Profile For IDMtnGal

Howdy! I too had a chauffeur license & drove '88-92 as a team driver for 3 different companies with different male & female drivers. Being the oldest of 5 brothers and 1 sister (passed in 2009) & having done 14 yrs on active duty in the Air Force, I never had problems with men.

Then the last co-driver became a husband & wanted off the road to be a cowboy....ranch hand on cattle ranches. I tried to keep my chauffeur license but was told I needed a CDL & I wasn't grandfathered in. ****ed me off! But life moves on. I learned to raise bum (orphaned) lambs & calves :-D

In Aug 1996 the husband suffered two Traumatic Brain Injuries 45 hrs apart. He required a fair amount of care at first but then required less for a few years. Then around 2007 he started going downhill & requiring more care. In 2008 Workers Comp started paying me to care for him. We moved from Montana with our goats (he wanted some & we took to raising registered dairy Saanens), a mini horse & her mini mule baby. In 2009, he started going downhill again & it was determined that the Fentanyl pain patch was his problem (on it for 11 yrs and on 100 mcg), so was put in rehab & weaned off some meds. I truly believe it was the Fentanyl pain patch that caused his decline. Over the next 4 yrs it got harder to care for him.

In July 2014, at the age of 63, I went to school & got my CDL. An older lady helped me with the husband. Her son & D-i-L recommended the school & then hired me. In the meantime, the husband was getting more violent so was placed in a nursing home. He fell, broke his hip on Labor Day Sunday. That surgery went well, but the hospital did not check the cut near his temple & I believe he was leaking blood in his brain. After a unit of blood, I had to make a decision to either do heroics or let him go. Tough decision, but at 74, there was only one.

Three weeks later I went teaming with my brother cause the insurance company said my 4 yrs experience before didn't count. 2.5 mths later, I was ready to quit & let my brother drive for this guy or kill him ;-) Our boss needed another driver & was able to split us up. I had driven solo only once 30 yrs before & going out by myself was very intimidating but I really didn't want to change companies & go out for England, Swift, etc. The first several months were tough trying to do logs as a solo person, but I finally understood how to. I will never run team ever again!!

I just turned 68 on 26 Jul, don't look my age...get people guess I'm in my early 50s & are surprised that I am as old as I am & driving truck. Currently I get a monthly SS death benefit from my husband. In 2 years, I will draw my Soc. Sec & I'll see if I will stay out longer or retire to travel to see friends and family (make a nuisance of myself ;-) ). Laura

I'm an old fart....will be 68 in July. I run hard doing 600 - 730 mile days. My Boss let's me run how I want to. He just has me get with the load planner that he leases with. She knows now how I can run and plans accordingly. So a 1500 mile trip, she plans on 2.5 days....or if I pick up at 0900 on Monday, she knows that I can deliver at 1500 on Weds. I run 6 to 10 days (excluding weather delays) and home for 36-48 hrs. If I need extra time on the road so I can stop to see friends and family, I just let her know and she schedules accordingly. I've been with my Boss 6 mths now. He's the same age as my baby daughter (41) so I told him when he hired me that I'm old enough to be his mother and to respect his elders. :-D We get along very well.

Well, it does work for a few. Dave Reed recently says he does it and then takes a mega vacation. I think it appeals more to us old farts than to you young bucks. And yes, I am talking about you Brett, you party animal

The comments will tell you why this Black Smoke Matters group will not succeed. There is still name calling (steering wheel holder, etc), putting down drivers at Swift, JB Hunt, etc even though they want to help. It's actually a few old timers that want the old ways to come back and not realize that all professions change.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1730503873636664/permalink/2201949493158764/

I get text messages from WYODOT for I-80 and US 30. These came a bit ago, but have been going on for hours....the 8 to 10 hours keep getting pushed out:

I80: Exit 187, Creston Jct - Rawlins: Closed BOTH DIR due to local authority request. As of Jan 22 at 01:52, the est open time is in 8 to 10 hours. Exit 111, Airport and Baxter Roads closed by local authority request

US30: I-80 Exit 187, Creston Jct - Rawlins: Closed BOTH DIR due to local authority request. Rawlins - I-80 Exit 235, Walcott Jct: Closed WB due to local authority request

I80: Evanston - Exit 30, Bigelow Rd and Exit 83, La Barge Rd - Exit 111, Airport and Baxter Roads: Closed EB due to local authority request. As of Jan 22 at 01:53 the best open time is in 8 to 10 hours.

I got my chauffeur license in 1988 when I got out of the Air Force at 36. I drove 3.5 yrs, getting off the road cause the husband hated driving. He wanted to be a cowboy (ranch hand). Six yrs after getting married, he had 2 Traumatic Brain injuries about 45 hrs apart. For the next 18 yrs I took care of him. Having burnt out in 2012 taking care of him, I learned that I would need help which I did get it by people coming in and helping me or he went to the nursing home for daycare.

In 2014 I realized I was burning out again and it was becoming too much to deal with his dementia which had been progressing and he had to be placed in a home. So I looked for work that I could do in Twin Falls, Idaho. Being that Idaho is a right to work state, wages are not very high unless you are technically skilled in something. Couldn't find anything that paid worth diddley and was complaining to a brother. He got his CDL at 62. He suggested that I get my CDL. I told him the driving part wouldn't be hard, but I sure couldn't lump a load anymore. He just laughed and told me that docks loaded/unloaded or hired lumpers. So, the first week of school, I turned 63 and got my CDL. The husband was placed in a nursing home and 8 days later, on Labor Day weekend, he fell, breaking his hip and hitting his head. The hip surgery went very well but no one thought to check his head. Apparently he was bleeding into his brain. When he was given a unit of blood, that caused the vein to pop, and that did him in on top of the pneumonia he developed. A company with 4 trucks had hired my brother and I, but sent my brother out while I took care of the funeral and paperwork, etc. I started driving 3 weeks later.

At that time people thought I was in my late 60s :-( Caregiving is not for the faint of heart! Now people think I'm in my 50s :-D I will be 67 the end of July. I am running a dedicated route from KS, CO or OK picking up fresh beef or pork that I run to the port in Oakland CA. Then I get a back haul to Salt Lake City or the Denver area. I'm running 3000to 3200 miles every 7 days. I go home every 4 to 5 weeks. Do I get tired. Yeah about 4weeks out and I'm ready to go home. But need Memorial weekend off so I can take my bucks (male goats) to a big goat show in Boise :-) then I will stay out just 4 weeks.

My last company I drove for (got their doors shut by DOT) had a really bad score. I got pulled in 5 times in 4 weeks after one of our drivers was involved in a wreck that killed the 4-wheeler. My first inspection showed me 15 mins over my 70....math error on my part. The inspector told me about "Recap" an app in google play. After I got that installed, no more math or other errors.

Could it be a state thing? NJ told.me i would have to get the drug test with the DOT....but then i went to Prime and every physical came another drug test.

Because I'm on BP meds, I have to get a physical every year. I have also changed companies a couple times. EVERY time a drug test has been done....which I don't care cause I've never done drugs.

25830 lbs fresh beef in a 40 ft container, from National Beef in Dodge City, KS. 1554 miles to TraPac Port in Oakland, Calif.