Location:
Woodland, WA
Driving Status:
Considering A Career
Social Link:
Hi everyone, I'm so grateful to find this site. I haven't stopped reading and researching for like 4 days. Bless Brett and all the people that , moderate and contribute. 👏💕 Thank you for your time, wealth of knowledge and wisdom. Thanks to you, I'm not confused and I'm super excited to get started on my new season in life. I have some loose ends to tie up real quick and here I come.
I try to live life Gods way, not mans. I have been a single mom for 27 years. Never married. I have always been independent and a fixer/problem solver. I have a dog, cat, bird, and am a duck farmer. I like the outdoors, camping (not glamping), hunting (archery), fishing, and 4-wheeling. I took auto shop in HS and I can turn a few wrenches. So I think trucking will be perfect for me. I call myself a Jane of all trades. 😊 I did some fast food out of HS. I also worked at a body shop as a painters helper. After that, I was a dog groomer, hated it, plus the lady I was working for was only giving me enough work to make 50 bucks a day. I stayed home until my son was 1.5 yrs old and got a job at Freightliner in the paint dept. I worked my way up to Master Journeyman truck painter, for 6.5 yrs at the Portland Freightshaker plant (we all know what happened there in 2000) laid off. Went to heavy equipment school and LOVED pushing dirt, but nobody would hire unless you had 2 or more years experience. I had the opportunity to get my CDL at that time, but no money for the extra class. Been kicking myself ever since. 🙄 So I became a flagger and Traffic control supervisor for 11 years in Oregon and Washington. I used to tell people I got flipped off for a living, or that I played in traffic for a living. 🤣 Got some cool and not so cool stories to tell, and I lost count how many times I almost became a speed bump because of some idiot not paying attention behind the wheel. 😱 Btw, I always let the trucks roll through our zone if I could, and taught my trainees to give the same courtesy. 😉 Quit flagging because I got tired of coming home soaked to the bone for $10/hr and/or under employed in the winter. Here in the PNW, prevailing wage road work (where all the money is) is slim in the 8 months of crappy weather (I worked a lot of paving). After that, just some dead end or temp factory jobs and I made custom shoe orthotics for a while. My most recent job was at a dog boarding and daycare. I loved it, but was forced to quit because the owner kept cutting my hours because she couldn't afford it. My son is an adult now. I got nothin holding me down and momma wants to be free and see the country!
Posted: 5 years ago
View Topic:
What did you do before becoming a truck driver?
Jane of all trades. Lol. Fast food out of HS. Dog groomer, hated it, plus the lady I was working for was only giving me enough work to make 50 bucks a day. Then a Master Journeyman truck painter, for 6.5 yrs at the Portland Freightshaker plant (we all know what happened there in 2000) laid off. Went to heavy equipment school and LOVED pushing dirt, but nobody would hire unless you had 2 or more years experience. I had the opportunity to get my CDL at that time, but no money for the extra class. Been kicking myself ever since. 🙄 So I became a flagger and Traffic control supervisor for 11 years in Oregon and Washington. I used to tell people I got flipped off for a living, or that I played in traffic for a living. 🤣 Got some cool and not so cool stories to tell, and I lost count how many times I almost became a speed bump because of some idiot not paying attention behind the wheel. 😉 Btw, I always let the trucks roll through our zone if I could and trained my students to give the same courtesy. Quit because I got tired of being broke every winter because here in the PNW, prevailing wage road work (where all the money is) is slim in the 8 months of crappy weather. After that, just some dead end factory jobs and my most recent job was at a dog boarding and daycare. I loved it, but was forced to quit because she kept cutting my hours because she couldn't afford it. I was a single mom from the dog grooming forward. My son is an adult now and momma wants to be free and see the country!