Comments By Colleen W.

Welcome aboard. Your story is familiar to a lot of us on the board. Having to start over at the age where most the work force are looking at retirement is not an easy thing to do. I would have love to have continued in the field I spent the last 9 years in but no one was hiring a 57 year old woman. Trucking doesn't seem to care about age, if you can pass the physical and get your CDL then you're in. Don't let the physical scare you. I worried so much my blood pressure went up (fortunately not enough for me to fail the physical). If you can see, if you can hear, if you can squat, walk on your tipping toes and heels, and if you're not on insulin you'll pass the physical. Oh and if your blood pressure isn't too high (can't remember the threshold). Meditate before you have your physical and if you have a pet, pet him/her to lower you pressure.

Hey Deb R looks like you have a pitty. Are you planning on taking him on the truck? I would love to take one of my dogs but they are both pit mixes and some of the companies I'm interested have a no pit bull policy.

Guy apparently there's a stereotype that if your a woman and a trucker then you must be a lesbian. Stupid though it is.

Brett you are so right. Carnegie, the great philanthropist, decided that his profits would be better if he cut wages and extend the work week to seven days. When the miners at Homestead stood up to him and struck the governor of Pennsylvania call in the National Guard to squelch the uprising. Because of unions we have safety protocols and child labor laws. We wouldn't have a wage scale if it weren't for unions. I'm a firm believer that in order to be successful in business you have to be relentless. I'm not talking about scratching out a living with a small business, I'm talking big business, Walton family type business. Walmart is the giant it is because of profit is more important than it's employees. Unions aren't always bad, sometimes they really do represent the workers. However today's unions are looking more like big business than workers representatives. My husband has been a member of the IBEW (electrical workers union) for about 30 years. I love him dearly but it he votes for whoever the union tells him to and he's an pretty smart man. I haven't seen much representation going on, when he was fired over a political move by a local councilman (he was the little guy who was caught in between industry and "civic leaders") the union turned the back on him when he asked them to help him. When construction tanked because of the recession instead of working with industry the union voted for a pay raise, not good timing. It seems it's difficult to tell unions from big business, they seem to be both self serving.

When I told my brother I was going into trucking he asked me what kind of tattoo I was getting and was I going to start smoking. When I told a friend I was going into trucking her comment was I didn't know you were gay. I kind of like smashing stereotyping.

I was also going to just get a class B license but instead decided to go ahead and get a class A. Class B training was about $2000 cheaper than Class A but if I went ahead and got the class A then I could not only drive dump trucks but if by chance I couldn't find a job or I found I didn't like driving dump trucks I would have more job options. Another factor in getting my class A instead of just a class B is that most of the local CDL schools had financial aid only if you were going to get your class A license. I know that you have a loan but you may want to apply for a Pell Grant which you don't have to pay off. I also found out that dump trucks get paid by load and it's pretty cut throat at least in this area.

Come OTR, we need more young people on the road! I never see anyone from my generation, just a whole lot of old people.

Okay now I believe that your 24.

I grew up in Wyoming and lived in Utah. I know what windy is, stay safe out there all of you that are in the storm areas.

Got my DOT physical yesterday. For those who may be concerned about it this is what they checked on me. Because I have had knee replacement surgery I had to show the doctor that I can bend over, squat, walk on my tippy toes and my heels. My eye sight was good, my blood pressure is just under the threshold (good enough to pass the physical, but not good enough for optimal health). I did tell the doctor I had been diagnosed with diabetes but have been able to control it with diet. Now I need a recent glucose test. I'm not going to sugar coated it, I'm 57 and fat so I need to be tested for sleep apnea. The doctor gave me a medical card but it's only good for 3 months. Once I get these tests done then I'll be okay, but the 3 month card gets me through school. Am I happy with this of course not but it's not a deal breaker and I figure it's the price for being able to live another 20-30 years.

Hello All, I just watched a documentary on YouTube, called "Big Rig": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ45iaQgJjk What are your thoughts on this documentary? I wasn't too fond of it, I felt it shows a biased view of the American Truck Driver. It seems they were looking for the stereotypical truck driver. This documentary filmed all owner operators, at extreme fuel prices, the height of the recession, and all rednecks with southern accents. I'd just like to know everyone elses opinion.

Best, Jason E.

I actually liked it and I didn't see it stereotyping. Yes a couple of the truckers had southern accents but one driver was Polish. Just a side note not all people with southern accents are rednecks and not all rednecks are southern. One school of thought is that the term redneck comes from the sunburned necks of those who worked in the fields. Another thought is that it comes from the miners from Appalachia. They wore red bandanas around their necks to signify solidarity when they struck for safer work conditions.