After one month of car dwelling.

[TXNomad]

A month goes by really fast as I was learning how to make this happen. Sadly, I only managed a single night of local state park camping because of heavy rains leading to bad flood stage closings of many camping sites on area lakes. I did find a couple of area Wal-Marts that still allowed overnight parking without being hassled.

Many of us, including myself wanted the get away from the corporate rat race. I wasted two weeks while attending CDL truck driving school, being the first in my class to pass & obtain a CLP permit, only to drop out due to an ominous foot infection and ultimately came to the conclusion that they were not interested in passsing another middle-aged walk-on dude who was not part of Workforce or other EEOC job referral entity. I left the W-2 corporate rat race last year to get away from this nonsense, but, it was my wish to OTR living in a tractor for a year or two saving up for my RV rig. That idea came crashing down when I was asked to sign a GAP form stating I am/was not receiving unemployment (never collected unemployment in my life) and that due to my age and pot-belly, an instructor tipped me off that the hiring trucking company would most likely require a sleep apnea test (even though I passed the DOT health exam) I never been diagnosed with that, but, 1+1=2, and I got the message I was not a desired candidate. I sent an email to my driver coordinator explaining all the above and that I was wise to this discremination and dropped out.

One positive note, I learned to read the Rand McNally USA map and to navigate without the aid of GPS. So, the moral of this story is to trust your instincts and do not rely on the corporate world to let you pass thru if you are not following their rules. Next thing for me is to establish new residency and to be bonafide as far as the government is concerned for ID purposes.

One day at a time, whether or not I stay solo or join the nomad caravan, I am soldering on to my dreams.

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[travelaround]

Welcome to the forum. When one door closes another opens... and what a blessing to be free to travel in your car!

 

[WanderingRose]

And to have learned to read a paper map!  

Being able to soldier on in the face of adversity is an important life skill.

Good for you, and may it all work out.

 

[travelaround]

My son was a truck driver and he hated it.
My ex was a truck driver and he hated it.
Maybe you're lucky not to be doing that?

 

[RoamerRV428]

Hit the road and don't look back
Go enjoy yourself any way ya can, do what floats your boat, find what suits you and move forward!!

 

[autumnt]

I feel your fire. Happiness is a word. Contentment comes from within. Joy comes with the wind and leaves with the wind, but the memory of the feelings/experience remains. Be well, be fair, it is the best anyone can do. It does not always make sense and is not always easy. Enjoy the journey.

 

[JD GUMBEE]

Too bad the trucking thing did not work out.


Can people here suggest things to you or warn you about pitfalls without more "how dare you" reactions?

(Dead serious question...and a very valid one.)

 

[TXNomad]

That's livin' (L-I-V-I-N, Wonderson from Dazed & Confused[emoji16]). Now I understand why the independent owner/operator trucker is being run out of business. The bald face discrimination caught me by surprise, but is a part of politically run industries now including today's trucking businesses. Sad to see it happening.


I'm always open to constructive criticism and nudges in the right direction.

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[TXNomad]

My son was a truck driver and he hated it.
My ex was a truck driver and he hated it.
Maybe you're lucky not to be doing that?

It was a brilliant idea, live on the road as a truck driver for a year or two, saving my income to buy an RV rig. I had no illusions about trucking being hard work...I became disillusioned about who the industry prefers to hire now. Amazon is changing the truck driving business. I wanted to drive solo, but, they kept encouraging team drivers paying less per mile to keep the loads constantly moving. Oh well, I'll keep doing my side hustle business and wait for another opportunity to pop up.

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[Headache]

It's not discrimination. There was a lot of discussion and meetings with the FMCSA and others to create some kind of standards for testing but they dropped them in 2017 because they couldn't get passed using only BMI and no one could answer who would pay for it as sleep tests can cost a couple thousand. Right now there are only guidelines doctors consider in deciding whether they will require a driver to do so during your DOT physical. I was a victim of that as I didn't have the money for a test I would have passed but was forced to turn in my CDL. Fearmongering aside(which a lot of that was going on and I can only assume happened to you) it was never made into a law. If you passed your physical you were good to go.

Also, solo drivers have always been paid less than teams. That's been an industry standard since forever. The thing is most fleets take you on as a team driver first until you get some experience under you. If you were adamant you were to be solo it could have severely limited your being hired.

It also has nothing to do with EEOC standards. I'm not sure how you were lead to believe this but there has always been a driver shortage and there still is even though driverless trucks are looming. If you're breathing, have a CDL and you have a clean record you will get a job if you met the requirements.

I'm sorry you had that experience. Trucking has always been a love/hate relationship and you sell your soul to do it(I think I remember telling you this in a post years ago) so maybe it wasn't for you to begin with. Fifteen years was enough for me but I was proud of my CDL and wanted to keep it so I could drive for charitable causes. /shrug

 

[morongobill]

If you did get the CDL, how about trying to get into rv delivery-Bob just interviewed a lady recently who does it for a living.

 

[JD GUMBEE]

Yeah...the one who said she made about twice what she really did?
(I would take anything...ANYTHING she says, with a very small grain of salt.)

 

[IGBT]

It is too bad they are so focused on falling asleep as a truck driver.

We have almost been killed twice by semi trucks.  One time because an impatient truck driver was passing a slower truck on a solid double yellow line and forced us into the shoulder.  The other time the truck just didn't seem to want to stop, so we also pulled onto the shoulder and he roared past at 70 (flat area, but he was a logging truck so probably didn't give a $$$@).

Both times I am fairly sure the driver was awake, but just an a-hole

 

[RoamerRV428]

one thing I say on the road about big trucks....give them a hell of a lot of room cause we will never win against that big haul and momentum and all that. small don't win against big and huge and speed and just physics on it

 

[wayne49]

I am not understanding how sleep apnea would affect an awake driver.

https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/sleep-apnea/default.htm
"Sleep apnea occurs when your breathing is disrupted during sleep."

I see in the follow on sentence who could be targeted by this policy:
"Men, overweight people, and people over 40 are at greater risk for sleep apnea."

 

[wayne49]

If there is a shortage of drivers then the labor rate for truck drivers should increase in a free market.
Competition for experienced drivers should increase labor value of all drivers.
This is not happening.
One might think that the shortage might be artificial and perhaps being used to advance the automation project.
Certainly increases the fragility of the just in time supply chain.
Coupled with historic flooding of America's "bread basket" ...
"Buckle up buckaroos!"

 

[tx2sturgis]

Wayne, its a complicated subject with sleep apnea and truck drivers. 

Fatigue-related truck crashes get a LOT of media coverage, and also, there is a proven link to daytime drowsiness and sleep apnea.

The problem lies in the fact that many experienced, safe (accident-free) career truck drivers are somewhat overweight (or obese), have larger necks and BMI numbers, and sometimes self-report daytime drowsiness, and snoring that wakes them up.

{{sidebar comment: the new hours-of-service rules provide little opportunity for a driver to stop during the day and take a one or two hour nap like we used to be able to do}}

So now, the c-pap manufacturers and sleep study centers lobby for mandated testing to pad their own wallets, at the same time, re-enforcing the link with the government agencies in charge of this that there is a proven cause and effect, which there is not. 

Yes, sleep apnea is real, but there is very little direct evidence that links mild or borderline sleep apnea to fatigue related crashes. But all it takes is one accident that is suspected as being related to drowsy driving and POOF...its 'proof'.

So, perception becomes reality, and carriers want to cover their assets (pardon the pun). Medical examiners cover themselves by requiring sleep studies, the carriers are OK with it, and the FMCSA and NHTSA and other alphabet agencies push for testing of drivers that even remotely have the possibility of sleep apnea.

 

[B and C]

I am a little overweight, OK, 30 pounds and have sleep apnea. I got very little sleep at night because I was always waking up. This made me drowsy during the day. I sometimes nodded off at work. After I got the machine, I sleep 7 undisturbed hours every night and wake up well rested. The few times I didn't have it with me were some of the longest nights.

 

[mjbeam]

I had sleep apnea before I lost quite a bit of weight. I don't need to be plumbed up to a machine any more at night. Before I started using a C-PAP machine, the affect on me was to make it  difficult to stay awake during the day. It was very difficult for me to stay alert while driving long boring stretches of road. I can't say how other people are affected but that's how it affected me.

 

[txmnjim]

as someone with sleep apnea, and untreated as i cant get used to the CPAP machines!,
i can guarantee it would be a danger to have truck drivers on the road with it! heck, i am
on the phone helping people with tech issues all day and i have been known to fall asleep
during a call