Comments By Pianoman

I’m sitting again for the second time this week. I got layover on Monday and it looks like I’m gonna get it again today. Hometime is coming up on Friday so I’m sure that’s part of it.

I feel your pain. I finished my last load on Saturday and I’ve been sitting ever since then. I’ll get layover for today which is nice but I think it’s tough for them to find loads for me for the same reason…hometime coming up on the 22nd. I’m planning on staying out for a couple months after this so I don’t have to deal with this for a while hopefully

One podcast I listen to a lot is the Dave Ramsey show. This podcast really has sound advice for managing your money, so it would be a two birds with one stone thing for you.

Ramsey combines his financial advice with his Christian religious zeal, which turns some people off. I don’t like that aspect of his show, but I filter it out because the financial aspect is so great, in my opinion.

Interestingly. The financial self discipline Ramsay expounds can be the same type of self discipline needed to manage your driving life. It’s all about establishing goals and then managing your finances and driving so as to accomplish your goals.

Might help you pass the time and learn good stuff at the same time.

Thanks Bruce I’ll check that one out for sure!

I haven't been driving nearly as long as you Pianoman but routine was mentioned. My routine starts with what I consider easy music, which lately has been Noah Kahan. I'll play that station on Pandora until I'm more livened up, as I try to start in the middle of the night as much as I can. Then I change to other genres, or if I can't pick one, I put it on Shuffle. Music and phone calls are my go-to as I haven't gotten into podcasts or audio books. My number's in my profile if you ever need a new chattin buddy. I went through something similar in my last career which led me to trucking.

Good to hear from you Sandman! I’ll shoot you a text right now actually. I’m not driving tonight because they couldn’t find me a load today (hometime coming up) but hopefully I’ll be heading out tomorrow.

Thanks for sharing your routine. I know you’d think I would have a good routine already since I've been driving for several years but seriously I haven’t ran my 11 out every day like I do now since years ago. I really don’t have a routine built up for this sort of thing so I’m all ears.

Honestly, i do what Kearsey does quite often. I'll dink around for two hours walking my dogs or Uber somewhere interesting. Then I'll take a complete ten. It just breaks up the monotony knowing you have some time to be a total screw-off. Just make sure that you have that 8 hours uninterrupted SB.

I actually got sucked into listening to live trial coverage, with the Depp VS Heard trial. Emily D Baker is a former prosecutor, and breaks down everything as it happens. She is quite often outpacing legacy media with concurrent viewers during live trials. The SC VS Murdoch trial. The Rust shooting trial of NM VS Gutierrez. The Bankruptcy and theft shenanigans of Tom Girardi and his ex wife Erica Jayne. She is hilarious, and there is something about her tone that I can listen to her all day and not feel bored or wiped out.

Audible is my life saver, with over 120 books in the last three years. From thrillers to biographies, trashy romance, to history, it brings it's own level of entertainment. I have to be careful about who the reader is, or they could get on my nerves. Heck, I listened to the Terminal List by Jack Carr and it's subsequent books, read by Ray Porter a total of 5 times all the way through.

Also, remember the advice given to newbies, about sticking it out for the first year at your starter company? There is a reason for that, beyond the job hopping. It's to allow time for the drastic lifestyle changes inherently attached to OTR driving to shake out, and find your groove.

I personally think you may be fighting the "what was" vs "what is" scenario. Give lots of things a try, and adopt what works best for you, and drop what you think you dislike.

Sorry Nae Nae, didn’t mean to ignore your reply. I read it last night and have been thinking a lot about what you said about sticking with it for a year like we encourage newbies to do. I do generally try to stay anywhere I go for at least 1-2 years. I’ve been disappointed because this wasn’t the job I wanted but unfortunately I just don’t have the options that I want right now. This is a good job that I was fortunate to get and so far they’ve been doing a great job of keeping me busy. All of you have said the same thing and I’m going to heed the advice you all gave. I greatly appreciate it.

Also 120+ books is craaazy. I find it so hard to pay attention to an audiobook while I’m driving! I’m gonna set some audiobook goals for myself this year. Maybe 10 is a good starting goal for this year?

Honestly this whole thing is dumb. Who cares if Packrat is a chronic liar. It just really surprised a lot of us. I don’t dig into people’s personal lives on the forum so I didn’t see it coming but he got exactly the response he deserved.

If I spoke up today and told everyone I have 3 DUIs or I’m actually a couch potato who doesn’t work and I’ve been making everything up for the last 8 years, I don’t think that news would get a very positive reception either. I don’t know anyone who likes a chronic liar

Its not really a rolling split cause i will still take a 10hr break.

I have a google maps of hotels with truck parking if u want to email me. It wont link here. Go swimming at the hotel!

Truckingalongfun@gmail.com

Oh gotcha, makes sense.

Yeah I’ll email ya!

I went through something like you are going through now. I suddenly hated driving and was thinking of looking for something else. I knew it is going to be hard to find if not impossible to find a job that pays six figures like I had grown accustomed to, but money isn't everything.

Then one day out of the blue I realized life isn't so bad trucking and I have been content everyday since.

I'd give it some more time before throwing in the towel.

I most likely will pick a new career at some point but I am planning on waiting until I have paid off all my debt and ideally I’ll wait until I’ve saved up some money first. With the low cost of living in WV and no debt, I could afford a huge pay cut. I still want to make good money but any new career is at least temporarily going to require a pay cut.

I’m glad you commented because I know from past conversations on the forum you and I have very similar thought processes about driver pay. I can’t help but think my attitude about pay is not helping my current dissatisfaction lol. I don’t think about the pay too much now that I sold the house but it’s difficult not to notice the differences between a good paying local job vs what is considered a good paying OTR gig. The overall pay is similar but OTR drivers really take the cake when it comes to unpaid hours worked.

I try not to think about it but I think it’s always in the back of my mind to some extent

Sorry for all the comments 😬I’m trying to keep up with responding to all the great feedback from all of you.

Rob did a great job of paying off debt! Congrats! I paid off $70k in 2 years but its just me, no family.

Congrats to you too!! $70k in 2 years is nothing to sneeze at.

I often drive for 5 hours then stop for 2 hours. Eat, take a walk, take my shower then drive another 5 hours.

“Rolling splits” as I like to call them are so difficult to maintain in my opinion so hats off to you for being able to do that. I can do it if I need to but I end up tired as hell if I just do back to back sleeper splits all the time.

Before i had a home, i made it a point to get a hotel room from time to time.

Maybe try to learn something. I learned how to edit my videos. Try to learn playing a keyboard or guitar? Draw?

It’s funny you say that because that’s actually exactly what I did this weekend lol. I’m typing all this from a hotel room in Seneca, SC. It’s so important to get out of the truck sometimes.

I’ve been thinking of picking up guitar or violin maybe. I play piano already so I’m thinking of an instrument that might go well with piano if I ever decided to make my own covers.

Im wondering if it might be possible for you to run more series of shorter loads, somewhat like regional for them, but more like connecting smaller loads, perhaps at least multi stop loads. Again, with us, once I get in a certain region or lane, they will keep me in that area for a few days to a week.

That’s a great suggestion Davy. I never thought of that but I do know we have different load planners for different areas of the country so it could be a possibility. After this next home time I have scheduled I think I’m going to try just staying out for a couple months so I can see how they actually run and what their lanes are. They may even have a dedicated lane I can run for a while if I want something different but it just wouldn’t be in the area I live in.

Your point about talking to yourself is hilarious but it brings up a good point. I used to drive in silence all the time and I haven’t really done much of that in a few years. Some good old fashioned alone time and introspection probably wouldn’t hurt.