Finding A Mate After You've Started Trucking.

Ugh.... Unfortunately I am having a tough time thinking of anything nice to say. There are so many things that factor into attractiveness....and personality is a big one. It takes a huge amount of green to overcome his deficits in that area, and I would guess every woman has her "price". Me...I'd rather stay poor.

I can't resist chiming in on this.... If you want concrete proof that money makes a man more attractive, just look at DJT.*

*Disclaimer: I am not a fan.

LOL....with two divorces under his belt!!

You guys are halarious. .. but i get what your saying. .. a man with some money in his pocket is more attractive because he obviously has a plan and some amount of success. He "has it together ". Thats not the only thing that matters but it does show responsibility as part of his character and personality.

I look forward to over the road at least for starters. Ive never flew on a plan but ask me to go a couple states away and id rather drive and see the sites.

I was joking about the money....as long as the guy isn't trying to duo into MY pockets I don't care. I've always taken care of myself so I don't need someone else to.

Rainy you have a mustang! Thats a nice one. And you company knows you -speed - at all times? Or theres a tripper for when you go over that alerts them?

Rainy you have a mustang! Thats a nice one. And you company knows you -speed - at all times? Or theres a tripper for when you go over that alerts them?

The companies know exactly how fast you are going for how long and in what gear.. How long you were on cruise control. What road or curves you were taking...how long you idle..your mpg....its crazy the info they get.

The "critical events" we have are for excessive speeding..I think it trips at 75+ for 10 seconds, rollover probability, and hard braking. The hard braking would be like "the truck slowed down x number per miles in x seconds". Rollover is usually taking curves too fast.

I don't know the stats cause i don't get those events. The more you get the higher the probability that you will have an accident so they rate us drivers that way. If you get too many they will bring you in for safety classes.

The events will light up you QC and FM will call cause they assume you had an accident if those were tripped.

I just wanted to share a story here that might be helpful.

On by sides of my family my grandpas were truckers. My father's dad really spent more time on Teamster business than trucking, and did organization exclusively before he left the industry all together in the early 80s. He and my grandmother had married while he was already a trucker in the late 50s. She had just divorced her first husband, as he had a gambling problem and was abusive, and they had just had a child and she realized it was no place to raise a boy. She went down home to stay with her mother when she ran into Grandpa one day while he had home time. They had walked home from church together a few times in their early teens, which was a common way to start spending time with the opposite sex at that age, time, and place, and they immediately took up courting and she married him knowing full well he would be gone for long periods of time, but he was a very good provider and what time they had together he spent with her children and her and did fun and exciting things other people just didn't get to do at the time. Having a union trucking job just provided opportunities to do things during times when the country was in dire economic straights at times that nothing else did.

My Mother's father was a sad story, however. Like my father's parents, he married my grandma when he was already a trucker. He was a German immigrant who came to America after being captured by the Americans in WWII. He was only like 13-14 at the time and when it was discovered his parents and entire family had been killed in the Allied bombing of the city of Dresden several days after Germany surrendered (there is a whole story behind that you might want to like into someday) the Catholic Church arranged for him to be adopted by one of the families in the large German communities in Cincinnati. That process took a year or two. Like my other grandfather he got involved with trucking at an early age and both men only had Jr. High School educations and he too had a union job. He met my Grandmother at a Baptist church community dinner one Friday night when he was off and the rest was history. They dated for about six months when he was off and then tied the knot. Unfortunately, unlike my other grandpa he couldn't deal with the long term effects of loneliness and stress of being a truck driver and was so caught up on being a good provider for the family he just didn't know when to call it a day with trucking, decompress, and do something else. After having a large family over many years and buying the big house in the suburbs he started drinking heavily when he had never drank before, and when he drank he was severally abusive to both his wife and children. It was a real shame because when he wasn't drinking he was the nicest guy who you would want to meet. He started drinking on the road and then lost his job and it went from bad to worse. Although she never divorced him, my grandmother separated from him. He died of liver failure about three years after that.

The moral of the story is that there are women out there who are more than willing to marry OTR truck drivers and willing to take on the responsibility of running a family while you are away, provided you devote full attention to the family and her when you're home. Remember too that this was in the days before email, cell phones, Skype, and long distance calls were to expensive to make regularly. Look to the example of my maternal grandfather as a warning that when the stresses of the road just become too much it is time to come home and do something else. Don't force it out of a sense of duty to be a provider because you'll lose that game. I would also add that places of worship, regardless of how you feel about religion, are a good place for men to meet women, as the women who go to them regularly tend to be family oriented and many are actively looking to get married and not just date/live together for a little while. I am sure there are other places to find mates. There are many men and women out there who will put up with a lot in exchange for fidelity and support.

Wow bill, great story! I got so much out of that. Im just now seeing this but its really encouraging. Thank you!

This is very encouraging to me too because I am single and want to have a family but love traveling so much that I figure I might as well get paid to do it . To be honest I know that girls look at several things when you talk to them and whether or not they would date or marry you. 1st is hygiene, 2nd is how clean is your house, car, truck if they are riding with you etc, how well you manage your money and how you approach problems out there and when you are home.

They want to see if you are going to stay cool and collected or are you going to become a hot head. They want to see that you know how to stretch your money when it is tight, they want to see if you know how to keep yourself clean and very nice smelling, they want to know if you can stay organized and neat even in your car and truck.

Just some tips and heads up. I have sisters and have talked to ladies and trust me I should know. Still working on a few of those! Lol. They don't expect you though to be PERFECT. So don't try to be perfect but do your best