What's it like day to day doing OTR?

Rather than tell you, it's possible to show you. There are thousands of YouTube trucking clips: truck stops, life on the road, backing into loading docks, truck accidents, weather, traffic, how to hook up, chain up, pretrip, driver snark and 'tude, etc. There are almost too many.

I'd start with:
http://www.youtube.com/results?sear...0.0.577203.16.10.0.6.6.0.94.765.10.10.0...0.0.
These are videos by a young Polish woman who came to the U.S., found trucking, and fell in love with it. At times, her clips make me want to get back on the road.

If you're curious about trucking in Europe, try Patrick's videos:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlu1G4Ena8M[/ame]

 

Thought I'd add this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=qt_-WHRm4No&NR=1
Lots of other videos on the sidebar.

 

If nothing has changed since April of 2011, werner in Lakeland will put you with one of Florida's trainers and all of them are on the Home Depot account. They all pretty much go home for the weekend. You'll go two miles into GA and spend the night at the Ta (looks like a Warner terminal) and then first thing in the morning you'll load at the DC and then spend all day making your drops, return to the TA for the night and repeat untill Friday. My trainer lived on the east coast and I lived in central FL, so I would have me wife meet us at the service plaza on the turn pike. I'd go home and he'd deliver then load then head home, we'd meet back there Sunday night and doo it all over again.

 

Allow me..... What is life in a truck like AFTER you finish school, after your training, when it's just you and your truck 24/7? I have a friend who is a driver and he seems to spend a lot of time sitting in a parking lot, sometimes for several days, or longer, waiting for a load, or waiting to be unloaded, or he pulls into business on Friday night that won't open again until Monday morning, etc., and he is stuck there. Some of these places are fairly remote so walking to Wal*Mart or to get something to eat, isn't possible.

 

Here's what you do,you're not happy with the way the trainer looks or his or her trk,call your dispatcher before you leave the terminal and they'll assign you another trainer.I did that with Werner.If they look slobbish and the trk is deplorable,do you actually think it'll get better while in training,highly unlikely.But if you do go with a trainer with good hygiiene just remember that's his or her trk and they're giving up alot sharing their trk.OTR with a trainer can be a pleasant exp if you listen to him or her and don't act like a know it all.I think that's one of the trainers biggest pet peeves is a trainee who knows everything.OTR with a student/trainer goes both ways.Student don't like the habits trainers have and visa versa.Ruger I think you're reading too much into what you think a trainer is likeI.highly doubt you're going to find one thats as bad as what you're post says,For the most part the majority or the trukers are good clean ppl.

 

1. Remember that the command is "Drive, drive,drive" not "Dive, dive dive".

2. No need to panic if you have water coming into your bunk area. You're not heading for "crush depth", you're just driving a leaky Freightliner in the rain.

3. I know the driver you mentioned. No worries, she's not interested in becoming your BFF anyhow.

4. Soul mate????? I don't think we offer that kind of service here. How long was you on that sub anyhow???

Serously tho.... OTR; you'll either love it or hate it. There ain't any middle ground. Best of luck to you.

 

Probably the best video series of life on the road comes from this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/user/journey95?ob=4&feature=results_main

He has 21 videos up describing his time on the road. They're very informative with really good narration. Sadly, for some reason, he stopped making them.

 

Great videos....... Thanks for the link!!

 

Just pay attention and be willing to learn and be willing to make some mistakes. But learn and ask questions.

First couple of days or ever weeks solo is going to be mind blowing but soon you'll be cruising along.

 

the best part of going with werner on that accountant is plenty of practice driving and backing in tight spaces Personally i would consider that at most a regional contract. OTR to me is not going home for 6-8 weeks considering your truck your home. Then you need to cook shower live in the beast and have better options I get a shower every day almost unless my 10 hour break is at a rest area I have tupperware containers full of leftovers that i wash in the shower. and enough food i dont need a TS except for fuel. I shop at Aldi's whenever possible and get coffee with my fuel points never spend more then $50/week unless I splurge on a buffet at Petro or buy enough chinese to eat for 3 days