Newbies why In The World Do You Want To Be A Trucker

I am still with a trainer. I got into this for a few reasons. 1) I love to be alone and not have people looki g over my shoulder. (Obviously you have dispatchers, dot, etc.) But no one to tell me I can or cant use the restroom if I need to I just stop. As long as you get there on time and safely no cares if you listen to the radio. 2) To see the country. I knew goi g in wouldnt be like vacation. I have gone on runs with my uncle as a teen. I knew what I was getting into. 3) To me there is something romantic about waking up in a different place every night, meeting different people. Seeing the sun rise and set. Seeing things few have or ever will get to see. 3) Im not stuck in some office building with some punk college grad as my boss because be has a business degree and mine is in english. 4) While job is same pixk up drop off, logs, set tandems, etc. It is a different adventure everyday. 5) Because I love big ##### trucks.

 

This is a good and thought provoking thread.. I will jump in..

When I was a little girl I was fascinated and drawn to two types of vehicles.. motorcycles and big rigs..I had one neighbor who had motorcycles and I just loved them.. started riding mini bikes, then dirt bikes and now street bikes.. I have been coast to coast and many miles on a bike.. I ride in the rain.. and I would rather be cold on my bike then warm in my car..

I love big rigs just as much... When I was young.. like 9 or 10 and we would take the family trip.. I could identify semi rigs... It is how I passed the time away in the car on the family trip...
We had a neighbor who was a trucker.. and when he was home.. I loved to get to stay in his truck.. I would stay the whole weekend there.. of course, it was parked right outside the house..

So, years later.. still love them.. and learni.g to finally drive one was awesome.. learning tobwork on them and fix them.. way awesome...

I always knew I would become a driver when I was older.. and now is the time..

I enjoy the challenges.. and I still love motorcycles and big rigs..

 

I have been saving money for years.. and I continue to.. cause I can not wait until the day I get to buy my first big rig.. not lease.. but buy..

Figuring out how to make money and a career out of it is just part of the experience... Building the personal resolve and the "what it takes" to make it is part of the experience..

I remember years ago when I set out for my first solo trip on my sportster.. Omaha to California and back.. it was supposed to take 2 months.. but, ends up taking 2 days shy of 4 months.. ran into rain, snow and hail.. many mechanical hiccups and acouple broken ribs, scraps and bruises.. cost way more than expected and was not at all how I dreamed it would be.. but, I loved it none the less and took many more trips..

I will say this.. sleeping in a semi in the rain is like a 5 star hotel compared to sleeping on your sportster..

 

Yup Im the same way. I did the same thing as a kid. I would draw them and name them all as we drove down the road(Bikes and rigs). As I do love to travel, I like to see whats over the next horizion, love to be alone, and so on. All the other things that people find to be a pain in trucking is well....just part of the job. No Job is perfect. Yeah I could find a job that makes more money and that is easy to do, but as Im driving home in my high priced car to my big ol home I know I would look up at that truck and still would want to be behind the wheel of it. Some people are born to be truckers and some are not. Some people that really want to truck will do the job well no matter what other things that the job involves.

 

You're right, driving a truck is better

Haha wow. It doesn't take a lot out of me. I am wide awake for hours after driving all day.

Um yeah most adults have responsibility

If that were true there wouldn't be any truck drivers in existence. People like you are what I refer to as depressed with a quitter mentality. If you believe you are a loser then you will become one. If you believe you will be successful you then have a chance of being successful in life. I am sure you would complain about any job that you have. Unless you are delusional and think you should make high six figure income for sitting in an office without any skill or sacrifice to reach that level. Oh I just noticed you have been driving for 44 years so you do not know what any other job is like. You are probably still living in 1980 when things were different.

 

Pops was an independent for 20 years, since I can remember I was always in or around a truck. All his friends are or were drivers, my godfather, my fiancés old and current stepdad are drivers. Its all around me. I was the kid that instead of hot wheels cars I had all the Matchbox trucks, for christmas it was trucks, I remember my dad buying me the shirts that said the name of the truckstop in the back. An old R model Mack with a 285 and a 12 speed was my dads first truck, and I loved that thing, seeing the black soot from the stack, helping my dad look for the trailer number in the drop yard, falling asleep against the window and waking up to the bouncy ride from the camelback suspension, seeing my dad back into an old dock blocking traffic in Brooklyn, these are all experiences that I had as a 6 year old buy that I will NEVER forget. My old man always wanted me to go to college, become a "professional", a cop, lawyer, doctor something but not a trucker. I always told him its what I wanted to do. My dad can't drive anymore because of a trucking accident he had in 08...but I can tell now that he is proud of my decision. Seeing it and doing it are two completely different things, it is difficult I have so much respect for those veteran drivers I am just a newbie, and although its been a very very rough start for me this is what I feel I am here for. Despite the changing times, the ugly aero trucks(sorry I love the old school looks), the government restrictions and regulations, this is what I love.

 

Bottom Line, my current career makes me very miserable for a multitude of reasons. I've always wanted to drive a semi but the thought of pursuing a trucking career intimidated me at first.After some soul searching and researching I know without a doubt I need to pursue that dream.And so the Career change began. I got into a class ,joined a trucking forum to get a real life perspective/advice/opinions from drivers, and started researching the details like pay and hours and reading about the dif kinds of trucks/companies.I'm working hard to learn to be a safe driver. Taking one step at a time and doing my best to learn. I can only hope, when I get my CDL and get hired somewhere,that my first trucking company will be a positive experience.I look foward to my first driving job