Beginning to get desperate, could use help/advice.

Driving is the most dangerous thing that most people do in their life, besides getting married. Because driving is so common, people become comfortable with the risk. The most common accident type is rear-end collision. This is usually caused by driving too fast for conditions in addition to not paying attention. If you drive at the appropriate speed, going with the flow is swimming with the sharks, and leave plenty of following distance and don't drive while impaired your risk is below that of other drivers. In a commercial truck, the driver is usually killed when leaving the roadway and./or hitting some stationary object like a tree, building, or bridge support. A semi-truck being hit by a 4-wheeler is ALMOST always non-fatal for the truck driver. The mass of the truck means the forces from the collision act on a much larger mass, so they are less severe on the truck. The 4-wheelers drive like they are invulnerable and immortal, and getting paid to screw with their phone. As long as you keep your truck on the road, your biggest risk is bad diet and lack of exercise.

 

--Lual

 

@buddha_ --

Do keep us posted....wherever you finally wind up.

Bottom line--if you can show a carrier that hires rookies where you already have your CDL-A, plus those endorsements, plus a TWIC...& (bonus points) a passport--you distinguish yourself considerably from the rest of the "herd" of new applicants.

You have thus shown to the carrier in qtn that you have been scrubbed & vetted by the Feds--and...by having all the above...your are apparently pretty serious about being a driving professional.

All that makes getting in the door much easier.

--Lual

 

Almost everyone puts on weight when they start OTR. Your sleep schedule is disrupted, the schedule means you will often eat your biggest meal just before going to bed, and bad food choices are everywhere. The diner type restaurants are few and far between, but fast-food is at EVERY truck stop. The stress of traffic and the disrupted sleep combine to both make you crave bad food and store more of that food as fat. Your physical activity driving is just barely more than sitting on the couch all day. Lots of people eat on a clock schedule. In trucking it's easy to eat on a clock schedule AND for emotional/psychological reasons like feeling lonely or stressed or not knowing if you can eat later. It takes lots of discipline to recognize those factors and prevent them from wrecking your health. Trucking is statistically one of the more dangerous jobs, what kills most drivers are heart attacks, stroke, diabetes-related problems. At other jobs there is a 2/3 chance a heart attack would happen away from work. In OTR trucking, you are in the truck 24/7. If it happens it is going to be on the job. That skews the numbers. Drink as much water as possible, limit yourself to one coffee per day, and eat to avoid starvation, not like you are at home. Most truck stops have healthy food available, but you have to go find it. The unhealthy food is everywhere.

I've gained weight, but my solution was to use a cooler and eat as much as possible from the food I brought with me or bought in a grocery store/walmart as much as possible. My first 3 years OTR I ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner from my groceries until Friday on the way home. Then I would allow myself one fast food meal, as my groceries were gone. Of course I had to wait until I got my own truck. I couldn't bring a cooler, and suitcase, etc riding in a trainer's truck. There are ways to deal with all of the issues that happen in trucking. I felt the more of my day/life/routine I could control the better I could deal with the routine surprises, like customer delays. My dad was a great source of info and helped me to pick companies and get through the tough parts very early. But, sometimes it seemed he also felt like he was entitled to a full meal in a sit-down restaurant, served by a waitress for every meal. I didn't have the money, time, or courage to eat like that. I got bubble-guts or worse about 75% of the time I splurged and ate at a truck stop diner restaurant. The point being there is a solution for every problem.

 

Almost every truck stop chain and location will have healthy food options. Loves, Pilots/Flying J are the best and TA is usually the worst. It may be a cup of raw veggies, a salad in a box, etc.

Walking shoes take up a lot less space than a bike, but whatever exercise you can keep motivated doing is worth the sacrifice to bring it.