The OTR loneliness

As others have stated,it depends on how one is put together,if one is married or single,AND,WHAT is one"s age.,Really,(only speaking for myself) I could have not handled OTR under age 35 with 4 youngsters at home and happily married,now the OTR solitude is,well,its fine with me.

 

I went from touring musician to radio DJ to truck driver to owner operator. The one thing those all have in common is the constant change of scenery. My wife and I both have "push to talk" phones, as do many of my friends, which makes keeping in touch much easier. I run a lot of similar routes, and deal with a lot of the same people every week, so there tend to be familiar faces just about everywhere I go.

My first year was the hardest, as I was still "learning the ropes" of being a long haul trucker. Granted, for me, OTR isn't the same as it is for many others. I'm usually out for 10 days and home for 4.

It's a lot easier if you have friends/family to stay in touch with and "keep you in the loop".

Good luck, and remember, we are the backbone of the North American economy. Take pride in it, and learn as much as you can from whoever you can. It gets easier.

 

I know one lady trucker, she makes "friends" very easly and once in a while she is meeting one or another on the road for a cup of coffee or a meal together. She also got 3 dogs in the truck... she says that helps her not to feel so alone.

 

Your husband is a lucky man indeed.

 

I would think Germangirl was thinking about something that runs deeper than the BS we send back and forth with fork lift drivers, other truckers and the like. There is no real connection at a truck stop beyond some general "brotherly" trucking thing and believe me, after being at a few now, if one looks to a truck stop or shipper/reciever for emotional connection or a feeling of "home" that German girl i believe is referring to, at these places you'd be better off looking for gold in a tree trunk.

"Alone" for many means a deprivation of a true personal, emotional connection. A truck stop is full of people who sit, walk, eat and watch movies together and yet are very alone. I'm one of them when there.

Thank heavens tho that my wife is supporting me in this, that I'll spend a year to a year and a half OTR getting experience and then get one of dozens of local jobs here that require such experience. I am blessed that because of my wife I'm never truly alone out there! Therefore, I cannot completely share Germangirls feelings but I can offer something...

I can offer that it may be possible still to find that someone, even if you are gone from anywhere you might call home for weeks at a time, and if that someone is right for you then perhaps you will not be alone! Maybe not today, next week or next month, but it's possible just the same.

One last thing, please. Remember how much YOU are worth, how wonderful each of us is, by simply being. ...Whether or not there is a special someone waiting for you. If you only remember one stinking paragraph here, make it this one.

 

Many years ago i was told this career was a mindset...far off from what most call normal. I guess you have to change the way you view life to be OTR. I make it work and adapt....this is now normal to me. what was once normal seems constricting anymore. Lonely maybe...but also a great time to self reflect. but yes alone 22 days a month....

 

It has to become, Home is where the Heart is.

 

In general I think men and women have a different take on friends and family, I have very few friends, I know lots of people but very few of them are friends and we are here for each other good or bad forever.

Some we have shared life threatening and changing experiences with, And even if long spans of time come and go we still have each others back. Anything less then they were never friends to start with.

Family we don't get to choose. But then they are after all a part of us that is a place no one else can replace.

I do enjoy meeting drivers, visiting during meals, etc..... I stop at Petro Las Vegas mostly. So I see some of the same people.