How much free time do you have on the road?

your "down time" can be as little as an hour or maybe up to the 34 hour reset. maybe even more if the company you work for cannot find any loads. but beware....the MORE you sit, the LESS you earn as your salary is derives from the wheels moving, not parked. also, the LESS you earn, the MORE you might be spending on FOOD...gift shopping, trinkets..????

 

It really isn't as touristy as they make it sound. Also companies expect their trucks to be moving as much as possible. You really can't just when you want to take off. You do get a 34 hour reset but is usually just enough time to catch up on sleep, cleaning the truck, maintenance, doing laundry etc... Another thing is you can't just park your truck in an RV park or a lot of site seeing places. Renting a car or taxi is going to be your main modes of getting you around. You do get to see some things out there and you have those days when you break down or get held up by weather and get to spend the night in a hotel. There are the occasions when you do some sight seeing but not to put a "Griswold" type scenario in your head, it isn't vacation all the time! Is it rewarding? Sure! It's a hell of an adventure! My wife and I drove team and did real well. We made good money and even more important than that, good memories. I would strongly recommend your wife getting her license though. Also insurance companies won't let you have a rider during the winter months. Sounds like you have a little bit of time to do some research and thoroughly investigate the whole process. Good luck to. Make sure to read every page on this forum! Welcome to the forum!

 

Working 70 hours a week does not really leave a lot of time or energy to do a lot of sightseeing. Don't get me wrong. I love driving and have gotten to see places and things that I most likely never would have. There are some slow times and sometimes your reset is not anywhere you really want to explore.

 

Your down time will be in places like the back parking lot of a warehouse in metro New Jersey. A pilot truck stop with only fast food in the slum section of a large city. Or maby a shopping center parking lot that your hoping no one throws you out of because they dont want trucks in their and you got no place else to go. All places you dont want to just leave the truck. Trucking aint a tourest job and if your wife is just riding I know she will get boaed as hell. You cant pull in to a nice place to eat because the truck wont fit. The majority of the time you stuck eating at truck stops ( some good, some BAD!) or convienent stores. You will need a portable fridge and eat out of it a lot. Their is no glammor in trucking. Thats the trucking schools and the company recruters trying to sell you a trucking job. Thats right its a job and a hard one at that. Im thinking it aint for you if "how much down time" is your first question. Its a 70 hr a week job. You down time should be sleeping, eating, and showering. How ever you will get down time in the worst places like i said before.

 

Well, now that you elucidated....might be a vacation.

 

You can take your hometime anywhere. The problem is where you can park the truck limits you drastically. Many motels and casino's welcome truckers. But tourist attractions you can forget.

 

You asked us about downtime and hometime, not if you could hack it. As for a job where you and your wife could travel, yes. You will be traveling and your wife can ride with you in the summertime. In response to providing for your family and being scared, yes, you will be scared. If you work really hard, stay out of the truck stops, stay away from home, don't crash and do everything your dispatcher tells you with a smile, then yes you should be able to provide for your family. Are you going to make lots of money? No. Are you going to make over $25,000 you first year? Most likely, no. Like any other career out there though, if you put in the time and as the years pass by you will begin to climb the ladder of success.
On a side note, I would strongly recommend your wife getting her license if you guys want to do the whole traveling, making money thing. As a husband/wife team you can make great money! As a solo, not so much.
Good luck to you and welcome to the forum!