Profile For Mr and Mrs B

Loved hearing Daniels reply on this one. Jesse, I understand how you feel...both my husband and I felt like we may be too old to just be getting started in trucking but this great couple came into where I worked and I started asking them about trucking. They were a few years older than my husband and I and had only been out on the road team driving for about a year and when I asked them about what made them get into it they simply replied they were tired of punching a time clock at jobs they didn't enjoy and they said they absolutely loved being out on the road and had no problem doing the job at their age or finding work at their age. We aren't quite in the trucking industry yet but we are working on it and it is really nice to be entering a field where maturity and experience are actually valued.

Thanks to both Deb and Daniel....I will start researching Prime and an upside is they are near us so no move involved. I've also heard some good things about Swift so maybe check into them as well. Some drivers are saying it is more worthwhile to pay your own tuition for your CDL rather than have to be tethered to a company for a year or more if they pay for your CDL training....any thoughts on that??

David...I will check out all the resources you listed and can't begin to tell you how helpful those resources are. Like I've said before, we've done over a year of research but it seems most of what you read is company bashing....some deserved I'm sure...but I am more interested in finding a stable company that we can build a career with. I know we may bounce around at first but we really aren't bouncers....once we sign on with a company we are pretty dedicated...so choosing the best one to get the best training etc...means the world to us as beginners. Thanks again!

Ricky....thank you so much for the information! I would never have guessed that the rider couldn't have their CDL though it makes perfect sense why companies wouldn't want to take the chance of a rider driving when they aren't employed by the company. Thanks so much for pointing that out!!

Thanks to everyone for their help. I think we have decided he will get his CDL and I will wait at least a year, ride with him, and then we can decide from there what to do. All of you have helped us to realize that him having me there to help him and both of us not trying to learn at the same time will probably be best for us. After a year, I will most likely get my CDL and then we can team drive and work our butts off for a few years and sock away any money earned. We really appreciate all the help we have received here and will continue reading everyone's posts to gain as much knowledge and understanding about the trucking industry as we can. We have a college not too far from here that offers CDL classes but if we choose any companies that sponsor training....like Swift or Prime...is their any one company that stands out above the others? Of course, like everyone else we've read the horror stories but try not to take too much stock in them because we fully understand that OTR trucking isn't an easy job and with the good comes the bad. Thanks!

David...thanks so much for your help. It is always scary to do something new and while both of us decided trucking was for us years ago now that we are getting ready to get started I won't lie...it is pretty scary lol There is just so much to think about but us deciding between team or solo driving seems to be our biggest obstacle right now. I think you both are right. The answer is obvious but we just needed someone to hit us over the head with it lol ....so thanks for doing that. I think me riding, helping him with what I can, and learning will be the best way to decide if we want to keep it that way or change over to team driving in the future. I really appreciate all the help I have received on this forum. Any ideas on some good companies for us to get started with? I can research all day but I've always trusted the word of those with experience. We are open to moving if needed so would love some good companies that will really give us solid training.

Daniel...it's like you know us well lol Thank you to you and C.S. for helping us to see really what we knew all along. My husband is from England and we've had to be separated at certain times in our lives so we are just not willing to give up our time together easily. I think you are right. Me riding at first and helping him with what I can while I can observe how things work in a truck and on the road will probably be the best thing for us, at least in the beginning. We are lucky in the fact that we do not have young children at home and our older children are doing well so we are blessed that money does not have to be the only deciding factor in this decision. Thank you both so much for your help. We have tried asking questions on other forums and people seem to just give negative views of trucking and try to discourage us from going for it at all. We know it isn't glamorous. We aren't glamorous people. We are just decent, hard-working people, that want to earn a decent living and live a peaceful life together. I think trucking will allow us to life our life together the way we need to live it. Wishing you both the best always!!

We've really been tossing it back and forth. While we want to make good money , at this stage in our life, our time together is most important. I would love to get some feedback about what a day in the life of a husband/wife team is really like. Some people say we wouldn't just be sleeping while the other one was driving because you can't sleep that long in a moving truck while other teams have said they did 11 hour shifts on and off with their spouse and that limited their time together. I guess I just want to figure out how much more is more money when team driving and see how other couples have made it work. Congratulations C.S. and best of luck to you and your fiancé! I'll keep my eye out for you on here to see how you are enjoying team driving....thanks again for the good advice!

My husband and I have decided to enroll in trucking school next year but we are trying to decide if the pay is truly worth us keeping that truck rolling 24/7 and missing out on time together or if it would benefit us more for him to solo drive, me to ride along, and I could make some money on the side online with a shop I already successfully operate.....any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Mrs. B

I tested out today and was assigned a truck so I am a Rookie Solo Driver!!!! I will be available to get my first solo load as of 0800 tomorrow. I am excited and terrified at the same time! Once I can get to a real computer I will change my status, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do it from my phone. This has not been an easy journey for me thus far and I am aware the really hard part is about to begin but I am ready for the challenge. Thank you for all of the support and information everyone has shared with me. Hopefully I will be able to pass information along as I spread my wings!!!

Best of luck to you! Congratulations!

The Bentons