Drivers lounge....

Today I was asked if I would possibly be interested in running the road, for a owner...I'd be driving their truck...so half of whatever I made, would go to them...and I think fuel is split also...

For someone who has never driven over the road, or regional...(it would really be regional)(which can almost be worse at times cause your so close to home, yet not there)...

Anyways, for those who've never lived that lifestyle, that way, the thought of earning 12 - 1,400 a week seems fabulous...

Well not for me it doesnt...and at this juncture of my life can't see myself doing it again...

People who have followed me on other threads on here have noticed, every time I try to give it 'one more shot'...my length of endurance becomes shorter and shorter and shorter...cause the love I use to have for road life, just isn't there anymore...maybe in the future It will return, but right now it's just not there...not even for $1400 a week...

The end result of all that OTR running has neted me absolutly zero...

(And no, this doesn't belong in the marriage thread, and you'll see why in a minute)...

I currently still drive, only I do so local, which is a complete and totally different experience than life on the road...

So, as I've stated all along, it's not 'trucking' itself that was a bad marriage, rather it was the conditions, and the enviornment I had to do it in...

When they approached me with this possibility of going regional OTR, if they could of only known how I felt on the inside...



It felt like them asking me to walk down this dark, cold, lonely path again...

In my mind I was like 'No'...no way...
I've changed, I'm no longer resiliant to certain things...no longer curious about seeing what's out there...at least not like that...

In a RV, yes...in a truck, where your severly limited to where you can go, no...

Now local driving...I don't mind at all...your around people, fellow employees...you get to know folks, personalities...

The best part is in the morning when everyone sit's around trading war stories from the day before...it like charges you up, and you don't feel like your in it alone...

Where as I never got that out there, or on here...and the 'deadzone' interaction on here reflects how it was out there...nothing...just long odd cooky stares...

And there's just no way I can go back to that...it would be emotional suicide...I would literally loose my sanity...

I just can't do it alone out there no more...some can, many can, but I cannot...not anymore...

And it helps, I think, if your married, or have kids, or a family waiting for you when you get home, a support system...

So to wrap this post up...not even for 1,400 a week could I see myself back out on the road, even If I were home on Saturday and Sunday...but Sunday really means 'get ready to go back to work anytime after 12 noon...

I just can't live like that anymore...
There's no 'brotherhood' out there anymore, people, drivers, as induvisuals, are more bias today than they were 10-20 years ago...

And I blame that on the advent of talk radio...drivers listen to that stuff all day, Beck, Hannity, Rush, Savage, Levin...and all it does is divide...

I blame it on that and other things...whatever the reason, I just can't immerse myself in that enviornment anymore...

I need social interaction...I just do...I need to establish relationships, see the same people everyday ect ect...

At least at this stage of my life I do...
And with local driving i can do that...and know that i'm home at the end of a productive day, to just relax and do whatever...



Right now, just that process alone, is spiritual to me...it's healing...

And I can feel the healing begining...after years of such a abnormal schedual....

Always trying to impress people who just wish you were dead...

And you think I want to immerse myself in that enviornment again??

No....

i'm happy doing what I'm doing...even if the pay isn't as good as it would be if i went otr...

Just can't do it...

Unless I fell in love with a lady who owned their own truck...but that isn't going to happen anytime soon...

Not only that...but being out on the road now...everyones gunning for you...scale houses everywhere...and I don't care how perfect you are, odds are sooner or later you'll get nailed for something...



I mean it just becomes nerve racking after a while having to cross 8-10 of these a day...or 5 or any number...knowing that they are paid and trained to find fault with you, and to basically destroy your license and or ability to earn a living...

Points on your point system ect ect...the more scales you cross, the more your odds arise of just running into a DOT officer who just doesn't like you, is having a bad day, and will take it out on you...

Being otr, it's like your just constantly being examined...agency after agency is watching you, waiting for you to mess up, so they can write a report, and submit it...and make an example out of you...

I just don't need nor want the stress right now...

Maybe if I had a brand new truck, paid for and under warranty...then maybe I could do it...

But I'd have to have satellite radio, satellite tv, fridge, computer, it would have to literally be like a home...brand new smell, everything...so that when I stopped and parked, I could totally forget I was on the road...

But again...that's not going to happen either...so my only option is to stay local...and eventually get my own truck and run local...and build from there...

To each their own...

Anyways...got other places to go and other places to write...later...

 

Hello, and know, I haven't forgotten about this thread...or the 6 million dollar thread...
I just had to back off for a minute...needed time to regroup...

I'm home daily now also...and it makes a difference in my writing patterns...

Being home daily, compared to road life, is like having 3 lives in one...

the days broken up in like 3 shifts...

Work, recreational, and rest....

Every day is almost like a weekend...and this may sound odd...but it takes some getting use too...filling up the time, contructively that is...

I never realized how much OTR effected me, my phyc...and you don't just adjust over night to being home every day between 2-5 pm...and still doing ok...

I even thought about getting a second job to fill the void...I could definatly handle it...cause activity is healthy...



When your around folks daily...it just has a different effect on you...makes you more steady...

It's like a healing process that is occuring....

From all the years I was made to feel like nothing while OTR...

Now you show up, and do your job, and do it well and do it with enthusiasm...and that right there goes a long way...people will accept you based on your performance...and they measure that performance from day to day...in a way they can't, when OTR...

I'm not sure what I'm trying to express here...other than 'dignity'...something that was missing in my life while OTR....

Maybe you'll understand that, maybe you won't...

And I'll leave it at that for now...

 

Hello, yes I'm still here...

One thing I've learned...and that is 'do not boast'...

For the future alone is for God to deciede...not me or you...

That statement may trouble Athiests...but sorry if it does...I consider it true...

I don't really need anyone...

Maybe soon, a few people will need me...

Who knows...but I tredge on...alone, and or with a few friends...

1 or 2...

talk is cheap...action speaks...

And you get to a point in your life where you want action to speak..

And if God allows me to live a few more weeks...maybe action will speak...

but until then, I will not boast...

Cause i do fear and respect God....

(Sorry Athiest)...but I do fear God...and respect his domain...and the future is his, not mine....

But that being said...we trudge on...

 

Wow, it's been a while...time to sweep the dust and cob webbs out of this place...


Yes, I'm still in trucking...I sometimes think God is trying to proove a point with me...

So maybe now I'll listen...
But if I must be stuck in this 'marriage', I may as well make it work to my advantage...and that's exactly what I've done...or am trying to do...

If someone told me a year ago, that I could have my cake and eat it to...I would not have believed them...

If someone told me a year ago that I could have my generic 9-5 schedual, you know...wake up and start between 6-8am...and be off by 2-5pm, and still earn a decent wage, I would have believed them, but would have asked 'how'?

A year ago that scenerio seemed so impossible...unless able to get on with some local tanker company...and even then your forced to work at least 10-12 hour shifts...

From this point on, I'm not 'forced' to do anything...

And to be honest with you...it really hasn't hit me yet...that's what conditioning does to you...

You become conditioned to a certain enviornment, a certain way..that finally when your chain is cut...you don't believe it, or still linger around...

Like your pet dog...if it's been chained up for years, when you finally cut the chain...it acts as if it's still chained...

And we humans tend to do the same...it's all about conditioning...
And most of us, expecially in trucking, aren't use to being 'free'....

What we're use to is getting that call on Sunday evening, while barbequeing in back yard, and told



'You have a load that picks up tonight at 6 p.m.........150 mile dead head (3 hours or so), and then delivers in Sauceville, Kentucky by 8 am...this load cannot be late...click...

Continued on next post...

 

hello...

I always post what's on me mind, before I read any comments, as to not get distracted...

But i would like to say this...

Becoming a owner will actually humble you, not make you ####y....



I'm sure by now we're all firmiluar with the scene in Star Wars, episode 4, where Luke Sky Walker shoots down his first Tie fighter...and Han Solo quickly responds with...
"Great kid, don't get ####ey!"...

Han Solo being the older, wiser one, said that for a reason....

And as a owner...####ey is the last thing you want to get or become...

As a owner...you soon learn there's a million and one things that can go wrong...that you now have to take care of...

A/C unit, tires, alignment, fuel, cracked windshield, air lines, brakes...all six wheels...fith wheel, turbo blowing out, transmission, coolant system...and the list goes on and on and on....

So taking on this responsibility tends to humble you, rather than make you more '####ey'...unless your just young and dumb I suppose...

But if done right...the rewards can be good...

I will say this...

Owner operators who chase 'miles'...arent that smart...unless they just like to drive just to drive, and have nothing better to do with their time...

Drivers love to brag about miles miles and more miles...

Drivers who brag about how many miles they get per week, totally have the wrong mindset for makeing money....

To me, miles miles and more miles, is simply exploitive...
Wears out your equiptment, tires, and takes fuel...and keeps you away from your loved ones or family or hobbies...(unless driving is the only hobby you care to have..)

A smart driver could care the less about miles, and focuses more on getting paid money for the shortest distance traveled, and the least wear and tear on equiptment...

Endless miles are for owners who I guess have nothing better to do with their time or life...

Not being ####ey...just trying to open some eyes to those invisible readers who take notes...

You get more bang for your buck if you can earn...hypathetically $200.00 on a 20 mile round trip...verses earning that on a 500 mile run....

$200.00...20 miles...now what if you could do 2-3 of those in one day...and still be home for dinner, and to feed the cat...

Many drivers have been shown the wrong model for success...and is why many fail...and complain and say...'Oh owner operators can't make any money'...

False...what they really mean to say is 'I can't, couldn't make any money'...cause they were shown the wrong model of success...

And all i'm saying is endless miles, just for the sake of miles...is a waste of your time...and simply wears out your equiptment...

Business men get ahead in life...truckers just eat at truck stops...

That's all I'm saying...

And that concludes this post...

 

Wow...like everyone else...I've gotta get use to this different format...it's been like 3 weeks since I last chimned in on here...
Hope everyones doing fine...if anyone even remembers who I am...

This place use to be my main stop...
I've been through a lot on this forum...on here, and in me personal life...evolution I suppose...a natural process...hopefully for the better...

I'm a owner now...no longer a company driver...and there's a learning curb...a big one...
There's things you gotta do right, if you want to succeed...
The main thing is to save, and don't spend like a wild soul...save at first...always have enough to cover your worst expence...which would be your engine going out...
Second worst expense would be your transmission going out...

Having break down money set aside will help give you more peace of mind...

Once your an owner...you can take it as high as you want...or just stay a owner with one truck...it's up to you, your needs, your drive....

I've been reading a lot lately about the over all logistics cycle...and trucking, the trucker, is just a very small part of the over all process...
Truckers basically get the crumbs of pay, after everyone else has already taken their cut...from brokers to carriers, to freight forwarders...to DOT...even to mechanic...
Everyones taking their cut...and the actual driver, trucker...gets the crumbs at the very end of the process...kind of sad...

At this point...I'm not sure where I want to take it...if I want to build on trucking, and start a small 'carrier'...
Or if I want to get my DOT number, and MC number...(same thing as a carrier basically, cause it allows you to deal directly with shippers)....

Trucking, or logistics, is no joke...you could go to college for 2 years for the non-driving side of logistics...there's a lot to know, many regulations, terms, fees...

But it can be done...

To me your really not successful or comfortable, until your income is self generating...
In other words income that's dependent soley on your labor, is totally unreliable...expecially if your single...for what happens if you get injured?...the money stops...

And it's a lot easier to spend money than it is to earn it...
You can easily spend in a day, what you earned in 2 weeks...

Also, I'm local now...city driver...and it feels so so good...to earn the same, and be home daily...often times off before 2 pm...it's nice, expecially if you have other things going on...
It allows you to have a life...
It's an adjustment though...that's for sure...cause as a otr driver, your really not use to hanging out after work...going bowling or playing golf or going to a concert or skating or going to the museum ect ect..
Your just not use to that...or going to a ball game, or yoga classes or night school...your just not use to having time, a life, after work when you've done otr for so long...

So even though I'm local now...I find my mindset is still often OTR...and I've gotta break from that...in that when your off work, you just want to sleep and or be left alone...
OTR teaches you to be selfish with your time...cause your only home for a few days, and out for weeks...

Anyhow...still getting use to this new forum look...so I'll keep this post 'light'...
Hey, it's Saturday...be happy...later...

 

Days like this are why I'm so thrilled, glad, happy, to be a owner and local...
As a result...Sundays no longer have that 'bite'...that return to work bite...
No alarm clock needed...I go to work when I wake up...not when someone tells me to...

Are all my problems in the world solved now?...heck no!...but it helps when you have freedom of schedual to be able to deal with things as they arise...
Instead of being gone for weeks at a time...away...

It's nice interacting with folks on a daily basis, getting to know folks, building relationships, repor ect ect...
It's hard to do that when you only see folks once a month while OTR...

And miles miles miles are totally exploitive....a driver who seeks after miles miles miles...is basically lost....

Expecially when I can earn the same in 10 miles cross town, what most OTR guys/gals, have to drive 500 miles to earn...

Listen to me...miles = exploitation...your being ripped off of your time...your life...your energy...which you have a limited amount of....

Miles = exploitation.....




Unless you just have nothing else better to do with your time or life...

Anyways...happy Sunday...the Ghostchildd continues to roll on...despite the odds, and haters...and doubters...