I want to be far away from home....

Sorry if it seems i slammed him but really, where are we going to be with kids not wanting the family farm and selling it to build houses on? are we going to walk up to a machine like on star trek and tell it you want a t bone steak, a baked potato with sour cream and carrots? then chocolate ice cream for desert? or tell the machine that you want a budwiser beer? Or maybe you want a shot of jim beam or a shot of jack daniels. With out farms we have none of the food or drinks.

 

If this statement is true.... Then trucking ain't for you! Stay on the farm! Inherit the farm! The land value alone will be much more valuable then any experience you can gain trucking.

 

I'm kind of in the same boat as you, except I am not going to inherit the whole thing. I have been working my ### off feeding cattle in the winter, and cropping and haying in the summer. Their is money in custom farming, which I do in the summer. I have a truck, and haul grain in the winter, when I'm not feeding cattle. So i am mostly limited to local work, after I get finished chores in the morning. This is my last year feeding cattle, next year i am going trucking. I have buddies in the trucking industry that tell me I'm nuts for going hauling full time. I have lined up full time work from november to april, with the option to run with this company threw the summer and fall if they are busy enough. At the very least I will keep my one good hand busy and he won't bugger off to the patch. I have been told that their is no money in trucking, well, in the last ten years in cattle I have broke even 3 years, made money 2 years and lost money the other 5. that #### mad cow in 2003 really screwed me.

My suggestion, look for a good company, work hard and go for it. If your not happy doing what your doing, their is no shame in doing something else. Their is always going to be a need for truckers. I money is no problem for you, try it if you don't like it you can always go do something else. Another way to see the country is to go on the harvest run. Custom cutters are always looking for operators, starting in may or june and depending on the crew they generally are finished up by mid october if they do cerial crops, or decemberish if they go back south for corn and beans.

 

Ask the family to hire some help for awhile and take a couple of years, sow you're oats. Just don't get trapped by the illusion. Always remember who you are, and where you come from. And always be proud of both.

Don't forget family, never turn your back on family. It may save your life some day.

I currently live in the same little town I cussed for years. Swore I would never return to this God awful, gossiping, noisy ### POS town. But, as you get older life seems to change tracks. Especially if you've lived hard and fast in your younger years. And you seek a slower pace, just like the one you detested so much when you were younger.

Besides, with Cap and Trade coming down the pipe. The land your family owns could be worth MILLIONS in annual income if planted in trees. And all you would have to do....is vacation

 

Is your property adjacent to the Big Road?
22 seems like an old man to me. How long you been missing the adventure rolling thru state after state, seeing all those other farms being tended by those boring ol stick in the muds. Imagine those guys having to lay up in the bed making babies, feeding not just the nation- but now the world also.
Being known and recognized as a durn ol pillar of the community and helping employ others, perhaps training them to participate in ecology friendly technology.
How many trips up and down the row will it take to get your million miles in with your 1/2 milllion $ equipment?

 

Yep! Never neglect your roots - that tree'll fall!

 

Baaaaaack, ooooh, Baaaaaaack!

 

at 22 lots of luck getting on with the insurance companies

 

If you already have money, use it wisely to do something else beside trucking. If you are not "hungry" as they say, you will not last six months. The money side of this game is to run your ### off. If you don't need the money, you won't be motivated and you could potentially spend more than you make in the first year. CDL School, road expenses, etc. Yes it happens depending on the company you hire on with. There are many bad low miles type companies out there waiting to abuse you. I'm lucky not to be in that situation but I still have to run like the wind to survive.

Yes trucking seems like fun and sometimes it is but most of the time it is just plain hard work, lonely and occasionally abusive. There is good in it, but it comes only after #### hard work and some thick skin.

Forget the romantic notion. It's not there. Truck stops are not what you think they are. The road is a hard life.

I don't want to discourage anyone and you won't really know until you directly experience it but it's best to talk with as many drivers as possible before making the plunge. Listen and don't talk too much. If half of what we say is true....it's a darn big half.

As for travel, well, yeah you will travel lot's of miles but you will only see what you see from the windshield. There's little to no time to explore unless you want to catch hell from your dispatcher.

Do it while your young but make a plan to get out in a few years. Long time drivers are hard core as they come and few people have the constitution for it.