How do you keep going on?

Same here . I get sick at the thought of my homelife in the hands of a ####### dispatcher .

 

Did my few years OTR to get indoctrinated, even AFTER i took over my dad's route as a young'un, had to go with new regs, back in the day.
Got a local tank route and pull some mish mash decks with concrete in the winter, and make bank and love life. Sometimes I sleep in the truck, others not...up to me. Not an O/O, but my small company offers much latitude.

Best of luck to ya, man. Hang in; the payoff (if and i really mean IF you like what you do) can be huge. Many of these OS/OD/HH guys, O/O or not, make WAY more bank than I do, but I'm comfortable w/ the skin I'm in. Then again, they (as do 'I' ) love what they do, and put passion and their everything into it.

Tell him how it goes, @TripleSix .. @Hammer166 (<<< coupla the big guys for the O/P to check out.)

 

You do not burn out.

You put aside a percentage to savings every pay check no matter how small. That savings will carry you over when you do run into famine weeks or go home for time off. You wont believe how much productivity in terms of revenue is lost for each day at home or not running.

You pace yourself. Go home every so often, preferably before you burn out. Stay there until you feel like running again. Stamina in the very first year is hard to acquire.

Dispatch love to burn out 90 day wonders while 50 more fill orientation trailer each week.

Life has alot of &^%$$# things. Trucking taint so bad when you consider the wonderful things availible to you in this entire United States. People slave a life time in a 6 by 6 cube office being micromanaged by several layers of increasingly bad bosses. Not many gets to say the Rocky mountains is the office.

Again your first year is the hardest, many do not even continue beyond it for a variety of reasons.

In time given enough years you too will have the experience. But it is bought and paid for with your life.

I hope that your morale is good enough to make every day as good as possible even when it's raining really badly. Because you can always see the sun if you climb upgrade long enough.

 

Same here, buddy.

 

For me when I bought my midroof and signed the papers to same title etc. Trucking in the USA became truly a land of oppertunity. For a short time (Long story...) but I recall in that time that I was finally free from that *&^% dispatcher. It was a happy year overall.

 

The key for me is being effieicent in my work, which allows me more time to do what I want to do. I had a 550 mile, three customer, 4 trailer day today. Took less than 12 total hours, didnt rush, took several breaks along the way, logged 95% legal (was off duty while waiting in line at the gate).

When you have a good day, make note of it. Then when youre having a bad day, remember the good one. I still remember that ONE DAY, cominh ouy of Denver, a light load, a major storm brewing behind me, blue sky with a rainbow in front of me, average 62 mph in a 60 mph truck (downhill AND a tailwind), hit almost 8 mpg with a DD60, 800k miles. That was a good day. When the stresses of the job get to me, I pull out that memory and things aren't so bad (cue Annie singing "The sun will come out", then segue into Maria "my favorite things").

If you dont like how your company runs you, find a new home.

 

There was a similar time but at night. Was in Kansas during summer, frontal passage approaching aft of the trailer. Downgrade at 12 miles to gallon being pushed by storm wind. Music from the Cat.

The radio was on the am band of some tiny shack somewhere in Kansas west that night I think it was Hewitt who was being featured for that hour. Im not sure if it was syndicated or not but it came through the AM pretty good.

That cat was the last of the air breathing engines prior to the new computer. 12 miles to gallon she was doing. I would beat that record with a 2001 century in a similar situation but closer to east of Limon in another similar frontal situation with really big wind that leaned me over like a sail and held it there. That one generated 15 mpg for a hour or so. That big detriot did not need much fuel, I was interested to see if I could hold 63 with the engine at throttle off. It came out really close.

But the best day I reserve for US 322, east of Seven Mountains in the dead of winter. We were in 3 feet of powdered snow the evergreens were postcard pretty on the downgrade summit. Had to keep that rig moving just so and a little finesse. No jake at all. At the bottom megas of the time were in the ditch on the inside curve requiring (And crying for on radio...) tows. It seemed we drained Harrisburg of all the tows big enough to move a semi.

For me I was happy that day, the snow situation improved at the bottom, not so deep. That was what my trainer called a graduation course in mountain work. And I would have a life time to come for more.

You could not buy that kind of joy for a million or a billion. Life is like that sometimes.

 

I only work 45 hours a week 50 if I have to for a few weeks but keep it up and I’m gone.

There is more to life than work, if you expect me to work 70 hours a week because I drive a truck you can kiss my ###. I’ll work 70 hours a week when my boss and dispatcher do.

 

What are you tryin' to do, really Kill Him??

lol, He wants out,Mindest will not be there to take on a huge responsibility ESPECIASLLY with only a year of seat time...Poor guy prolly don't know what a broker is.

 

And so it goes,,, another disgruntled truck driver. We warned ya', remember us warning ya'? You didn't listen, did ya',,, like marriage ( and trucking), don't feel bad, neither did we. Trucking is a fickle industry, there's plenty to piss a person off, but,,,you have to remember why you got into this in the 1st place. It's a job like no other, take a break, work on the dock for a while with schmoes that can barely count, you'll be so happy to get back in a truck. Today presents many challenges many of us old farts never faced, but just remember, it's great to leave these crappy places, that hasn't changed. Take a break, you'll be fine. We all did it.