I hit my one year mark, what I have learned so far...

First-congratulations on making it for one year,as you obviously know most don't. And for a bit of a different spin on your above statement.

When you reach my age you may wonder: How can some days go by soooo ####### slow..And yet the years go by so fast?

 

Bumpy you hit that one on the nail head !

 

yep one day you're 30 and before you know it you're 40..lol The older you get the faster the time goes..

 

congrats. some people like the solitude, some don't. I used to be a factory dept manager. don't think I could do it now. don't play well with others.lol

 

What I learned in 18 months with PAM were that except for a few of the MANY dispatchers I had no one in that company really gave a pint of warm piss about me.

Isolation in and of itself wasn't much of a problem with Facebook and Texting. And I had a laptop and plenty of movies along for the ride.

But things like getting hung out to dry in a yard surrounded by electrified fencing near Detroit for 3 freakin days did not help my Psychy all that much.

Some of the places I had to put a 53 foot trailer were a real hoot too.....

 

Same deal...general manager with the postal service, kept waiting for the day someone would find me on a clock tower with a deer rifle. Used to run for days on end by myself and still love it.

Good on you duckdiver for sucking it up and letting folks know that smaller companies need drivers as well.

 

Good post. I agree, most guys I started with bailed on trucking within a few months due to time away from home and family. It can be a lonesome career. Once you are making top money, you are stuck in the job because of your mortgage payment size, car payments, bills, etc.

I've been truckin OTR over the last 20+ years. I always liked to drive, business ownership, new adventures, seeing new places. I drove the first yr. for a small fleet owner, since then I've always owned the truck, later, the trailer too. Been an independent carrier since 2005.

I still like it, and hate it at times. Yesterday, the weather was nice, the winds died down some. I drove out of Amarillo headed for Tucson. Dropped down 54 at Santa Rosa to Las Cruces like I've done for last 20 yrs, one of my favorite routes, headed for the house. A beautiful ride on the two lane, a long day spent thinking, enjoying the scenery and solitude. I still think about not being home every night and having a 'normal' life, but I still enjoy trucking.

I always advise newbie guys to go to college if they can. But there is still good money to be made in trucking.

 

I don't know what to say. This guy is getting paid pretty good. Home every week. No family or kids crying about daddy being home. Wow you have it pretty easy compared to a lot of us. I came into loving the fact of solitude and not having to see the same ol stuff day after day. I think some people just don't like this little thing called work. So can we really blame it on the industry. Yes it gets lonely. Yes the money sucks. Yes the respect sucks. But somebody has to do it. I have been told by many companies. They wish all their drivers were like me. I getter done. I do it safely and at the end of the day. Its a pleasure to not have had any incidents or accidents. To open the doors and see the product in the same position it was in when it was loaded. I can't remember the last time I put on load locks. In this industry you have to tap yourself on the back because nobody else will. People who don't like work will not be happy in any industry. To much time being taken from hanging with your boys at the bar. Or playing the ps3. Bah humbug

 

For me, one of the biggest benefits is the solitude. I love to communicate with people via the written word but face to face, I tend to perturb many people. Much easier on me to be alone.