The reason I’m sharing our personal experiences with this is to help people understand the truly tension-packed environment at truck driving school, and how it may affect your spouse. Everyone’s marriage is different, so everyone’s experience will be unique, but there will be common issues for sure. And things will pop up that you never even considered. I’m being completely, 100% honest here, because I don’t think glossing over the tough stuff would be very helpful!

This is a summary of what I’ve learned from many experienced truckers on TruckingTruth, plus the perspective I’ve gained as my husband went through the classroom training during August-September, 2009.

I love being a truck driver, and certainly plan on doing this for a while. I’ve also found that as my experience grows, my enjoyment also continues to grow. I’m still considered a rookie with only 8 months experience, but the little experience I have is already paying off.

I have to admit there have been times, during the first 3 weeks of this experience, where I began to feel that the entire trucking industry might be orchestrated by a bunch of mad scientists conducting some kind of evil psychological experiment. And we (the students, drivers and their families) are their human guinea pigs. Seriously though, it’s been a wild little ride so far, and I’m sure that will continue. Here’s more……

As hard as you think becoming a truck driver will be, it’s even harder. All the stress has made me lose 10 lbs since we started packing for school a few weeks ago.

Sometimes you’re put in a position as a driver where you just can’t win. One day I was leaving the shipper with a heavy load and was pulled over to see if my weight was legal. Problem was, I never got a chance to weight it myself - they nailed me on the way to the scale. What is a driver supposed to do?

The number of Federal Rules and Regulations for truck drivers and trucking companies has continuously increased over the years, along with stricter enforcement both on and off the highways. A recent announcement by the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration shows that there will be even greater scrutiny just around the corner.

Well, I spoke to Randy for nearly an hour last night about his first full day at truck driving school, and it was over a 12-hour marathon starting at 7 am. Ha, he thinks I’m a genius now for all the research I’ve done!

Well it’s Sunday and I have just completed my first week of truck driving school. This is my first and only day off for this week! What a week it has been!

Recently I heard a story of a truck driving student who was on the road with a trainer and discovered that the trainer was smoking pot in the truck while the student was driving. How did the student handle this? Did it backfire on him? There are some things that everyone needs to understand about the realities of life in the trucking industry.

Randy and I have been together now for nearly 29 years. When our business began to really struggle due to the economy and our children were successfully raised and on their own, we decided it was time for a change.

Let me start out by saying I entered trucking in 2001 because I needed a job. A job that paid a livable wage. So I entered as a warm body that companies put in the drivers seat. My pleas for an office duty/inside job were not being heard. At first this new driving thing was not too bad, but soon the newness and “fun” wears off.

Sometimes trips go very smoothly, and other times trips are incredibly challenging, like the one I just had. This is the reality of truck driving. Are you up for the challenge?

If you ask drivers what the golden rule of safety is, you’ll get a lot of different answers - and all of them are likely to be important. But let’s boil this topic down to it’s most simplest form - the one golden rule of trucking….

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 6 months already. I’ve completed training, and have been on my own now for a couple months. So, I thought I’d share a few of my initial impressions of my early truck driving career, having experienced it for 6 months now.