Kilgore Trout

Look familiar?
Truckers' Trucking Forum | Message Board | Discussion - The Premiere Truck Driver Forum

Cubdriver

I drove all kinds of trucks from 1996 to 2006, even owned a few. It was the most boring, low paying, tedious, repetitive, dangerous, uncomfortable way to get through life you can imagine. It makes the many negatives associated with the lower ranks of the airline biz sound like playtime. I wouldn't wish truck driving on anyone as a career. Truckers would laugh if they heard the kind of complaining pilots often do. It's an austere, miserable, unrewarding, dirty, risk-filled life.

Kilgore Trout

Cubdriver, thanks for your comment on the trucking web-site and life.
Much respect for what you've done. Closest I've ever gotten to that industry is having a cousin who worked for Peterbilt.
Did find the site interesting. Seems to me there's a lot of similarities in the lifestyle for pilots and truckers in regards to doing a romanticized, challenging, sometimes lonely job for not enough compensation in money, or time with family.
Did you check out their photograph section? Lots of beautiful photos there.
Lots of wisdom and humor on that site too.
Safe days and nights to those out on the Road!

Corny357

Heh...there's a guy over there with the old/bold pilots thing, except with truckers. "There are old truckers, and there are bold truckers, but there are no old, bold truckers."

Don't know who claimed it first, but it sounds funny replaced with truckers.

Cubdriver

You are dead on the mark Sergeant. Truckers are those dedicated souls braving the colds of Oregon in the hardest of winter, sweating across the hottest of Texas in the meanest of summer crossing the forgotten highways of America through the night for the sake of providing produce and gas to Everytown, USA. They work tirelessly, underpaid, pressured, taxed, and harried for little more than the happiness, comfort, wealth and security of unknown souls dotting the landscapes of America. They do it not for the money, it is for family and loved ones they endure this endless torture and with love.

I remember groveling underneath a 1995 Freightliner loaded to 82,000 pounds of produce to get through Donner Pass using tire chains in 1996. Wallflowers "5th Avenue Heartache" runs nonstop on the 8 speaker stereo while the drive schedule runs 24/7 until we get back to the yard in West Virginia weeks ahead. My partner is a guy from Pittsburgh I do not know who loves Bob Seger Silver Bullet Band and sleeps all day while I drove our rig 75 through the byways of Southern California. Romantic, no it is torture. You feel bewildered by the lack of sleep and you are never in the same town more than 30 minutes to an hour. A hotel room would be a luxury trip. Your arrival back home is 3 weeks away, and the guy you are living with has body odor. When you get home there is nothing there and in 4 days you are expected back at the yard. I would not wish it on anyone.

GauleyPilot

This isn't the first time the pilot/trucker thing has been mentioned on APC.

I think all people in the transportation industry share the same bond. I used to fly with a guy who left flying for a while to drive a truck. While he enjoyed aspects of trucking, he shared Cubdriver's view.

Kilgore Trout

Awesome writing Cubdriver, felt like I was there with you in that Freightliner. Even smelled the BO and heard the Bob Segar playing. Or maybe the bad smell was me, I'm dogsitting at my sister's place and forgot to bring my deodorant.
I have been across Donner Pass once, but in a "four wheeler".
Again, thanks for doing what you did out there when you were a trucker, an underappreciated group of people in my opinion.

Gauley Pilot- I apologize if I've covered old ground, but have seen no mention of truck driving forums here or the website referenced in my first post. Did find mention of truck driving school in a search before I posted. Regardless, I thought the trucking website, and reading some of the stuff there was interesting, and thought maybe others would too.

GauleyPilot

Kilgore,
While commercial driving has been discussed, you are indeed correct. I don't think trucking forums have been discussed before.

http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/re...rs-needed.html

Cubdriver

Trucking serves nicely as fodder for creative writing. When I am 65 I shall sit in my chair near a window, and write some stories about it. Perhaps it will be a stream of consciousness memoir going in and out of scenes from my life where I drove trucks as a younger man. Occasionally I will return to the present day to release the reader from the tension of each episode.