Why do we stay OTR?

^^^Yup!^^^ that is my major motivation. I just turned 61 last month. If all goes well, I'll hang up the keys at 65. That'll be over 9 years total for me. I have purchased 3 rental properties since I started. They will be free and clear by the time I'm 65. I'll live in one keep the other 2 rented. I am low maintenance, don't spend much money on cars, toys, electronics, etc. You can bet your ### I won't be spending any money on TRAVEL!!! 800,000 or so miles is enough "traveling" for me. Lol

 

Yeah i’m pretty young with a pretty fortunate living situation. I’ve managed to build a cool gun collection and save up a real good chunk of change.

 

That is a required and legitimate use of a percentage of your wages. Ammunition is also!

 

I like it being independent. I can go both way I can go otr when I want to or I can run local. I did stop running for a while when my children were longer. I saw a changing moment when my my son wanted to play catch with his sisters and they didn't want to. I was watching the whole scenario walking up to the house. He dropped his head and I said time for to be home more often.
I actually took him for a ride 14 years ago out west. I sent him a picture today of the place in SLC Utah we were at he was amazed at the beauty of it. He is 19 now. I enjoy driving it fits my personality it doesn't matter local otr or NYC (I grew up in Connecticut). My marriage is beautiful as well. To me it is finding what makes you content and is good for your family. All the best to all of my local & otr truckers keep America moving

 

i only made it to (about) 3.5 million miles (give or take a couple hundred i'd say), and if i have to go to walmart, 6 miles away, it's like going to California.

which is why, Amazon, FedEx, UPS, and the USPS, are my friends.

 

That is a lot of miles. You need a Limo and a driver. You deserve it! Maybe Jerry Moyes or Kevin Knight will hook you up! Lol

 

Some of us prefer OTR because we don’t wanna engage in the rat race that some locals deal with. Been in a day cab with a large company for 2 years about 10 years ago. Live loads/unloads, competition among the other locals. I kicked their butts, but found myself getting crazy at times. Had to get away before I did something stupid

 

Im the same way running the northwest.. Find myself onthe stressful days just wanna get a load and run acrosss to the other side of the country... but then i remeber what a bad day feels like when ur 3k miles away from home and never see a familiar face and you got 3 more weeks out here before u can get back home again. .... My hats off to the otr guys , i cant do it anymore.

 

Being home daily can easily just become a rat race. You race to get your day started on-time, or early, so it ends on-time or early, or to avoid rush hour etc. Most home daily jobs may give you exactly 10 hours off into which you have to squeeze two commutes, family/chores, sleep, and showers. If your day starts very early or very late there is constant pressure to give up rest to socialize with normal people.

It can be both very boring and very frustrating. I got to the point I knew the license plates of vehicles that were going to try and create a crash at key points in my route. And those cars would do that almost every day.

OTR has a ton of variety which helps & hurts, but it's always different. And it usually pays more.

 

Spot on. 10 hours goes by way too fast when you cram all of the above mentioned things into it. I frequently get more sleep on the nights that I don't make it home. A movie in the truck, a video chat with the family and then lights out. And the pressure to race the clock with a governed truck to park with 30 seconds left on the clock to get by the house is real. Once I accept on a given day that I won't make it back, the pressure is gone.