What is a typical week like?

Don't believe the recruiters! Same saying holds true for the military. They will sell their soul to the devil himself to get you into a truck.

 

If you eat at trucks stops exclusively:
$8 breakfast
$10 lunch
$10 dinner (conservatively)

equals $28 a day X 30 days (average month) $840!!! a Month!

There goes a whole week of income! Look at the cooking in the truck thread for many ways to save money.

My short OTR experience was regional based around chicago pulling refr trailers. It was nothing but drive as many miles as dispatch gives you. Shut down each day, shower, spend one hour relaxing and hit the bunk. Wake up half hour or an hour before you have to drive again.

Spend the next eleven hours trying to entertain yourself while the endless white lines roll by.

repeat.

See the wife three nights out of thirty.

Mikeeee

Oh, and don't step on the scale to see all the weight you gained from buffet food! hehehehee

 

You can drive 3500 to 4000 miles a week on the high side.Most get in 2000 to 2800 miles. There is an old saying that still holds true hurry up and wait. Thats what trucking is about.

 

drive, eat, sleep

repeat


Deliver load

pick up another

drive, eat, sleep

repeat

ect.

I eat out of my 12V cooler. heat in a 12V lunch box cooker.

basic,but is all I need

a whole lot cheaper.

I'm home on weekends, so I cook up stuff to take.

I do spend money on my morning coffee.

 

Like PM said, they are recruiters, it is their job to get you into a truck, and they know you can't do anything about it.
If you can take home that much a week...take it! How many miles you get can vary, where is the governor set? Where are you going...if you go into LA, Atlanta, Oakland, and places like that, you will be going slow, there has been times I spent ALL day in LA traffic just trying to make it to my appointment. How long you get stuck at a shipper or receiver, keep in mind, you are the new guy, you WILL NOT get the good stops. I have been to stops where lumpers have taken 10 of my 14 hours to unload.
When your out, you do sleep in your truck. Your driver manager has a job also, it is to keep you going as much a possible, but there may be a time, you want to get home, and your DM has other plans. Some companies are pretty good about getting you home, but keep in mind, your home time is way down on the list of what a DM has planned.
I am not trying to talk you out of it, I like driving, and I have been fortunate to have a DM that was able to work with me and he did keep me running, but the first company I worked for, I was out for a month, then home for drill weekend then back out for a month, a couple of times they did not even get me home for drill.
The company I work for now, gets me home every other night, and I am getting miles, the benefits of linehaul.

 

Don't forget waking up in the middle of the night trying to remember where you are.

 

I have done that at the house, and wondering "who climbed into the sleeper with me?"

 

You do live in your truck. I can't speak for OD, but I can't see saving that kind of money. I hope the best for you though.