My husband and I are considering a life change. We are both 38 with no kids, and live a plane ride away from our families anyhow, so driving a truck as a team seems like it might be a good fit for us at this point. We are both all for it, but both also tend to look on the good side of everything. Here's what I'd like to know:
1. When choosing a driving school and our first company, what should we be wary of?
2. What are some of the tougher things you face as a driver, for both men and women? I understand it can be lonely, but how bad are the everyday things? How often are the truck stops really dirty, for instance (consider that I shower at the gym most days anyhow)? I'm sure everybody has a horror story, but what is the day to day reality- the things that really add up and take a toll on you?
3. Is it possible to stay in shape and eat well on the road?
4. Any feedback on husband/wife teams?
Thanks for your advice and experience!!!

Sit down and talk with each other.

No matter how many folks you talk to, your experiences will be your experiences.

Things you need to talk about:
What are you going to do if one or both of you don't make it through everything.
How do you feel about someone 'hitting up on you' or the other one, how do you think you will react when it does happen.
How do you feel about being apart from your spouse for the 6+ weeks that they will be with a company trainer, an potentially with an opposite sex one.

You might want to check out http://www.newbiedriver.com/
Under the getting started heading it has questions to ask potential schools and carriers.

You might also want to check out these:
http://yuki-yume.net/dle/badtrainer.htm
http://yuki-yume.net/dle/goodtrainer.htm
http://www.layover.com/newbies/

Good luck.

GREAT info! Thanks!!! Wouldn't have thought of the trainer thing. I will check out those websites tonight.
THANKS!

Salesgirl, I can say I've been that route. I drove team with my girlfriend for 1 year. Both of us like most newbies today started with Swift (went through their school too). Not promoting Swift but we did get a brand new truck!! I'm sure some companies do treat teams better than solos so you might get better equipment. Both of us being brand new in the trucking industry neither one of us trusted each others driving abilities so for about the first 3-4 months we worked on about 3-5 hours of sleep a night!! You may or may not be different but let me say that those energy pills and energy drinks were my best friend. Also being new to the trucking industry, unless you know your way around the U.S. your gonna need to help each other out when it comes to finding shippers/recievers. Especially when delivering in bigger cities and places with tight quarters. I did enjoy having someone there to talk to and help backing into those tight parking spaces in t/s that no one else wanted to park in. You will be run hard which I personally like, more drop/hook. Myself being like you I have no kids or any other worries so we ran as hard as we personally could and delivered most loads on time, got the occasional load that was due yesterday. Paychecks are awesome as long as your truck is rolling. After my girlfriend and I got a few months of experience we went to Interstate Dist. Co. we made more money there and they ran us even harder!! But like I said before as long as you run your truck like your supposed to your paycheck will be awesome. We carried your basic sandwich stuff and fruit and some vegetables but hey, you can only eat so many sandwiches before your dyin for a home cooked meal, so T/A truckstops and Flying J truck stop diners are another best friend. Myself and my girlfriend werent by far the best team out there but we ran 20-24 thousand miles a month. Also being a team you get the better runs usually (west coast to east coast/east coast to west coast). As many drivers have posted on here, AND BELIEVE THIS!! "it will test your relationship"!!! Cant count how many times we got upset at each other whether it be waking each other up because we have to unload, help backing, chaining, took a wrong exit, etc,etc,etc. I'm sure theres many more things I missed so let me know if I can help with any other questions.

Great advice- Thank you. I will keep you in mind as we start to have more questions. I think there are a lot of benefits to driving with a partner, and my husband and I have known each other since the 2nd grade so we've been putting up with each other for a LONG time! The more we think about it, the more we want to do it. I think he's going to get going first as I carry the benefits with my job now. Once he's been doing it long enough to start getting benefits, I'll get trained. I've heard good things about Swift. From what I've heard, once you've got about 6 months under your belt, you can switch companies if you're not happy. I'm going to do a little more research on the driving school he's looking into right now. He has an appointment with them on Saturday. They are supposed to help with job placement once you complete the course.

Can you think of any questions he should ask- things you wish you would have asked in the beginning?

Thanks again!
Kelli

You should read Roadhogs blog in the "New truck drivers get help here" section. It's at the top of the page under "The driver and the employer, basic job hunting skills". Very informative and helpful should answer some questions of yours!! Also you said your husband was gonna drive first, well when we were with Swift dont know if they still allow it but if your husband has a certain amount of experience not sure how much is needed but he can take a trainer class and he can train you once you attain your CDL, instead of goin with another trainer for 6 weeks.

A few simple questions to ask a recruiter would be:

Hometime: how is hometime determined.
Miles per month: how many miles per month do they expect out of a team
Pay:how much per mile does a new team make
Benefits:who is insurance provider
Pet policy: if you have pets
Layover pay:how much
Lumper pay:do they pay it
Driver unload:how much do they pay when you unload
What kind of equipment they have:newer/older
Where is your home terminal:where your based out of
Will you have your own driver manager:
How often do you get a pay raise and how much:
If you are going through "Swift" school, definately ask them how much they will be taking out of your check every week/ month.
When will school loan be paid off:
I'm sure there are many more questions that other drivers can think of so definately ask around, these are just a few. Like I said above find out if you do go through their school how much they take out of your check because you have to factor that into your paycheck as it wont be as big as you think until you do pay off your school loan, of course unless you pay it off when you start school but thats up to you.
Driving team like any other jobs has its up and downs but you will in time make a very nice paycheck.

You said that you would like to get some experience and then switch companies later on down the road. Not a bad idea, I had no one to tell me right or wrong but we switched companies with only 6mos. being with Swift and I learned that the more experience you have the more opportunities open up. Like if you have 1 year exp. it opens up a lot of doors with many companies and 2-3 years you can pretty much get a job anywhere especially as a team. So if you can stick it out for a year with whatever company you start with it not only looks good on your resume and DAC but like I said it opens up a lot of different doors to companies!!
Best of luck to you guys and like my trainer used to tell me, "take it with a grain of salt". Dont get down on each other out there, talk and listen to each other and things will turn out just fine in the end.

GREAT info. What a great message board this is. I thank you both for being so helpful. All in all, I think our minds are made up to give this a shot- we just want to go in with our eyes open and try to make the best decisions starting off. There is really so much helpful information available! Thanks for pointing us to it!!!
Be safe!
Kelli & Andy