On The Road Away From Home

It can be tough but if it something you truely like to do, it will get easier. My family got used to it quick since they always knew my to be indepenent. My ex wife loved me be gone. Notice i said ex wife. I now get the calls from my gf crying cause im gone and she is 7.5 months pregnant. When me and her got together i was running local in a daycab and was home everynight. Now that winter is and my dedicated gig doesnt start back up to march, im regional/otr. This has been hard on her but she is slowly getting used to it.

Otr experence is good since you will deal with many different scenarios than local. This will make you a better driver. Ive have always wanted to drive as a kid, i like driving so i figure get payed for something i like to do. Tough it out. If you want that local gig get the otr exp ya need them go for it.

 

I guess the best way to put it, is sometimes you have to do what you hav to do to get to a specific point in life. I am about to move back to MS from NV to basically start over. I am leaving my wife behind behind for at least two years so that she can vest with her 401 and finish her degree. to say it is gonna be tough is an understatement. I keep on asking her if she would rather I leave while she is at work to make it easier on her, but I think deep down inside I am trying to make easier on me. Gives me time to get otr experience and hopefully get a load out this way once in a bluemoon to see her for maybe an hour. most local companies will require 6months to a year. all in all it"ll flyby and then you can look for something with a little more hometime. Good luck to you.

 

Try talking to some local constrution companys, tell you want to drive only off road water trucks and maybe on road sometimes, it will give you a world of experence while allowing you to stay around home, many water truck guys move on to pulling bottom dumps and never do otr, me I have no family or life to keep me in any one place, so I perfer otr, over local stuff but we all have to find that area we enjoy, oh need I mention driving water trucks off road will teach you alot" about keeping a truck in control as youre always sliding around and getting into tight places when filling up or" trying to avoid yellow iron as they tend to fly past you all day. Be safe and enjoy whatever type of driving you choose. B104 10-4

 

Hopefully, you'll tough it out and learn to be an independent person and not a mommy's boy. Don't let your girl play the victim, sitting in her nice warm or cool house, taking a shower without waiting 20 minutes in line and not wearing shower shoes, going to the bathroom without walking 1000 feet through snow, etc. You have to take control of your life if you want it to work. If you have a whiny, high maintenance GF, she probably won't make it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. If she is a keeper, she'll recognize the challenge and be supportive for you doing what it takes to provide a good future. It will be a very good test for marriage potential.

I had a girlfriend that couldn't cut it, and I met her after I started driving. Plus, I saw her 4/5 weekends. My wife for 7 years is a super trooper, and hates me being away, but knows it pays our bills. I occasionally have to remind her of the cold a/c, three bathrooms, new car, cleaning lady, etc. but that is to be expected on occasion.

 

Im in the same boat as you but im at a local company where they have flatbeds but the pay is terrible i have to borrow from my 401k to get by for my family/bills/etc...basically on a paycheck to paycheck. I use loans for christmas and if im really deep in a hole. I just got my cdl in december and thinking going over the road for more money from what im making now...tough it out and come back to get a better local gig next year. Im thinking on TMC because i love flatbeds and there hometime is cool(almost weekends) off.

you might not want to do otr but you may have to for a better opportunity for living for you and your family. Its not like you doing it for the rest of your life...you just doing it temporary to get ahead.

 

i want to make your kinda money...i need a cleaning lady

 

As it was my post you reference, perhaps I should chime in here. I in no way want to deter people from this job, as it suits some people quite well, I only wanted to warn that individual as his story sounded awfully familiar from somewhere, and with kids the situation is different.

Fortycalglock makes a fair point here. If your girlfriend is high maintenance, whining and crying all the time, she's not gonna make it. I warn every woman I date what my job's all about ("I drive a truck. I'm not home all the time, so if you get lonely on a wednesday, nothing I can do from Kentucky....."). I'm still single, but that's another story LOL!

Guys will tell you this is a lifestyle, and it's true. "Just a job" you go home from at the end of the day. Doing this you live, eat, sleep and breathe that truck while you're on the road.

And yeah, we all get a little lonely from time to time. I've never sat and cried from hitting the road (and if you do, perhaps you should re-evaulate that decision). I do love this job, there's nothing that makes me happier than a 2 lane road to myself on a clear, full moon night, listening to that big Cat growl her tune. Good luck to ya!