I Want To Read More Positive Things About Trucking.

Ive been planning this change in careers for a few months now and I am finally starting Prime on the 22nd. My girlfriend is worried and I am stressed because of the time and distance but I know everything will be Ok and that by doing this it will open up a lot of opportunities for me in the future. With all that said, I would love to hear the good things about trucking and even from some wives. 90% of the stuff I read on glassdoor or indeed is all negative, and my girlfriend only sees bad stories from truckers wives. I know that only ****y people ***** and leave comments on these sites and that happy people have no reason to make a blog, but it would nice to start reading some good things. Take for instance the 10 hour rule, besides sleeping what else do you do to enjoy your time? are you able to sightsee at all?

I wouldn't think sight seeing is not on the top priority. At least not for me. You get to see a few nice vistas every once in a while though. Be it city scapes, mountain, lake, ocean, or whatever you like. I've even seen some most beautiful Canadian Geese fly over from a water take-off and fly over my truck while parked at a shipper. They flew so low I could hear the wind over their feathers. One that I'm glad I didn't miss in my lifetime anyway.

I've seen a bit of other wild life in various places too. Nothing to write home about but it makes a bit of a bonus for the day.

I have no experience with other companies. I've seen and heard a lot horror stories about them. Fortunately I landed in a good spot. I had a very good trainer (in my opinion) that showed me the ropes and the do's and don'ts of the industry.

I wouldn't put on this board what I know about trucking because I fear that my experiences are far from what the normal is. So I don't think it would apply in general and I wouldn't want to get other people to thinking they would get similar to my situation.

I didn't go into the trucking industry blind by the way, I had a brother that drove for about 10 years into it and rode and learned from him before I even considered getting behind the wheel. So I kind of already knew what was coming.

I guess the best advice I can offer is, you need to adapt to a new lifestyle as quickly as you can. If you have a hard time adapting to something new, you will probably find yourself having trouble at first. Forget about trying to change the world your first year out. Learn to do things their way first. Adapt and adjust the small things that you can control that don't affect others and the company much. Like for instance, you can sacrifice an hour or two of driving time for the day to push your driving schedule a little closer to where you would like it. This in turn has an effect on the jobs that come down for you to haul. I personally try to stay on a day-time traveling schedule. Because I am willing to suffer high traffic and other delays for the benefit of being well awake during my driving time. I seem to get more loads because most shippers and receivers tend to load and unload in the normal day hours too. So I get more variety in my loads.

I also, recommend "when the wheels aren't rolling, you need to be sleeping." And "When it's time to roll, keep the left door shut, and right foot down."

Which brings me to the 14 hour rule,... It just plain sucks. There's really no other way to put it. Whoever came up with the 14 hour timer needs to be taken out back and shot in the head. It makes you work your entire day in one long shift. You really can't stop and take a nap just because you'd like to (unless you're on paper logs and cheat it a little). Once the 14 hour clock starts, you can't stop it. You only reset it with a 10 hour break. Others might chime in and correct the finer details as I'm still somewhat new to this also.

Eventually, all trucks are going to go electronic logs. Because as it is, those that are on paper have an advantage over those on electronic. And the trucking companies are starting to complain about that advantage. It's just a matter of time at this point.

Hope this gives you a little more to go on.

It's really impossible for any of us to understand the dynamic of your relationship and if it can sustain this and I feel like this is what you're both really worried about when I read your post.

Personally, I split up with my girlfriend before I got into my OTR journey because I knew how difficult it would be, but that was only a 5 month relationship. So many guys who run out here are married and they make it work. I don't know how, but they do.

The good news, I know exactly where your town is, right outside of Akron, and there's no shortage of available local big rig jobs there. I'm from Detroit and in our little tri-state chunk of Michigan/Ohio/Indiana, there's all types of driving jobs. Get a little experience and you can find a good local job. Heck, you might not even need experience. Just show your CDL and pass a road test and you might get a good local job.