Any over the road trucker here?

Well I am an ex OTR trucker. It is not an easy way to make a living. You live out of a truck hundreds even thousands of miles from home. Your day is driving and sleeping. Hope you have no problem using public restrooms.

 

It is not a life for everyone. Personally I love my job! I team drive with my wife, so the loneliness that some have I don't usually experience. The answer to the question you are thinking of depends on who you are. Are you married? Have children? If so then you might want to consider something other than OTR

 

I'm an old OTR driver. Personally, I wouldn't be anything but OTR. It's not for everyone though, some prefer local-home every night or regional-limited to a geographic area of the USA such as Western 11 states or Southeastern states or Midwestern states, etc.

Here's generally the pay breakdown, from best #1 down to least #4 :

#1 - Tanker/hazmat
#2 - Refrigerated
#3 - Flatbed
#4 - Van

Sometimes Refrigerated & Flatbed switch places.
If you're planning trucking for a career, get a passport, TWIC, and study for the endorsements for tanker, hazmat, doubles-triples and for the CDL. If you can afford a private school such as Roadmaster or a Community College, take that route. This will afford more opportunities for better paying jobs. The longer, more intense the school is, the better.

You need the passport to enter Canada or to pass through Canada on runs to Alaska.
You need the TWIC to enter seaports and chemical plants.
You can get trucking jobs without all the endorsements, passport, TWIC; but it limits your income and choice of companies.

 

Nope no over the road truckers on this site.

 

I've only been at it 6 months (tanker/solo OTR), and love it.

At first, I had my sites set on getting exp to move on to the growing local energy gigs, or LTL .. (USF/Holland, FedEx, etc.).

Now, I'm really liking OTR so I'm not sure what the next thing is. I guess ideally .. I would want something regional where I could be home occasionally during the week and then home on weekends .. But with the option of going out on the road.

The down side is that you come home and your grass needs cut, your house may need some maintenance .. You get pretty far behind. On top of that, the wife needs attention .. Which isn't a negative, you just have to be able to do the house stuff and have energy left to do the wife once or twice a day. And then take her out to dinner and make up for all that time away. Basically, get 3-4 weeks worth of home life done in 5-7 days. The good side, you get more sex. The bad side, you have a small window to take advantage .. So, eat healthy .. Get exercise and you should be able to do it.

 

I am an otr the company that i am with (Melton) they let my wife and pup ride with so there is an advantage,But like it was said b4 if you have a family at home who would like to see you more than every 3 weeks then otr is not the job for you. I love it out here we put a fridge in our truck,micro,and a lil oven because eating out all the time starts to get old. I don't think i could ever be anything else but otr with the company i'm with now.

 

Eating out gets expensive as well.

 

OTR you're gone for a month and never know where you're going to go.You may go to the rockies and not like it because it's mountains but you either take it or have a service failure on your dac.I did the OTR thing for over 10 yrs and I liked it I just needed a brk.Now i'll be going back April only this time teaming.It's not for everyone,especially someone wih a family.

 

It makes it nice for you guys driving those top-of-the-line trucks like Melton Truck Lines has with the APU.