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Years ago I was sitting in truck driving school in Lewiston, Idaho, listening to the instructors tell us the good and bad about trucking one of us had asked "what is the best truckers job" . I remember one instructor in particular standing up and telling us "You will never get rich driving a truck."
I never forgot that fellow, nor my reaction to those words that he spoke. For some reason those words made me feel a little angry. It was like he was telling us not to aim too high or telling us what we could or could not do.
Well I chose not to believe those words. I told myself I was going to search everywhere until I had found the best truckers job I could find. I wanted to figure out a way to get, what I considered at the time, "Wealthy" driving a truck. I think I stayed with that first outfit for about a year before I decided to head up north to Alaska.
I ended up working in a salmon cannery for 7.50 per hour six am to eleven o'clock pm 7 days a week for the entire summer. At that time in Alaska there was a real shortage of jobs, including trucking jobs. Believe me. I looked. So after a summer of sliming fish I was ready to start long haul trucking again.
I didn't have much trouble finding a long haul job because I was now an experienced trucker. This company had shiny red trucks and paid a whopping 26 cents per mile. That was not great but it was better than the 22 cents I had been earning the previous winter.
I found the euphoria from a job that didn't entail smelling like fish guts all the time did not last. This company paid more per mile but their benefits left a lot to be desired. I also found myself sitting in truck stops waiting to be dispatched quite often, instead of driving.
Then one day on a Fourth of July weekend
(Continued)
I never forgot that fellow, nor my reaction to those words that he spoke. For some reason those words made me feel a little angry. It was like he was telling us not to aim too high or telling us what we could or could not do.
Well I chose not to believe those words. I told myself I was going to search everywhere until I had found the best truckers job I could find. I wanted to figure out a way to get, what I considered at the time, "Wealthy" driving a truck. I think I stayed with that first outfit for about a year before I decided to head up north to Alaska.
I ended up working in a salmon cannery for 7.50 per hour six am to eleven o'clock pm 7 days a week for the entire summer. At that time in Alaska there was a real shortage of jobs, including trucking jobs. Believe me. I looked. So after a summer of sliming fish I was ready to start long haul trucking again.
I didn't have much trouble finding a long haul job because I was now an experienced trucker. This company had shiny red trucks and paid a whopping 26 cents per mile. That was not great but it was better than the 22 cents I had been earning the previous winter.
I found the euphoria from a job that didn't entail smelling like fish guts all the time did not last. This company paid more per mile but their benefits left a lot to be desired. I also found myself sitting in truck stops waiting to be dispatched quite often, instead of driving.
Then one day on a Fourth of July weekend
(Continued)