I want to drive truck!!!

Amanda, I admire you for wanting to do better for your family. If driving a truck is something that you really want to do, and have talked it over with your husband, then go for it. Like Lurch said, you do OTR with Schneider for 18 months to pay off the training, then get on a local run or dedicated with Schneider or another company. I'm sure there are many near Muncie Indiana. You DO NOT have to do OTR for the rest of your life. All kinds of doors should open up after you get that first year in. Good luck to you whatever you decide.

 

WOW I honestly I cannot believe that someone would speak so cruely of someone else,that they do not even know a single thing about! I hope she has not been scared away!!! My word!! She came on here for some helpful advice, not to be slashed like that! Amanda good luck with whatever it is you decide do!!!!!

 

I read all the posts and i have to Handyman as well as so many others were trying to be honest about this job.
As far as fun you have not read enough posts and spent any time on the road.
I understand your wanting to make more money but if you make $ 10.00 an hr now it will only go to about $ 18.00 at most.
Take a little out for taxes and what it will cost you live on the road and your right back to $ 10.00 an hr. and thats the truth.
Far be it for me to tell you how to live your life but I started driv'n when I was 21 now 54 my daughter has a hard time talking to me. People can tell you what you want to hear so your guilt will fade away but the bottom line is raise your child don't wake up somewhere liv'n in regret.
Dance's first few post were as true as true can be.
Truckings not a job IT'S A LIFE STYLE and when yours changes so will your child's.

 

Muncie huh? Welcome former neighbor! I am originally from Anderson. Been down south for several years now. When My daughter was young it was harder on her with me being gone. As she got older it was easier on her. There will be a lot of adjustments on all of your lives. I was a driver long before I met my wife, so that was not one of the adjustments I had to make learning a new life style and being away from my family at the same time. Keep us posted and good luck to all of you.

 

Whether you are there or not will have little bearing on whether your child can/will talk to you. My parents were there for me all the time - but I still have problems talking to my father about some things. It's just the way things are.

Amanda - I'm VERY glad you are considering options. I went through the same quandry back in December when I left my former life. Eventually, I decided to drive. I think it suits me, but who knows? Maybe at the end of my first or second year I'll decide it really is NOT what I want to do. No way to know without trying it on for size.

But if other options had been (realistically) available? I probably would not have made the jump. No, this is not saying I'm making a mistake - or that this choice was forced on me. There WERE other avenues available.. but I chose to not take them for one reason or another.

My kids are both teens - neither is tremendously happy with my choice, but they know the wheres and whys. They're also used to it. For most of their lives, either their mother or myself has spent extended periods of time inaccessible. Including several months each year - until recently - both kids living with my parents.

Did it damage them? Doesn't seem so. They're well behaved, they do acceptably well in school, they do their chores...all in all, I'm pretty proud of 'em.

So - yes, be concerned about your kid, but realize that they'll respond to your input. If you make a big deal over it, they will too. If you treat it like the natural order of things, so will he.

To be honest, I'd worry more about your husband. We both know that tending the home and kid is a heck of a chore. It's one we guys were not brought up to deal with. Even I recognize that our culture is predominantly mom+baby=home, dad+baby=WTF?. He's going to be stressed. You will almost certainly need to talk with him on a daily basis, just so he can vent and deflate a bit. When you are home, he's probably going to want to go curl up in a ball somewhere and let you deal with the kid. I know that was how I was when my wife came home.

And it's always fun to be sitting in the park with the little rat and watch all the faces around you when you say "Just wait until your mother gets home!". Man, I loved that!

Whatever you choose to do, make sure it's what YOU want, and don't worry that you might not like it. You'll never know without trying it.

 

Yes that is true about the one parent deal,I was fine with everything else, except for my boys, well more the 15 year old, he wasnt gone 2 weeks and he thought he was walking all over me! We eneded up in a bad argument, and he punched one heck of a hole in the wall in the hall way, then of course I lost it. I did not want to call him, because he was so stressed with the trainer he was with, but I did any way, then I heard just what I was expecting what do want me to do about it, I am 500 miles away!!!! The 15 year old, would not even speak to him the whole time he was gone, I think it might have been a little harder on them, because he was always here, and then one day he was just gone, I think he more than the 14 yerar old was harboring resentment, about it. Needless to say, it was not an easy time, and ya they did absolutely nothing to help me out!!! But then again everything was great before they turned 13 LOL

 

Lol - they were always better before the age they are now

I'm not worried about that kind of issue - people MY size are afraid of my wife. The boys both know that if they mess with Mom, if she can't straighten their act out, they have to deal with me AND Mom's friends. Not a pretty sight.

Then again, though, this is something they've been through any number of times before. I don't expect it to be a serious issue.

 

Has anybody brought up the fact that at that age things happen to them not a simple cold type stuff more serious stuff. How fast will she be able to get home? can't just drop your truck at the local airport, yes it could take days to get home that is if she wants to keep her job also unless you run dedicated you have no real way of knowing when you will get home remember you drive the truck not give the orders.
If you talk about your teens understanding thats one thing but your talking about a 3 year old of whom has NO UNDERSTANDING it's just wheres mommy.
I wonder how many husbands have asked there wives what they think also how would the husband think with a kid that age.
Now think on this for a minute lets say her husband calls her says the kids fell down and broke his arm she is 1400 miles away under a load she forgets what she is driv'n worries more about her kid " we all anything can happen ".
To leave a teen behind is one thing but no one can say that a 3 year old will be able to handle it fathers can do a great job but at that age the mother is the more important roll.
Truck driv'n will not make her more money it will just be a very large regret

She is 24 I think she has a lot of time to think about driv'n but will have no time to make up for what she missed out on and at that age it's all irreplaceable.

 

One more thing I would like to add.
My son is in MN. right now Elk River if any of you were paying attention to the weather yesterday MN. was under a tornado watch almost where he was standing. I started calling him at 6:00 he finally called me back at 2:30 shaken in his boots he works on a horse farm. I felt helpless and he is grown up all he could say is I want to go back to AZ. the second farm he works at. As a parent I want to be there for him what ever the reason.
I believe in supporting people that come here looking for advice but I believe honesty in this case would go a lot farther. Always look at the rel side of trucking.