It’s Time To Go
Posted on Mar 10, 2009 - 2:08pm by Donna Snelling in Lifestyle
Two days just does not seem like enough when someone is gone for 70 days. You have to “jam” a lot of activities and family time, as well as make decisions in those few days.
The first day consisted of taking the truck to get serviced and having a warrantied item fixed. That was followed by a banquet dinner for one of the boys and a skit. Very funny stuff from the seniors in the class. The oldest son was very happy to see dad was able to attend and dad was very happy to be a part of an activity.
The next day consisted of doing something together as a family. A road trip always works for us. Of course I drive since the hubby drives all the time. Although I do have a tendency to curse the truck drivers who will not let me over when I merge (and yes I do look and give my signal well in advance!). But then there are the drivers who are nice and let me in when someone is riding my bumper.
This time around we decided to take two of the boys’ friends with us on our road trip. My husband soon found out why these boys are nice to have around. Very quiet, but at the same time, they can be very silly. We took them to a place in Cincinnati (Jungle Jim’s for those of you from the area) that has a ton of different grocery food items from all ethnicity’s. They had fun looking at all of the new “stuff” and even took the time to put on a few sombreros so I could take a picture of them.
Then it was off to the Bass Pro shops. They had a sale (and who doesn’t love those?) on their fishing gear so I was happy. We managed to actually lose the boys in the store only to find them stalking us on the escalator.
That brings us to today. Changing of mud flaps that read Kenworth and putting some chrome on the truck. This has to be their favorite part of all of it because it’s time they spend with dad before he leaves.
Dad took the time out of spending regular family time to show three of the boys’ friends all about the reefer he drags behind and let them get up in the truck. It was amazing to see young teenage boys have the looks of a smile child when they got in the truck. Even hearing the “Can I honk the horn?” coming from them I could tell it was definitely a good two and half days. A couple of kids got to see their dad and a few kids got to learn a little bit about the trucking business. I think that in itself was all worth it.
Be safe and have some good home time when you get to it!
RSS feed for comments on this post | Trackback URI
We're on Twitter!
Am I missing something? 70 days out. 2 days home. That’s cruel and unusual treatment for the driver and the family. When is the laundry and shopping done? On the road? I’ve been OTR driving many years. I just got home after 30 days out. I am psychologically unable to get back into the truck in 2 days. And believe me, I need the money, badly. For every day I stay out of the truck, off the road, the more SAFE and productive I’ll be when I get back in.
Well since truck stops do have laundry facilities – on the road and yes grocery shopping is done on the road as well. There are plenty of places trucks can either bobtail or pull into to go shopping. I know the week before he came home he went and shopped at a Target in Kansas and did his laundry at the terminal. I would hope someone wouldn’t wait 30 days to do laundry at home. No offense, but that would make for quite a smelly truck.
And just because a driver doesn’t get home every 30 days does not mean he is not safe. He or she still has to adhere to the same rules as everyone else. You can have home time, be up all day, leave that night and still be unsafe. Driving while tired can be done away from home just as easily as it can be done while at home.
Let’s not forget other factors. There are those who like to take the occasional drink while at home but I am sure there are many who do not wait 12 hours before they get in the truck to head down the road. Heck, how many truck stops have you seen that sell liquor?
And I have to ask – are you a company driver? It is not unusual for owner/ops to be out and away from home for more than two months at a time. When you own your own truck, every day the wheels aren’t rolling, you aren’t making money.
If you have a strong relationship, nothing can tear it apart, not even the length of time you are away from home. It takes love, caring, and understanding as does any relationship. Oh yeah, and LOTS of cell phone minutes!
There is only one reason any driver – owner/op or company stays out 70 days and comes home 2 – because there is something at home that they don’t want to deal with. No responsible man or woman would choose to stay away from their responsibilities as a father, mother or significant other for 70 days and come back for 2, unless they were desperate. Any owner/operator that has to stay out for 70 days is not running his/her business productively. Most owner/operaters manage their business to MAKE SURE they rotate out of the house every two to four weeks. No relationship – let me repeat that – no relationship can withstand the sexual, psychological and economic pressures when one of the partners is absent 70 days. I wouldn’t know about which truck stop sells or does not sell liquor. I don’t drink. I wouldn’t do my laundry at a truck stop even if you paid me. My company would never allow any of its lease-operators to remain out that long. It is unsafe. They would be immediately red flagged for home time and ORDERED to remain there for a minimum of 7 days or 1 week. A worker on a off-shore oil rig who puts 30 days on the job is flown home for 30 days before they are allowed to come back to work. I don’t know you – and certainly don’t know me – but 70 days out and home for 2 days – something is wrong. I’ve been doing this too long not to know it. If I were a wife w/kids staying home, I just couldn’t sleep at night knowing my husband was driving a big rig for 40-50 OMG! 60-70 days straight knowing that there are other families along side him hoping and praying that they get home safe.
First of all I take your last comment rather offensively. That is insinuating that my husband does not want to be here. With divorce being so easy – why stay married if he doesn’t want to be here? Seriously.
Show me an owner/op that rotates home time every two to four weeks. I would like to give them a call and a pat on the back.
It’s funny that you say no relationship can withstand that. You know sex is NOT all a relationship is about. Communication is a must in all relationships. Trust is something else as well.
I don’t drink either for the record – but it’s not hard to see in a truckstop with the huge signs.
Wow, so you carry stinky clothes with you for 30 days? That is unsanitary and sorry, not to offend, but would have to be quite stinky.
I’m glad “your” company wouldn’t allow a lease driver to do that. I didn’t know you owned a company.
So if they red flagged the driver – would they pay the bills for him or since they would not be driving for those seven days?
I can sleep at night because my husband and I stay in constant contact and I TRUST him just as he trusts me.
And the last statement you made is absolutely and positively ridiculous!!! Did you ever stop to think that a person takes a 34 hour restart? Or wait – what about loading time? What he hauls sometimes takes two days before it is ready to be hauled.
You think in a very closed box. Open your mind a little. Not all people are like you.
I don’t see anyone else leaving degrading comments about my husband or our marriage. Only you. You don’t know us, so how can you sit and judge?
I could sit here and say you are a whiny little company driver. And if you can’t handle going back out in a truck after being home for two days – maybe you should just leave your butt at home because the road is no place for you to be then. I wouldn’t feel *safe* around you.
As an added note – there are plenty of drivers that I know that have stayed up all night and day – ON HOME TIME – that leave out. How is that safe? Running errands while spending time at home, trying to cram everything they can in, then hitting the road while they are tired from their *relaxing* home time and thinking about how much they hate leaving.
Don’t need to be a truck driver if you don’t like being on the road. Period.
Let’s see if I counted right that’s three days. I would think she counted two days as family time since the truck got serviced, but that’s just a guess.
i admire this family for the strength, resilience and industry they show during tough economic times. if all the families were this hardworking, secure, stable and determined, america would be out of the recession in no time.
keep your head up, donna!
I hate generalizations. They’re usually wrong most of the time.