No Home Time Needed?

Wish I could stop paying for my apartment when I start driving. Me and my brother split rent and we work for the sameccompany and I know he wouldn't be able to afford it by himself. Split is only $275 a month per person so I don't mind too much. I will probably help him pay off his motorcycle and credit cards so he should be able to afford it after I think. $550 is 50% of the monthly income. We work at crap jobs but it's better than not having a job.

 

If you and your brother get along and he's interested, then you might consider "recruiting" him to join you on the road. Then you can both make better money and dump the rent treadmill. My brother got me into trucking and I drove team with him for years, off and on. Companies are looking for teams, especially husbands and wives or those that are close family because they tend to stay and work better together.

 

Well I asked him a couple weeks ago and he said it's not for him.. plus his driving record sucks.

 

Well, if his driving record sucks and he isn't interested that's a non-starter, but just a thought. $275 a month for rent is almost nothing compared to what you will make in trucking, no matter what company you go with. That will be half of one week's take home, even with a "mega" starter company.

Get 'er done. Pick a school and companies and get crackin' to start your career.

 

THIS .. Thank you so much for asking the question, Eddy. I've been planning on doing the same thing for a while now and there aren't a lot of thread topics about this that I can find.

I'm from Arizona, but eventually want to settle in the Denver area. I have family there and would use my Dad's house as a 'permanent address' for tax/mail purposes only. He is in Colo. Springs. Wonder if it looks better for Uncle Sam to have my home-address in Arizona, that's always an option as well. I am planning on either going thru school with a big starter trucking company or attending SAGE school in Henderson, Colorado. I was pre-approved for the financing, but it might be easier/cheaper to let Prime or another big company train me and work for them for a year starting in November. I'm not sure if any companies would pay me more if I obtained my CDL thru a school like SAGE instead of going thru a company sponsored program. However it definitely does seem to be a Drivers' market out there right now.

Living out of the truck and having no rent/mortgage for a year or more sounds enthralling. Just me and the dog cruising around the country getting into adventures. It would be great to save money as well as being able to take your down-time almost any time you want to. Could plan your schedule around baseball games, football games, whatever.

Amidst all this excited rambling I DO have a question if anyone would be so kind. I appreciate truck stops and I'm sure I'll have to use them often for just about everything from fuel to showers to some meals. However at least 2 nights a week on the road it would be great to park off of a highway somewhere and just sortof hang out on the side of a road, not near a truck stop nor rest area. Sortof like camping out of the tractor. Is this possible is most states, and do a lot of people do this? Was planning on bringing a hammock and some water of my own and using that to shower on occasion, if I can find some remote areas to park the rig off of a side-street from a highway. Do people do this? Perhaps this is naive because I'm from Arizona and we have quite a few highway exits that are perfect for parking tractor-trailers. The time out in the wilderness (well, relative wilderness) would be a great break from the commotion of a truck stop for one or 2 nights a week. Plus the dog would love to get out and roam around a bit. Is this something a lot of people do OTR?

Thanks and have a good one out there!
- J

 

Justin,

Sage is a good school and highly recruited from. My son and I are in the Springs and drive for Schneider. We make good money (about 950 a week), stay out three weeks at a time, drive new equipment and are Loving it so far. We've been to every area of the company except the NW during the last 2 months.

As far as camping out other than truck stops or rest areas....some truck drivers use Walmart parking lot to "camp out".

Good Luck!

 

Eddy, that's what I did 6 months ago. Sold my house, and moved my stuff into a shipping container at a friend's house. When I do take home time, I stay with friends and relatives, they are glad to have me. I'm saving about $3500 a month with my only bill being Verizon for phone and internet. I usually stay out 30~40 days and take 5 days home time. It's not bad at all.

 

Are you guys that are living out of the truck company drivers?

Does anyone know if some companies are more obliging to living out of the truck full time than others?

 

I believe Prime quoted me roughly .42/mile initially, that sounds pretty good for a 1st year driver no? I guess the important question is, if I were to go thru Sage would the offers be better than that for a new driver I wonder?

Thanks for the reply, you guys sound like living in the Springs will allow you to have some really pleasant at-home time. My father actually lives in Monument and he loves it. Animals everywhere! I will ask Schneider if they have a pet policy and if they take new drivers fresh out of school. I would love to be based in the C.Springs area.

 

I hate staying at truck stops. I'm at one tonight because I needed a shower, but I usually stop at rest areas, truck parking areas off I80, the back corner of a customers property, anywhere I can be alone! I usually only stay at truck stops twice a week or so. I stopped in monument valley last week at a pull off and it was absolutely beautiful!