I wanna be a trucker come hell or high water! I need some advice (or a lot)

here are a couple of big ones, never think you are getting ahead by leasing the truck you are driving, it is a fairy tale.

Learn all you can about the log before you start driving, if you wait to figure it out on the road you are going to be up a creek with out a paddle.

Do not ever think that a shop has your best intrests at heart.

Do not think your dispatcher cares about you.

Dont get in the trap of trying to be your dispatchers favorite boy, all it will do is kill you slowly until you got nothing left to give and you go broke.

Keep in mind truckers blow things out of perportion, take the stories you hear with a grain of salt.

Plan ahead when you start driving, dont just say im going to take this road until I get tired, have your stops planned ahead of time, and make sure you have the time avalable to log it. If not get something else figured out.

Stay away from the commercial company.

Get a good laptop and a couple of good maping programs, make sure you have wireless internet so you can get online and use google earth, you have no idea how handy it is when trying to find a shipper or reciever.

Always keep some food in the truck, and plenty of blankets. You never know where you are gonna get stuck.

read this thread and pay attention to it

Keep a disposable camera in your truck just incase you have an accident, if you do take pictures.

Dont trust what the school or driver mill tells you, getting your first job is going to be hard, and it will take time.

If you can get a company to train you that can be a good thing, but buyer be ware, they also screw quite a few people that way too.

When you get on the road with a trainer, if he tells you something that sounds fishy, investigate, he is probably wrong, many people training today havent been in a truck all that long themselves.

Oh, and dont whiz on the electric fence!

 

Come hell or high water huh? Ok, first load to South Texas... that's the high water. 2nd trip go up 95 thru Maryland, DC, NJ and NYC... that's hell by anyone's definition.

 

The kid's right about banking. I'm in it. Banking has become the sewer that used car sales used to be. What banks are looking for now is highly effective debt merchants for employees. If a bank can get you to have 5 of anything they have, it is almost certain you will never leave that bank. (This explains "free checking"- there's no such things as free!)

I've always found it odd that they lock all the money in a vault, worried about theft. The REAL thieves are in the board rooms! It's not the kids on the front line, they'd get canned if out of balance a few cents. The guys at the top sneak out with millions!

Don't try for first base w-365, knock it out of the park, and avoid taking on debt. Start with a DOT physical for your own mental comfort. By doing things in a logical, progressive, sensible order, you will know for sure and certain if it may be a good fit for you. Check out the PWS video at Schneider. Many places have a physical screen. Be able to exceed it. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Make every one sure footed!

Nobody asked, but that's my .02.

Merlin

 

I don't have any major back issues and I'm not even driving nowadays... But I have to salute you for the will and power you have to do what you want to do.

I've been driving for a couple of years mostly straight trucks in Europe. I have always been told it's nota proper man's job. And as I've been stupid, I have listenet and gone to sales. Jumping from one selling job to another. I have finally realized it's trucking I have always wanted to do. That's what I can do, I know.

Man's got to do what man's got to do... And it's really better to do a little less money in a job you like than ruin your mental health by working in a job you hate.

Good luck to your journey of becoming a trucker. With that kind of commitment and will power you will succeed.

 

Wanna - I get the part about staying on a job to use the benefits, I'm doing that myself. For me, as a guy headed back to the road and who is not now driving, may I respectfully request you re-read your post with a couple words substituted along these lines...replace the word adventure with labor in all sorts of weather. Replace sights with highway/billboards about the sights, or sights on the other side of the mountain. Freedom will be shared with self-discipline and sacrifice in about equal measure.

You will have times when you're tired, have met cranky people that day, circumstances worked against you, and you won't be in love with driving...not even a little bit. It's as much of a profession then requiring unbroken attention as it is when you have the "buzz" on.

I still remember going through the gearbox with the splitter on a 13 speed Roadranger. It was wonderful to feel 350 horses under my foot and I knew how to ride 'em! And...I still remember sleeping some unknown number of minutes over the steering wheel on the side of the road, like a bobble-head doll, too sleepy to drive the few miles, and waking up so incredibly stiff with an awful taste in my mouth from 6 hours of nothing to eat, hungry, and no place to buy anything soon. Jut a cigarette for a toothbrush and cold coffee maybe...and get that oil to the pipeline before 7 am! (this was long ago, in an isolated area of Texas oil fields)

Not wanting to rain on your parade, but I catch myself in the same mindset occasionally. I want to bring myself back to reality, staying there, and remember that in this job, I will have the curious ability to "accidentally" kill myself or untolled others on a permanent basis. Others could do the same to me. (Good times will be there for certain, and they are very rewarding!)

You and I have may have more in common than we think. There are guys on this board that can communicate in language easily understood by guys like us. If you haven't yet, search out openroadguy and chrlab for starters. I have made their threads (and a few others) required reading to keep me grounded in reality.

Stay determined, move toward this goal persistently, especially when it is unpopular and inconvenient for you or your schedule. It will surely be like that on the road, won't it?

Get your DOT physical now to have mental comfort for about $50. Do what you know to do, and the people here will help you with the rest.

There are some VERY smart people here who will keep an eye out for guys like us, and help prevent mistakes.

I'm on your side here, even if it may seem otherwise.

Merlin

 

There are jobs where you don't sit, like construction worker (one member here said that his back problem disappeared after working as a construction worker), landscaper, etc. Then there is lineman (putting up electrical lines on electric poles), etc.

 

It was an occasional ache or pain, and construction strengthened my muscles. Totally different ballgame from the OP's situation, mine wasn't really a problem, I didn't really notice it before it went away (it doesn't seem to make sense, but that's the best way I can describe it). His problem; being caused by an auto wreck rather than lack of exercise he has probably been advised against heavy laboring by his Doctor. Construction work would likely make his pain worse.


As to the worries about the DOT physical- Dr. asking about scars, I've stayed clothed during my DOT physicals. However, there was a section on the form asking about previous surgeries.