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Sorry to bump an old post. I am a flooring installer about to head cross country down to North Carolina, from Alaska. I will be pulling a nice travel trailer. You can travel around if you are a self-employed tradesman and make exceptional money. When works get seasonally slow, I will contact a store and get work setup, then move on to that location. During my periods off, I will be traveling around fishing, hiking etc. In the summers, I will be heading back up to Alaska because I will be kept beyond busy up here. I pmed you, Muscle.
Truckers do make decent money, from what I understand, and also have very few expenses (living on the road, after all!). My best friend's step-dad is/was a trucker, and he eventually ended up owning his own fleet & making a nice life for their family. He hasn't been on the road in many years, though, since it's a rough life as you get older... if you're just interested in this "gypsy living" (which sounds great to me, btw) for short-term, it might not be a bad idea. I used to dream of being a trucker, but it's probably not the best career for a young woman - especially one who's not big & burly looking.
Gizmo, Hope you don't mind a small correction from someone who's been a trucker for 10 years now. Do I love being a trucker? You betcha; I feel like a kid in a candy store and I truly love going to work every day. Now, having said that, trucking is a VERY difficult life. The pay comes nowhere near being worth the hours you work and living in a sleeper and eating at truck stops is VERY expen$$$ive. Especially when you are laying over for the weekend and your carrier (as most do) pays you little or nothing. Having a spouse with a real job and/or other income is the only way to go into trucking!
For a short term adventure, getting a CDL and going to work for one of the large truckload carrier as a company driver might be worth considering. WOULD NEVER recommend buying/leasing or otherwise using your own money to run a truck unless you have a LOT of experience in the industry already. The industry has an oversupply of bankrupt ex-owner operators already...
There are LOTS of very successful women in trucking. Of all sizes and shapes. Common sense and personal responsibility are far better skills to have than physical strength.
Gizmo, I certainly didn't mean to raiin on your parade; my purpose is to get people to "look before they leap" and understand what they're getting into before they try trucking.
65 years old and my dream also to travel US. I have read about house-sitting ---volunteer work for national parks etc. but still sitting here dreaming.--good luck on finding the way for yourself.
I'm 20 years old and have a huge appetite for travel. Yet, I rarely do it. When I was 18 or 19 I decided that why not drive trucks. I could see the country and get paid for it. Drive from a blizzard in Illinois to 80 degrees in Miami. Take pictures of my travels, eat some good food around the country, and experience life on the road. I find it to be a easy job to get in to.Truck driving school is much, much cheaper and much, much shorter than college- in addition, you can get grants to pay for truck driving as well. I know they say it can be rough (like the poster above says). I second guessed it a couple times but once I'm 21 I'm signing up. I basically have nothing to lose. I have no family to care for and as for pay, its supposed to be atleast 30k for the first year but as long as I make more than what I make now (300-400 weekly) I'm good. I don't plan to be a truck driver at 40, though. I plan to go college, possibly get a local driving job to fund my education. And through my education that is how I will travel the world. Or I could join the Army but that was never a dream of mine and I don't see that ever happening.
ha! I'd love to marry her! Ok, I'm second in line. I thought of being a trucker before, but do they make good money? I heard they could make around $50,000 as an independent trucker, but then they have to buy a semi, and then all the repairs and gas, so would it be worth it? I'd like to have an SUV to take all over. I just don't want to have to worry about money. Maybe someday my lotto numbers will hit! :-D
Ive done trucking and depending on if youre an o/o or a company driver, your wages can flexuate. Everything depends on the miles you travel. They dont make 'bank' wages but if you want to spend 110% of your time on the road, you could do pretty good.
Or you can consider flight attendant. I have a friend who worked as an attendant for America West and she did very good, but again, she was single and didnt have family to have to get home to. Ive even looked into it (at her suggestion so we can travel together occaisionally) but one of the qualifications they require was that 'no visible tattoos' and I have a small musical note on my wrist...so had to scrap that thought.
Or....you can become a rockstar??! (Just a thought).
I guess our perspective on "career out of travel" can change as some of us get older. I wanted to be an airline pilot when I was a kid, but when I was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at 14, that changed things. I did take flight lessons and I have a VFR certification, and IFR training, and if I wanted to get a pilot's license, there were restrictions because of diabetes, so I never pursued that any further. Nowadays I do travel a lot... on flight simulators - Overall, I'm glad I chose the computer/IT career because I am making a lot more money than many experienced pilots.
The one thing about career out of travel and when we get older, I couldn't see myself staying in a different city every night, even though 25-30 years ago I thought differently about it, but again, I'm thankful to the Lord for my career, and I have a home to come home to every night, instead of a hotel room, although it would have been nice to have my office in the flight deck of a Boeing 777..
Gizmo, Hope you don't mind a small correction from someone who's been a trucker for 10 years now. Do I love being a trucker? You betcha; I feel like a kid in a candy store and I truly love going to work every day. Now, having said that, trucking is a VERY difficult life. The pay comes nowhere near being worth the hours you work and living in a sleeper and eating at truck stops is VERY expen$$$ive. Especially when you are laying over for the weekend and your carrier (as most do) pays you little or nothing. Having a spouse with a real job and/or other income is the only way to go into trucking!
For a short term adventure, getting a CDL and going to work for one of the large truckload carrier as a company driver might be worth considering. WOULD NEVER recommend buying/leasing or otherwise using your own money to run a truck unless you have a LOT of experience in the industry already. The industry has an oversupply of bankrupt ex-owner operators already...
There are LOTS of very successful women in trucking. Of all sizes and shapes. Common sense and personal responsibility are far better skills to have than physical strength.
Gizmo, I certainly didn't mean to raiin on your parade; my purpose is to get people to "look before they leap" and understand what they're getting into before they try trucking.
I have to agree with the trucker's point of view. You DONT want to get involved in the lease thing right away, if you can help it. There are a lot of rookies who walk right into that before hearing other points of view or experiences, and in my days of OTR, there were many. Weight it out, talk to others, sometimes it works out but more so, it just doesnt. We got revenue but I was 'B' seat driver and personally prefer it that way or as a company driver rather than being an o/o.
I have to agree with the trucker's point of view. You DONT want to get involved in the lease thing right away, if you can help it. There are a lot of rookies who walk right into that before hearing other points of view or experiences, and in my days of OTR, there were many. Weight it out, talk to others, sometimes it works out but more so, it just doesnt. We got revenue but I was 'B' seat driver and personally prefer it that way or as a company driver rather than being an o/o.
L_A_Woman, the more I truck on someone else's money, the better I like it. No doubt, there ARE ways to make very good money in trucking. But only if you have REALLY good business skills and do everything yourself (i.e have your own authority and get your own loads and provide EXCELLENT service to customers who are willing to pay honest rates for your services) You'll also do better if you find your own "niche" instead of trying to compete with the big guys who can beat you on the rates. In almost EVERY case, if you lease your truck to a large carrier, they will skim the real money off the top and you will be left with sometimes less than a good company driver can make. Leasing to most of the big guys is pretty much "indentured servitude"; you're merely buying a job. Look before you leap!!!
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