The Life of an Over the Road Trucker – Social Isolation, Feeling Lonely, and Never Enough Time at Home
One of the biggest downsides to being an over the road trucker is that you will rarely be home. Most companies will expect you to be gone anywhere from 2-4 weeks and when you are home you will be given no longer than 3-5 days of home time. Home time is the term used in trucking which means spending time out of your truck and at your place of residence. As I can attest spending most of your time in a truck presents a whole series of challenges to overcome versus living a life in the comforts at home.
The Social Isolation
A lot of truckers will suffer with being by themselves for extended periods of time over the course of weeks. We are social creatures, and all of this isolation cannot be good for our minds. Eventually you will run into a trucker or two that seem a little off their rocker to put it nicely. Some of these guys have been driving a long time and end up with personality disorders due to the lack of social isolation or just breathing too many diesel fumes. I have seen it firsthand with other guys I’ve trained with. There is a little something off with people who have been in this profession a little too long. It is the combination of years of working the 70-hour weeks, the harsh environment or being alone in a large box in solitary confinement.
Feeling Lonely
It is 3Am in the morning and you have not talked to anyone in 10 hours except that rude guard shack employee when you picked up your load from. You have thoughts racing through your head of memories with everyone that has ever been in your life. You have a lot of time to think. Too much time. You will go down memory lane with about anyone who has ever been important in your life. You will think of your family. You will think of things you had wished you had done differently and current thoughts that you would love to share with your loved ones right now. The problem is it is in the early morning hours, and you are cruising 70 MPH down a near deserted highway halfway across the country. You are holding a steering wheel with both hands that requires constant focus and attention. So, a lot of these deeply personal thoughts and feelings you have will slowly fade away as you grow more tired by the hour to the point where your mind becomes solely focused on finishing your current shift so you can stop driving and get some much-needed rest.
You Finally Get to Go Home
After being out on the road for 4 weeks you get to go home. You have been planning this for a long time. You have made a list of least at least twenty things you want to take care of at the house. The problem is first you must find a place to park in your hometown because your homeowner’s association will not allow a semi-truck parked in your driveway and the local truck stop in your town has signs all over it that mention abandoned vehicles will be towed at the owner’s expense. So where will you park? You finally find a place that charges $20 a day at a local towing company to park your truck and trailer so you can visit home for a much-needed rest.
Your Time at Home
The first day home you are so tired you don’t want to go anywhere. So, you sleep. You wake up 12 hours later and realize that you got nothing done for the entire day. Oh well the next day will be better since you have three more days at home. The next day comes around and you manage to get out of the house. You go shopping with all of that hard-earned money you made on the road and start to resupply for your next trip. The following day you manage to take care of a few lose ends around the house by mowing the lawn and paying a few bills. The next day you finally feel rested enough and go out on an all-day outing with your family and have a blast. Then on your last day home you hang out with your friends and go to a cookout your best buddy is having. But the only thing going on in the back of your mind is how today is the final day before committing yourself to another 3 to 4 weeks of living on the road. You get home and start throwing together last-minute preparations because you know you have to get up first thing in the morning and head back to your truck.
You Dispatcher Calls You
You are home long enough now to really start enjoying your time. Things are starting to feel a little normal again. Then all of the sudden you get a call from your dispatcher at your company. He wants to know when you are coming back to work. Or in other words when you will be ready to start your next shift. You are wondering why he is calling you on day three when you had four days scheduled at home this time. This is trucking and every day your truck is not on the road your company is losing money. So, they want you back out there as soon as possible. He is just feeling you out to see if you are ready to get back out there as planned. Your dispatcher tells you he is working on a load for pickup on such and such day and time. And asks if you will be ready to pick it up.
Never Enough Time at Home
When you are home as a trucker it feels like a constant race against the clock. Every hour counts. You want to get everything done at home that you had previously planned out while being over the road. But also, you want to have some time to relax a little. You will be constantly reminded in the back of your mind that as each minute ticks on the clock that you will have less time to get the things done you had originally planned. You start realizing that you’re at home to do list was a little too ambitious and start cutting out the not so important activities off of it. Because you are not Superhuman.
Your Home Time is Over
It’s dark outside and your alarm blares at 4AM. You wake up, make your coffee, and throw the last couple of items you missed last night into the car for the return trip back to your truck. Your family member wakes up and the both of you begin the commute. The trip is mostly silent because for one you are both waking up at some ungodly hour and two you both know deep down inside the sacrifices this job makes on your time together is an absolute downer on the relationship, but the money is good, the silence permeates the cabin of the car. When you get to the yard there are numerous other trucks moving in and out of a dusty gravel filled packing lot filled with giant potholes. You carefully drive around the holes and try to stay out of the way of the trucks trying to enter and exit and then park your car next to your truck. At your truck you begin unloading all of your gear and freshly bought groceries and place them in your truck. You then give your family member instructions on the best way to get out of the maze of a truck parking lot and give them your farewells.
You are Back in Your Truck
After unpacking most of your gear and storing away your supplies. You do your pre-trip on your truck and make sure everything is in order. You notice someone stole the taillights off of your trailer while you wear relaxing at home. Now you have to plan a 2-hour detour to a truck stop with a repair shop to get these fixed on your way to your first load. This places you behind schedule right off the bat. You notify your dispatcher, and they are upset but understand fully and tell you they will try to hold off the shipper as long as they can. You arrive at the shop, and no one is even on duty yet. You see a sign on the door that shows that the shop mechanics won’t come in for 2 hours. This is the life of a trucker.
