how long has everyone been driving here?

Learned to drive truck as a kid... So been driving as a paid job on and off for over 20 years. Everything until about 2 years ago was local/regional stuff. I finally got my CDL about 6 or 7 years ago. Which I did so I could haul cattle for my employer, and he paid me back every penny it cost to get licence and med card... All $239.00 of it... Lol

I have never attended truck driving school, never had a "trainer" as most people today think of trainers... The only trainer I ever had was my dad... For about 4 hours total, at which point he said "You'll either figure it out or crash the truck... Don't crash the truck!" So I figured it out.

I am coming up on 2 years of OTR early this winter. When I first went OTR it went like this... "Fill this cup, here are the keys, there is your truck, there is your preloaded trailer, follow that guy, who will be driving that truck. Drive safe." So I followed a guy across the country farther from home than I had ever been and delivered the load. Then the guy I followed went his way and I went mine. I had to figure the rest out on my own... So I did. Still at that company and will be for a very long time I hope.

Yeah I know it sounds like something out of the 70s... But every word is true. I'm probably one of the last people who will ever do it that way. The world today just doesnt work like that much anymore.

 

37 yrs & retired. Mostly OS, logger & 25 yrs of that teamster pipeline. It's hard to say no to $42.50/hr. But life is more important than money at some point.

 

19 years... OTR only.

 

2019 marks 30 years for me.
Made a lot of friends out here way before this internet
Getting tired physically,too many regs,overcrowded superslabs,etc
Couple more years and thats it.
The key I found for success and happiness is making many friends along the way......makes the days and weeks easier to handle.

 

25 yrs

 

11 and half years straight OTR. First company was in Nov/2007 but was there for less than one month.. it didn't work out... Restarted with a second company in April/2008 and was there for over 5 yrs. Then, went to a third company, my actual one.. Always solo, always going 48 states.... No idea when I am going to quit or do something else... No idea of what something else would be.... Don't like anything else... I love the road... But there's no freedom in trucking... specially for company drivers... there's no life in OTR... at least for me... But I have no life anyway.. other than picking up loads and delivering loads.... I live in the truck, married to the road... I have no home cause I don't want one... I am originally from Brasil, don't have any family here... and have only my old dad in Brasil that I see once every several years.... I hate the regulations, the HOS and even more the new technology being put in the trucks... But so far, I have been managing to live with it, and work with it and making good money.... Would like to buy a tractor and lease a trailer with a nice small company so to have a little bit more control of my work and my life... but not very positive I would succeed and/or make at least what I am making now....

 

You ever thought of cashing out early and going back to a rural part of Brazil, where the cost of living is cheaper than the cities of Brazil and also cheaper than the 1st world? Maybe get to know your pops a bit more before it's to late?

I myself am hoping to marry a nice European girl and start a family. If that doesn't work out and I never have a family of my own, best believe I'll bow out of the rat race early in Eastern Europe or whatever part of the world is cheap in about 2050.

 

I’ve been saying just another year since 96 and probably will for another 15 years or so lol

 

7 months into what I hope to be a long, long career (I don't pretend that I'm not young and inexperienced. But I also don't pretend that I'm an idiot, either). Doing my time at the mega I got my license through, keeping my eyes and ears open for the company I intend to spend some real time at. In the meantime, also watching and learning from the more experienced folks, asking questions when necessary...

 

35 years. I've been doing my own thing for about the last 20 . I can't believe it went by so fast .