Profile For Leviathan

Rob and Brett

Thanks guys, you especially Rob on the waiting advice. I think you're right, I need to get moved and settled before I start on this journey if that's what I'm going to do. The plan is to move sooner than later, so I can hold off and keep on studying for now.

If I have any other questions, or I start down this path, I'll be sure to keep a journal here.

Thanks Susan! I'll do some research on your company in the morning. I've been looking hard at roehl and schnieder, as they both offer paid training and assistance, but I also live right by Owens community college in Ohio, and they have a CDL course I could just as easily take on my own. I have read however that it's easier to get into trucking through a company program than to get your CDL on your own first tho...not sure how accurate that is.

Technically, I run my own online business, so it's not as if I don't work at all? Not sure if that counts. Given the number of interviews I was offered today in my old industry, it seems to be working out...but sadly those kind of wages barely pay bills. Forget putting three kids in school or retiring.

The other part to consider is, how will you family get along with you being gone. This is the part I struggle with as well. Like you, I handle most of the house stuff because my work schedule allows it and my wife's doesn't.

I also recommend reading Rob's local diary under the CDL training diaries section. Being local gives you no home time. You work 14 hours, sometimes more. You have to hustle to get your work load done in that time and leaves you enough time to eat, shower and sleep before doing it again.

My kids will hate it at first. I don't know how they'll adjust over time. My wife? I think she'd be glad to have me gone, sadly.

I'll read Rob's diary, thanks for the suggestion. I'd heard local drivers can be a pain with home time, but I've also heard of instances where it's not so bad, so I'm kinda torn. The consistent message I read is that it's way more stressful due to driving intercity, so that's a consideration too.

You stated that you've been unemployed for 7 years and your wife just recently sprung a divorce on you. Is her unhappiness coming from a financial standpoint or is their more to it? I only ask because 7 years is a long time to just all of a sudden be at this point. Another question to consider is, are you happy in your marriage? It's a tough question, but one I've wrestled with at different points in my marriage.

It's primarily financial. You could spiral it back and find linked problems of course - Stress from finances leads to distance in the relationship, no money for gifts or outings together, intimacy wanes, bitterness sets in, and after years of complaining with no resolution....The wife just wants out. She doesn't care that I've been the day care provider, the cook, and the dish washer for this long. She's not happy with me anymore and says she has no feelings left for me, wants to move on. I have a fleeting hope that if I can find work (and I'm looking elsewhere for now) that I might have a hope of fixing things, but that's a long shot I'm not stupid enough to bet on.

As for me, I love my wife and kids, very much. The last thing I want to do is lose them, and I'm willing to sacrifice whatever I need to in order to make things work and provide for them. At the very least, to be a father my kids can be proud of. No matter what happens with her and I, I want to be there for them especially. If that sacrifice means a life on the road for a year or two before I can get something local, then that'll be what I try to do. I can say without question that OTR can not and will not be my entire life. I had a grandfather that did that, and he died on the road in an accident. Sure it could happen local too, but at least that risk with adequate home time is acceptable to me. Gone months at a time tho? Not so much. I don't need to make 100k a year to be happy (but knowing my addiction to money, who knows how I'll feel eventually about that), just enough to provide a future for my family and eventually retire some day.

Currently, I live in NW Ohio, but will be moving to Wisconsin. (She's taking the kids there, so I don't have a choice but to follow unless I want things to get ugly. That's not good for the kids) I've looked into places like walmart, and so far I've had no luck finding any that provide training/CDL assistance, or that don't require a CDL or experience. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places since I've seen that sentiment mentioned here a few times.

Hey everyone. I've been lurking here for a bit now, reading advice and trying to wrestle with an ugly decision. First, a super short backstory -

I'm a father of three and husband of 12 years. I'm 41 this April, and spent nearly half my life with my wife and family. I've been a stay at home dad for seven years due to the economy and my 10 year long career in the office moving out of state. The financial burdens this has caused has done damage to me, but more importantly it's destroyed my marriage. My wife told me last week that she wants a divorce. I'm apparently going to lose the only family and support I have, and if I don't find a way to start over, I'm going to end up homeless. Pretty great, eh?

Obviously, the head space I'm in is terrible, and taking on any new job is probably something everyone will think I shouldn't do, but there's no choices left for me. It's do, or die pretty much. That's what lead me here...to wrestle with the decision to go into trucking to make ends meet and hopefully provide for a family that soon won't want me anyway. (My kids always will, but I don't know that I have any hope of fixing it with my wife)

Am I fooling myself with looking at this industry? Most people won't hire a stay at home dad, let alone pay them a living wage. If I can't find a way to survive this, then there's not much point in trying. Trucking looks like a viable way out and forward, even if the time away from my kids is going to grind my already broken heart.