KLLM drop yards

Either the Dallas yard or the Jackson yard would be probably be the closest, but there are plenty of customers closer that you could drop a trailer in. I think the medical was 85 a week, 10 for dental, 5 for vision for both of us; something close to that amount. Hometime during training, my hubby didn't get any but I don't know if there is a policy about it.

 

leannamarie is correct, that Jackson and Dallas are probably the closest. Many customers will allow you to drop your trailer for hometime. I have a friend who has a big gravel lot about 100 yards from my driveway. He lets' me drop my trailer there on hometime. Some truck stops, businesses, even churches will let you drop your trailer for a few days. As for hometime in training, you can probably forget that. My training time, with orientation, 6 weeks on the road, then getting my upgrade, my truck assignment and a load going home was a couple of days short of 2 months. I never even got within 100 miles of my house. The training time is when they see what you're made of. I have heard of some guys getting homesick and getting off at a truck stop and not getting back on.
If you can't stay out for that time, you probably wont want to stay out for 3 or 4 weeks when you go solo. You are in training and learning to be a long haul/ OTR driver. I find that after being out, for that 2 months, it's easier for me to be out 4 to 5 weeks before hometime.
Now, that being said, I do occassionally get a chance to do a fly by while I'm out on my 4 to 5 weeks. I have been close to the house and done my 10 hour break at home or even a 34 hour restart. Sometimes, I just call to see if my wife is at home, and stop for 30 minutes or an hour, grab a shower and a meal (or whatever) and off I go. I promise that it does get easier as you go out. Sure, you miss home and the wife and kids or in my case the dogs, but it does take some adjustment. The key is having a good wife at home, whom you trust to hold down the fort while you're gone. That is something I do have.

 

Do they have alot of customers in the Nashville area? I live in an industrial area just south Nashville, plenty of places with big truck parking.

 

-newbiewannadoitright how is the trucking life coming along? Also whats the main areas you run??? Do you still have the same truck?? It's going to be another year until I come out onto the road I'm trying to finish college first. What fuel stops are you using. Also how are the miles?

 

It really depends on where you live and how far away you are from customers. Officially, you can take the truck home if you live at least 150 miles away, but when we moved they stopped letting my hubby take the truck home because we were too far away.

 

Leannamarrie,

I'm confused by this statement "but when we moved they stopped letting my hubby take the truck home because we were too far away."
I would think farther away would mean you could take the truck home, because you farther from the terminal?

 

Yeah, it was kinda weird. The rule used to be 100 miles, and we lived 108 miles. He dropped his trailer and bobtailed home no problem. At the same time that we moved 230 miles away from the nearest dropyard, the rules changed to 150 miles. But they told him that he lived too far away to take the truck home because that would be too long of a deadhead. It was a big pain to not be able to take the truck home anymore.

 

Well, I just finished hometime. Started in La., now sitting in Detroit. I've run just about every state in the country so far, with exception of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. I have been in or passed through every other state in the Union at one time or another since I started training and now solo. You will cover some ground. I guess if I had to say the most frequent areas I run are from Mississippi and Alabama to Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, and from Texas to California or Pennsylvania so far.