Hello- Let me introduce myself...

I worked two jobs, days in a furniture store, nights in a factory. Had two kids one two and one five. Thought trucking would pay more and give them everything they needed. It did. A lot of trips I'd swear when I got home I was gonna quit, I missed them so bad. Then I'd get home and realize the nice house and nice things would not be there if I quit, and I'd go back up the road. Then about ten years into it my wife divorced me and for the next ten years it was run my self to death to pay child support and alimony. I retired about six months ago. Stayed till I was sixty seven. Now I've got a good wife and we spend a lot of quality time together. The last eleven years I drove, I had a job where I was home everyday and that's the difference in our lives. I don't see the kids that much though. They're good men with a good life( no trucking) I was just not there enough when they were growing up and now it's no big thing to them to be around me. Things that meant a lot when I was young don't mean much anymore. The real things in life are not the material things. Slim

 

Yeah, I know what you're talking about there. My brother and I started driving about the same time and we both stayed in it till we retired. He used to tell me a lot of times that after he started driving trucks he could walk down the street and not worry about meeting someone he owed money. What I said about the divorce, one of my sons told me one time if I had not been on the road his mom and I would not have divorced. I told him, Yeah, it would probably been a lot sooner. Besides, there's good jobs where you can be home more. The last eleven years I drove I would leave one day and come back the next, so I was home part of every day.My youngest son is a K-9 cop, but when he was young he drove for about seven years. The first couple of years he had some long hour jobs, but then he got on with Estes and ran local ( out about seven AM and back about five PM ) Don't let me discourage you. I had enough of that when I started. Back then all companies wanted big men. I was five foot eleven and about one thirty five. Even my two big burly brothers who drove thought I would never make it. Well, after thirty nine years of moving everything up and down the road from deep into Canada down to Mexico and West coast to East coast, even the five years from age fifty-five to sixty I spent everyday loading and unloading auto parts with a manual pallet jack, I guess I made it. Didn't intend to ramble, just wanted to give you a little encouragement. Slim

 

Again I must say. Most drivers live pay check to pay check as well. So you will be even more frustrated to find that out. Sometimes you have to stay out an extra week because you can't even afford to come home to take a day off. I do know that working 2 jobs is tough and being a driver you will be working about the same number of hours as you would working 2 jobs. Only difference most of your down time will be in the middle of nowhere on hard mattress waiting for your dispatcher to get their head out of their butt and get you moving. Kinda like what I'm doing now. Still not a load in sight and I won't be compensated for my time until about 6am tmrw if I still don't have a load. That's a big 40 dollars at my company.

 

B72

Thanks for keeping this thread updated and current. Good to see everything as it unfolds and/or comes together.

I sympathize with your situation. Seems the option between staying where you are and trucking is not an easy choice. Good to see your getting what sounds like good feed-back from many around here.

Good luck in what ever you decide and please keep us posted.

 

I know what you mean Brianman.... Unfortunately its like that anywhere you go. My son had his all state wrestling match the other day while I was out driving in the snow and ice! Granted it was a little more than $9.40, but not much! That same week our brand new truck broke down so we were lent a crappy rental for the week and in the midst of driving through that snowstorm I pulled off to fuel up and while fueling I noticed we had a flat drive tire! Three hours later it was fixed and from then on we were late to every single appointment! There by making us late for our back haul pickup, which in turn made us late for its delivery. Had to be rescheduled which put me working our only day off that week! Just a side note, when that happens you don't get paid! Since we weren't driving any more miles, just waiting around all day on our day off to get unloaded and I wasn't getting paid! We don't get detention pay either because it was our fault for being late, technically (due to the breakdowns and flat tire). After delivering had to go straight to Miami to pick up our next load and head straight back to Dallas for another.

Grass is always greener....