OTR Without A Home Base?

I’m a 55 year old female interested in getting my CDL. I’d like to do OTR but I don’t have a land home as a home base. I’ve been traveling for the past 7 years on a 30’ sailboat. I’d like to drive for a year or two, bank some money, and then maybe switch to driving 6 months on/6 months off. My husband would ride with me once I’m allowed to have a passenger, but we don’t want to do team driving.

How would days off (once I finish a route) work without a land home? Would I just be able to explore wherever I happened to be? And is working 6 months on/6 months off viable after a few years of experience?

If I did training with Schneider or Prime, would they just send me to the closest training center in Baltimore (the closest thing I have to a home base)?

Helllo. You have a few hurdles first. You are required to provide 3 yrs recent work experience, have 1 yr of US drivers license, and have a residential address.

Some will say to just get one of those UPS box locations, however, that does not comply with the "residence" requirement which means if you get caught, you lose your CDL. People do it, sometimes they are found out, sometimes not. Not worth the risk to me. When i lived OTR , i had my license at a relative's house.

Prime will not take you without 3 yrs work experience.

As far as 6 months on and off... doubt that would work. Insurance companies require recent experience and don't want to hire temporary people. Someone who hasnt driven in 6 months has to go through the entire training process at Prime. Also, moving into and out of trucks would be incredibly tiring. We hate doing it.

As far as your home base.... for OTR it doesnt really matter. Prime in particular would send you to the PA terminal where you would stay a few days then go OTR for 2 to 3 weeks. Then go back to PA to test for CDL. After that you would go teaming for a few months.

So out of 3 to 4 months of training, you may be at the termimal a few days only.

Home time works so that after 4 weeks of driving, you get 4 days off you can take anywhere in the country. They get you a load to that general location. You would not get paid the days off and would need to pay for your own hotel unless you sleep in the truck. The truck can be parked at any truck stop or hotel that allows it. Prime has you drop the trailer beforehand, so you would park bobtail... much easier.

Thanks for the info. It’s really helpful. I could definitely use a different address, so that isn’t a problem.

I probably should have phrased it differently. I actually have over 35 years of work experience (I retired early after working as an attorney), but only about 1 1/2 years since 2018. And I’ve had a driver’s license for 39 years (clean driving record). I also already have my TWIC.

Good to know about how the home base works. The 6 months off figure was arbitrary. It was more about taking extended time off for other things. Even a few months would be fine.

From what I’ve researched, the job market sounds a bit soft. I was thinking of training with Schneider or someplace similar so I’d have a guaranteed job when I was finished. Thank you again for your response!