, is you can easily line up dates via the web prior to arriving wherever you might stop. With all the dating sites and apps etc. It would just be finding a place to park your truck, shower and hit an uber to meet your date. Piece of cake. My friend was a trucker and he had girlfriends scattered all about the country. LOL. Not serious ones, but women he went on dates with as he rolled through town.

 

Everyone thinks they are an expert on others lives. I get this all the time. That’s why I have a few friends and don’t talk to my family. I am leaving a very lucrative industry and coming back to OTR tomorrow. The people around me have tried to beat me down over this decision. Not one of them knows anything about trucking or even knows a trucker, but they sure know what’s “best” for me. Hell, they witnessed the ups and downs of my old jobs but insist I continue down that bumpy road.