Need advise: Have you stopped trucking and then it was burning in you to get back?

(Live in Mid TN) When I got out of trucking school, I went to work for company (Not going to name) and they kept me on paper log. I found out so that they could run me, and my traininer tld me that they do not look at the logs, and mainly wanted us to be on time. I was getting very little sleep, and was afraid that I would cause an accident. Also my wife with a full time job was running the house (three kids all in elementary school), and I was missing out on their events. After a few months, she told me that she wishes that I could just stay home, and I said, "I'm with you babe." Problem now is that I want to back out there. I keep going on trucking web sites and talking to truckers, and then I say to my self, "Stop doing this to yourself, your just making it harder." I called Roehl and they told me if I do 40 hrs refresher course they will hire me and put me on the road. I keep trying to find local jobs, but they always say, "Need to have no less then 1 year experience to be qualified." Only work I can find is warehouse, and it is so boring and depressing working at warehouses.

 

So you are now divorced and the kids are grown and outta the house?

 

Well since you mentioned Roehl, and i looked at them for a bit, they do have their flex fleets or w/e they called them.. you slip seat trucks basically... they have a 7 days out and 7 home option, a 14 out 7 home option and then like a 3 week out and 1 week home option... keep in mind if you do go with the first 2 options you will be a part time employee... Just something to look at..

I personally didn't go that route as I don't want to live on that kind of pay...also i wanted to own a truck

 

You got a case of White line fever, but if the wife still wants you home. You will have a couple of cases. Child support, and Divorce. Even if she is kinda cool with it. She will nag you to death and you will wish you had the boring warehouse job.

 

I live in Kansas City area. I use to work in Lagos, Nigeria which was a 28 hour flight. KC-Detroit-Amsterdam (layover about a block from the windows)-Lagos. 3 weeks out and 1 week home. Now that I think about it, kind of like trucking. The wife worked all the time. She raised the kids. We got together as much as possible. You adjust. You were not gone the first time long enough to really see if you could adjust.

Trucking pays good money. It is a job you can be proud of. It takes a skill that becomes more marketable as you gain experience. It offers a path to business ownership. J. B. Hunt was a real person who started out a truck driver. Tyson Foods, truck driver. There are many examples of multi-millionaires who started out making sacrifices so their families could do better in the long run. You have to decide which is more important to you, the now or the future. Either choice is fine but they are two very different paths.

And now some literature.

[TABLE="width: 601"]
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[TD][SIZE=+1]1. The Road Not Taken[/SIZE][/TD]
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[TD] [/TD]
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[TR]
[TD][TABLE]
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[TD] [/TD]
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[TD]T[SIZE=-1]WO[/SIZE] roads diverged in a yellow wood,[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
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[TD]And sorry I could not travel both[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]And be one traveler, long I stood[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]And looked down one as far as I could[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]To where it bent in the undergrowth;[/TD]
[TD][SIZE=-2] 5[/SIZE][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD] [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Then took the other, as just as fair,[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
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[TR]
[TD]And having perhaps the better claim,[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
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[TD]Because it was grassy and wanted wear;[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Though as for that the passing there[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
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[TR]
[TD]Had worn them really about the same,[/TD]
[TD][SIZE=-2] 10[/SIZE][/TD]
[/TR]
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[TD] [/TD]
[/TR]
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[TD]And both that morning equally lay[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]In leaves no step had trodden black.[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Oh, I kept the first for another day![/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Yet knowing how way leads on to way,[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]I doubted if I should ever come back.[/TD]
[TD][SIZE=-2] 15[/SIZE][/TD]
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[TD] [/TD]
[/TR]
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[TD]I shall be telling this with a sigh[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Somewhere ages and ages hence:[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
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[TR]
[TD]Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
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[TR]
[TD]I took the one less traveled by,[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]And that has made all the difference.[/TD]
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[/TABLE]
[/TD]
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[/TABLE]

 

It happens boss. I say a vast majority give it up at one point or another for a while and get the itch where they can't stay away. Lucky me my wife is very supportive of it and there are no trust issues between us. Hope yours is too. I mean after all, why work a job your not happy with? All it does is make your life more miserable than it has to be, so why not at least try and cut down as much of the misery as possible to make you both happy. The good side to it is that if she is strong and committed, it can actually better your relationship as you both have something to look forward to when your on the way and this keeps some distance so your not chopping at each others necks on a day to day basis. I went through the same thing and it has worked for the best and so has the money!

 

You didn't tell us when you got your CDL and when's the last time you drove commercially

 

Ain't that the truth. When I go OTR my girl nags that I'm gone too much (my OTR trips are only 2 nights in the truck). When I'm doing local work she nags that I'm home too much. I can never win!

 

Your best spot is a local gig if you still want to drive truck otherwise everything else will be a mess like you can't go otr because you need to understand that your wife needs your presence at the house and you need to be there for your kids as you watch them grow up and im sure you will choose your family instead of a trucking career so it's up to you and good luck.

 

You have to choose between an aging wife or young hot strippers with quality skills.