Question About Starting New Life On The Road

I have been living in my elderly mother's home while acting as her caregiver. She recently passed away, and I will need to move soon when the house is sold. Before that happens, I should have my CDL and a new job as an OTR truck driver if all goes as planned.

I am wondering where to move to under the circumstances though. I was wondering what other drivers have done when they don't have a permanent home at first. I was thinking that I might just rent one of those weekly motel suites like Residence Inns during my days off until I am able to move into a permanent apartment. Heck, I'm not even sure renting an apartment is worth it, since I will only be home for a few days a month. Seems to me a motel near my home terminal would be more economical all the way around. Four nights at Residence Inn in Dallas for example would cost less than four hundred dollars, with no other bills for stuff like utilities, cable, internet, etc. For an address, I would just rent a mailbox from one of those places that give you an actual street address like Mailboxes Etc.

Surely there must be other OTR drivers that have been in this spot. What do they do for "home" when they come off the road after four or five weeks for their days off?

Tim, legally, you just need a mailing address in your home state. It could be a friends house, a relitive's home, etc. But it IS required by law. This will be the address on your CDL , where your mail goes, etc. That being said, you don't have to rent anything while your on the road. AND you can take your "home time" anywhere you want !! When TSB and I were living in our truck, we had our mail go to his sisters place. That was our residence of record. But we took "home time" in Las Vegas, Florida, NC,SC, AZ...anywhere we wanted to get out of the truck, rent a car, and go do tourist stuff. I'm sure that all companies allow their company drivers to do the same. We had all our belongings in storage, including our vehicles. I really liked parking in a secure lot (we paid for this) and renting a car, grabbing our fishing stuff, and going dock fishing. we also went charter fishing in FL and on the Oregon coast. You will be able to park the company truck at a terminal , or other approved secure area.

Tim, legally, you just need a mailing address in your home state. It could be a friends house, a relitive's home, etc. But it IS required by law. This will be the address on your CDL , where your mail goes, etc. That being said, you don't have to rent anything while your on the road. AND you can take your "home time" anywhere you want !! When TSB and I were living in our truck, we had our mail go to his sisters place. That was our residence of record. But we took "home time" in Las Vegas, Florida, NC,SC, AZ...anywhere we wanted to get out of the truck, rent a car, and go do tourist stuff. I'm sure that all companies allow their company drivers to do the same. We had all our belongings in storage, including our vehicles. I really liked parking in a secure lot (we paid for this) and renting a car, grabbing our fishing stuff, and going dock fishing. we also went charter fishing in FL and on the Oregon coast. You will be able to park the company truck at a terminal , or other approved secure area.

That sounds a lot like the life I am looking for. I just want to be on the road seeing the country. Not having an actual residence just seems like it would give one incredible freedom. So lets say I go to work for Swift, and I live in Texas. I know they have terminals in Dallas and Laredo. Would they not consider one of these terminals my base normally?

Tim, I can't answer for Swift's policy, but I can tell you in general that your terminal base doesn't have to be close to your home address. My home terminal is a thousand miles from my home. As long as you're driving your truck home it doesn't really matter where the terminal is. The great freedom of not actually having a home is that you can tell your dispatcher "hey could you figure out how to get me to Arizona, I'd like to take about three days off at the Grand Canyon ". As long as your request is within your company's freight lanes they will accommodate you. Of course even if you have a home somewhere you can still request home time in other places.

Hey Tim, I'm in a similar boat as yourself and I'm just getting started in trying to get into the industry of trucking. I can tell you how I got my stuff set up and maybe this will help. I'm 30 single, and no kids. I gave up my place of residence and have my things in storage in the basement at my brothers house in Atlanta. As far as my car I will driving it to MS to let my mother drive it, her car is starting to be on the fritz, and my motorcycle I will be keeping at my brothers house in his garage. So if I take home time in either of those places I have something to get around town. As my place of residence I have my brothers address on my license but my important mail for bills and such I've routed to my moms home in MS so she can open it and tell me whats going on if any issues should arise. I've already talked to the people within the company I'm trying to drive for and they say it shouldn't be an issue to take home time at a location other than the place I call home. Before I considered getting into the industry, my previous job I was always off on weekends and I would travel to see certain friends in different states, so in these places I have what I call "To Go" bags which are basically just overnight bags where I would change clothes and wash n dry the old ones and put them back in the "TO Go" bag and leave them there for the next time I come through. I have about 12 of these sorted in 5 different states. Everyone on the site is always saying that the first year is always the roughest so I figure what better way to relieve some stress and tension of the job by taking a few days off in a resort in Fl and going to an amusement park or in Vegas or any other spot I choose to hit the reset button before I get back out there and get truckin. I hope this helps.

One thing I wonder about is where to leave my car. I don't have any relatives near terminals unfortunately. The closest Swift terminal that I have relatives is Laredo at 120 miles. I have read that many drivers leave their cars at the terminal while on the road. Just how safe and secure are these terminal parking lots?

I've heard that they are well secured but don't know myself. I am currently trying to decide what to do with my car. I'm not worried much about security, but am concerned about it sitting for long periods of time not being used. I think I will leave it with mu mom to drive every week or so to keep it moving.

I've heard that they are well secured but don't know myself. I am currently trying to decide what to do with my car. I'm not worried much about security, but am concerned about it sitting for long periods of time not being used. I think I will leave it with mu mom to drive every week or so to keep it moving.

I thought about that problem too. A good battery should hold a charge for a month I would think.

I've heard that they are well secured but don't know myself. I am currently trying to decide what to do with my car. I'm not worried much about security, but am concerned about it sitting for long periods of time not being used. I think I will leave it with mu mom to drive every week or so to keep it moving.

I thought about that problem too. A good battery should hold a charge for a month I would think.

I leave my 2002 Jeep for 3 moths at a time parked outside and it starts every time right away. I do put a sun shield in the window and be sure to unplug GPS or anything you may have plugged in.

Yeah, if you still owe $$ on your vehicle, its kinda a bummer. But most terminals are very secure...and since its your car on their ground, I'd think they have insurance covering it, just as they would cover any vehicle that any employee parks on their ground. We parked our Dodge for months and months, and never lost anything out of, or off of it. Car covers are relatively cheap, and we found that it was a great help for keeping our rig a little cleaner, and also, no one knows whats under the thing. It really helps sun fade, both outside, and anything inside, that would suffer from magnification thru the windows...

If your vehicle is paid for, put limited liability insurance on it, (the cheap stuff) and go enjoy your trucking adventure !!!!! Cars are cheap and easy to get....unlike a bunch of years doing what you want and getting paid for it.