Well, DJ has barely made miles this week. (In case you didn't know, this is not a good thing, truck drivers get paid by the mile) He has sat at multiple drops and pick ups waiting for unloaded trailers. They also don't get paid at all for sitting waiting for a load to be ready. The last place he was at took over 24 hours for him to get an empty trailer. There was a guy there from another company that sat for 2 days!
The people working at these places know how important for truckers to be actually driving on the road and yet they take their sweet time unloading. Truckers still have bills to pay and sitting all day doesn't give them the paycheck they need to pay those bills.
Friday, January 31, 2014
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Dangerous Conditions
Yes, the truck drivers drive in terrible conditions. Where most people would stay home, they are on the road trying desperately to get to their destinations without an accident, without sliding into a ditch. Most people don't think about how the items in stores get on the shelves. If truckers did what we do, and huddle in our warm homes waiting for the snow to stop and the roads to be clear, there would be empty shelves in the stores.
If you are on the roads, just remember that truckers have a lot harder time stopping on the snow and ice and also starting back up again when they are stopped. Watch intersections carefully before going on a green light, as the trucker coming to a stop might slide through while trying to stop. Don't get impatient with them either. They are towing thousands of dollars worth of goods and they may have to pay for any damages to a load in an accident.
If you are on the roads, just remember that truckers have a lot harder time stopping on the snow and ice and also starting back up again when they are stopped. Watch intersections carefully before going on a green light, as the trucker coming to a stop might slide through while trying to stop. Don't get impatient with them either. They are towing thousands of dollars worth of goods and they may have to pay for any damages to a load in an accident.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Dumb Cats
Why is it they only act up when DJ is gone? He must really be intimidating to them, since they lay down and go to sleep when we lock them in for the night. But not when he is gone. They can be laying down and being lazy until i lock them in our room for the night and turn off the light. They are terrors, getting into everything and wrestling and just being pains. Nala will run around the table in the dining room to keep me from catching her. Gromit is the better behaved. He goes straight to bed and is only a trouble maker when his sister starts it.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Do you have to go?
Always the question in my heart every time he leaves on another trip. I never voice it but I feel it every time. The hardest day of his trips are usually the ones he leaves on. After a day or two with him, i don't want him to go. He goes so we can pay bills, so i do my best to show him strength as he leaves. I don't let a tear fall until he is gone and when we talk during his trips i try not to let him know the pain of separation. He does a lot better when he knows i am alright.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
wishing
I always wish i could go with him. I have a better opportunity to do so now that I choose my work days,but we have the cats and i need to help pay bills. He has been to every continental state and I haven't even been to half.
just a few of his pictures.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
A whole day!
We had a whole day ahead of us! How exciting! Didn't have anything but a small shopping trip and dinner planned for the day, but who cares when we are together!
First question from my dad's mouth..."Can I steal him for a few hours?" really?! a few hours! Well... i guess i really have no choice. What ever it is you didn't plan it until you knew he'd be home, or you can do it yourself but don't want to... sigh. There went the whole day plan...
At least it only ended up being an hour or so. I still had lots of time with my hubby. Watched some TV cuddled together and then headed out for our evening out. So pleasant being alone, just the two of us. Dinner was a fiasco (burned meal, small portions, slow (very slow) service) but we were together!
House sat for friends for the night and we had fun dealing with a power outage together!
He is back on the road and I am missing him already. Only left an hour ago... maybe tomorrow i'll have a sub position to keep me busy.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Where is he?
I hate getting that question... Where is he? I don't know. I can't talk to him 24/7, though I would love to. He is driving and I have things to do to. You want to know where he is call him and ask. Sometimes I cant even tell you where he is going because he picks up a load and goes.
We've been married over 2 and a half years, but I have probably only been in the same place as him for one of those years, if that. We would love to be able to talk all the time. I can't write him letters or even emails. We can text, but he can't text while driving. We get a few minutes here and there to talk each day that he is on the road. People don't understand the pain of being away from him or the pain of not really knowing how to be around each other when he is home. It doesn't help that we have no real alone time now that we live with my dad. We can't have private talks until my dad is in bed or out of the house. So that pain gets stronger. The last time he was home for longer than a day I was so stressed out. Not because he was home, but because I didn't get him all to myself at all. I didn't make it easier for him either and for that I am ashamed.
I have had people say that when we get older we'll be glad that we have time apart... I hope that is never the case and right now, and saying that doesn't help us through the pain of each separation, it almost makes it worse.
If you know someone that is married to a trucker, don't ask them "where is he (or she)?", "when will he (or she) be home?", or "when will his (or her) next load be?"
That last question my dad asks DJ every single time he is home. Makes us both so mad, since he just got home and I barely have time with him as it is.
We've been married over 2 and a half years, but I have probably only been in the same place as him for one of those years, if that. We would love to be able to talk all the time. I can't write him letters or even emails. We can text, but he can't text while driving. We get a few minutes here and there to talk each day that he is on the road. People don't understand the pain of being away from him or the pain of not really knowing how to be around each other when he is home. It doesn't help that we have no real alone time now that we live with my dad. We can't have private talks until my dad is in bed or out of the house. So that pain gets stronger. The last time he was home for longer than a day I was so stressed out. Not because he was home, but because I didn't get him all to myself at all. I didn't make it easier for him either and for that I am ashamed.
I have had people say that when we get older we'll be glad that we have time apart... I hope that is never the case and right now, and saying that doesn't help us through the pain of each separation, it almost makes it worse.
If you know someone that is married to a trucker, don't ask them "where is he (or she)?", "when will he (or she) be home?", or "when will his (or her) next load be?"
That last question my dad asks DJ every single time he is home. Makes us both so mad, since he just got home and I barely have time with him as it is.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
What am I doing?
I don't know what I am doing on here. I just felt the need to layout how life is to be a young married woman with my husband out on the road all week.
A little background is probably in order, huh.
D.J. and I were married in May of 2011. We moved me to NC the day after the wedding and lived there almost 2 years. He was working for a cable company and I barely saw him. He worked six days a week and could be gone until 10 or 11 at night. I was trying to find a job and we were trying to find a church. We found a great church down the road and they all became like family (I really only knew my husband and our landlords, so it was nice). I found a job as a waitress and it was a struggle everyday. We were struggling to make ends meet (neither of our jobs paid all that well) and so he decided to try being a truck driver. He found a company in Texas that would get him through his training and would give him a job. We thought we would still see each other, how very wrong we were. He started that job in April 2012 (we hadn't been married a year yet). He was gone for weeks. I saw him three times from April to December. It was the worst time ever. I was thankful for our church and our landlords but I needed D.J.
I had quit my waitress job just before he left and had started cleaning houses.While he was gone, I worked as much as I could so I wouldn't have to go home to an empty home (mostly empty anyway, as we have two cats, Nala and Gromit). Neither of us could stand the separation, so in December he found a trucking job in the area.
He started working for this company and I got to see him a little more, but still once every two weeks was crazy! I couldn't keep cleaning houses because my back was getting pretty bad (I have a slipped vertebra). So I went with him for a week. We went from NC to TX to FL and back to NC. I was so glad to be with him! Then the worst happened. The company he was driving for had lots of issues start up. We had trouble with our bank account as his paychecks would bounce. Bills got behind even more. Then, the company went under. Neither of us had a job, neither of us could find one.
So, we moved. I could get my old job back in MI and he had different opportunities for applications. At least one of us could be working. The problem? We didn't have our own house anymore. We couldn't afford it. We moved in with my dad. Sigh. How could it be that everything just turned upside down? Less than two years of married life and we are back in my old home, with just one room and bathroom to call our own. Two adults and two crazy cats in a bedroom that is smaller than our living room was in our NC home.
I went back to work. D.J. got hired on at a trucking company in town. We see each other once a week now... sometimes more. But it still isn't what we want, or need. Neither of us use our degrees, no one will hire unless we have experience. I started substitute teaching and he is still driving truck. We still live with my father and we still want our own place.
A little background is probably in order, huh.
D.J. and I were married in May of 2011. We moved me to NC the day after the wedding and lived there almost 2 years. He was working for a cable company and I barely saw him. He worked six days a week and could be gone until 10 or 11 at night. I was trying to find a job and we were trying to find a church. We found a great church down the road and they all became like family (I really only knew my husband and our landlords, so it was nice). I found a job as a waitress and it was a struggle everyday. We were struggling to make ends meet (neither of our jobs paid all that well) and so he decided to try being a truck driver. He found a company in Texas that would get him through his training and would give him a job. We thought we would still see each other, how very wrong we were. He started that job in April 2012 (we hadn't been married a year yet). He was gone for weeks. I saw him three times from April to December. It was the worst time ever. I was thankful for our church and our landlords but I needed D.J.
I had quit my waitress job just before he left and had started cleaning houses.While he was gone, I worked as much as I could so I wouldn't have to go home to an empty home (mostly empty anyway, as we have two cats, Nala and Gromit). Neither of us could stand the separation, so in December he found a trucking job in the area.
He started working for this company and I got to see him a little more, but still once every two weeks was crazy! I couldn't keep cleaning houses because my back was getting pretty bad (I have a slipped vertebra). So I went with him for a week. We went from NC to TX to FL and back to NC. I was so glad to be with him! Then the worst happened. The company he was driving for had lots of issues start up. We had trouble with our bank account as his paychecks would bounce. Bills got behind even more. Then, the company went under. Neither of us had a job, neither of us could find one.
So, we moved. I could get my old job back in MI and he had different opportunities for applications. At least one of us could be working. The problem? We didn't have our own house anymore. We couldn't afford it. We moved in with my dad. Sigh. How could it be that everything just turned upside down? Less than two years of married life and we are back in my old home, with just one room and bathroom to call our own. Two adults and two crazy cats in a bedroom that is smaller than our living room was in our NC home.
I went back to work. D.J. got hired on at a trucking company in town. We see each other once a week now... sometimes more. But it still isn't what we want, or need. Neither of us use our degrees, no one will hire unless we have experience. I started substitute teaching and he is still driving truck. We still live with my father and we still want our own place.
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