nico1908 | Haha, that could be me in that office...

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nico1908

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... if I were in my 20s, black, and a man, that is!

Schneider National employs about 900 women drivers, though...

Current Mood: wistful

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From:

viralmemory.livejournal.com

LOL that's pretty funny. I've been reading about your research and plans with great interest. The idea has appealed to me numerous times, but I've never had the guts to really pursue it. I'm rooting for you, though, no matter where you go with it!

From:

nico1908.livejournal.com

Who would have thought that I'd find another wannabe-trucker-spirit among my fellow slashers!

I'm wildly swaying between Yay and Nay in regards to trucking. The thing is, you can answer many questions by doing research, just not the most important ones: Is this something I would like to do for a living and do I have what it takes to be(come) a good truck driver? That's the point where you have to take that leap of faith and act - but I'm not quite there yet.

At the moment, the only thing I know for sure is that I don't want to stay here, and that's referring to both my job as well as the town in which I live. I'm beginning to mention to people that I think I need to get out of the office world altogether for a while. I've hinted to a few that I'd like to learn how to drive a big rig, and I've told one person that I'm playing with the thought of changing careers next year. - There's nothing like talking yourself into that corner where you eventually have to DO what you've told everybody you were going to do! ;D - We'll see where the journey takes me next.

May I ask why you didn't pursue the idea?

From:

viralmemory.livejournal.com

I guess I didn't pursue it because I was young, and mostly looking for a way to travel around and be alone a lot. It would have done that certainly, but I was also a little spooked about driving such a large vehicle. It was scary at first driving a large van to deliver flowers. That was a fun gig, but the hours were small and so was the pay. I got used to the vehicle pretty quickly, but the addition of a trailer would definitely take some practice.

It may be an option in the future, still. I'm planning a road trip once I graduate from online college, maybe I should consider trucking to finance my US travels!

From:

nico1908.livejournal.com

I'm sure that maneuvering such a behemoth is mostly a matter of patience and practice. I'm more concerned about possible mechanical problems. Or what to do when I get lost somewhere.

Most of all, though, I'm worried about driving in big cities. I keep telling myself that I learned how to drive in a town that had approx. 3 million inhabitants and 600,000 vehicles at the time, so it's not like I'm completely unfamiliar with the situation; but American cities are much bigger, the roads have twice the number of lanes, and possibly ten times the number of cars. It's intimidating. - Oh well, I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

As to trucking to finance your travels: while trucking naturally means travelling, it's of course not leisure travel. You go back and forth across the country but don't have the time to stop and explore (much)! LOL.

You can make good money as an OTR driver, especially if you aren't weighed down with an expensive apartment or mortgage, credit card payments, and/or other obligations/debts. Then you can just put your stuff in storage and live in a truck for a while. The carriers love people who don't want/need home time! :D