[Doc U.S. Navy]

Hey guys and felines,
I'm Doc and new to trucking. My title DOC comes from my military exp. in the Navy as a Corpsmen and during that time I spent a year onboard the USS DDG 59 RUSSEL OUT OF PEARL HARBOR , the rest was spent with the best in the business the US MARINES! I saw combat with the USMC and was their primary medical personnel during that time. I did my 5 years and then came out to use my MGIB college bill and fund. I attended college for two years and recieved my Associates of Arts degree. Always loved big trucks and decided to drive for a few years. I have a huge GERMAN SHEPARD that has the force and bite of a copper head but has the same love that I do for all humanity. She loves the navy and marines but will clip anyone else that gets close to her. She's learned well. Well truth be known she was a ex-USMC military dog and I adopted her. Eventually I hope to complete my private pilots license and eventually become a commercial pilot. I love anything to do with the transportation industry. Yet flying is the ultimate goal. Giving a big 10-4 to all out their that does and puts up with the sacrifices we have to. I have learned we are all under appreciated by our country. Docs my name and in some facet of transportation will always be my game. Don't be afraid to drop a line or PM. Miles behind just taken my time!!!! Love to all !

[BillyBob]

Ok I've been hear for a while just found this post,thought I'd say howdy. I work for an ambulance service in Pa and found this site by accident so i joined, so anyway hi

[PoodleParent]

Just stumbled on here the other night looking for anything about women in trucking. I am mother of 5 almost all grown children, tired of (sick to death of) office work and ready for a change. I am from the Midwest and live near St. Louis, MO. My husband is a software developer for the same company I work for and we ride to work together every day. I study the trucks and look at every single one that we pass or that passes us and try to see if it is a chic driving or a guy....I have only seen one female driver in the last month or so I have been looking. I have decided it is time to change that. :idea:

I pretty much have my heart set on Roehl Transport for school and for my first driving job - if they will have me, that is. I don't see why they wouldn't - I have a ticketless record and over 5 years on the same job with the same employer. I should surely have every bit as much going for me as anyone else out there.

I ride a motorcycle, have really short hair so I won't (don't already) have to worry about curlers and such. Grew up on a farm and though I wear a skirt, heels and hose to work many days and pull it off fine, I am really more than ready to pull my good ole Levi's back on and go back to being the Tomboy that I am at heart.

My two puppy girls are a great source of joy in my life. Molly and Jazmine are their names and they are a riot. Roehl has a no pets policy or they would go with me for sure.

Any comments or people wanting a "pen pal" as we used to call it when I was a kid, are welcome to email me at [email protected]. I am looking for people, especially women, to converse with and learn a little about the trucking biz.

Take it easy, stay safe,
PoodleParent

[mtdewr]

Hi my name is Trudy. I was looking online for a few answers last night and found this forum. It has been a great help with a lot of questions that I had. I am hoping to be able to meet some of the people on this site. I have gotten helpful info from a few people that I know that I will use once I start driving.

Since making the decision to go OTR teams with my hubby (Bob), everything has kinda fallen into place. I have many more questions but from what I have been reading...you learn as you go.

We just moved to Gastonia, NC from FL since there arent too many runs going into FL. We were told if you live north of I-10 you would have better home time (they all promise great home time...yeah right!)

Well, enough about me for now..have a safe trip!

My email is [email protected] Thanks, Trudy

[Mystikal]

Well, I found this site after the reality that I might not be able to start the career I want for some time.... but anyways... here's my life story

I graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Criminal Justice in December and have really been applying to police departments basically the last 2 years. Ive put out some 25 applications or so to various PD's and Sheriff departments, tested with a multitude of them and just was never selected to about 95% of them. Those that I did test for I was told my finances hurt me due to an extended unemployment period in 2002 & 2003 after separation from the Air Force. Well, after having that reality hit me (finances) I decided it might be time to look at another career for some time to rebuild the finances and see what happens. Who knows, I might like this and decide to stick with it.

Well, I decided on this career because basically since I was 6 i've wanted to drive. At age 19 I went in to a recruitment meeting for JB Hunt but was turned away for obvious reasons. Well, I joined the Air Force and in '99 started collecting applications from various companies for when I separated. Unfortunately I got into some legal issues jsut after and i'm just past that 5 year mark. I opted to finish my degree and try to get into a PD but, again, the finances are hurting me. I was going to pay to go to an academy but with these issues I can't see doing any better straight out of an academy either. Well currently i'm in the process with Denver County Sheriff's Department but not holding my breath. My student loans are due to be taking payments come July so I will need to get out of the job i'm in now to have enough to feed my family AND pay the few bills I have and it looks like I might be applying by May for a late June traning somewhere, after a pre-planned vacation my girlfriend and I are going on.

So now that my life story is out... i'm also 29, live in Colorado Springs, enjoy 4-wheeling in the mountains, cooking, video games (typical boy), driving on long trips, travelling, and my kids.

Currently I still would have to go to a school for my CDL but i'm looking at 1) Roehl 2) Werner 3) possibly USXpress, or MAYBE Swift (not fond of the comments about Swift but they have a school). The only thing I worry about is if Roehl even has anything here in Colorado. Right now i'm anti-relocation since my kids live primarily with their mother so my options might be a little limited.

In any case, i'm glad to be here as I have learned quite a bit from the long time members and look forward to learning even more.

[mojoe]

HI my name is Tray. I've had my CDL"s for about five months. Just trying to decide on which company to go with. I also am reading everything I can. I want to be prepared. I'm not much of a talker. More of an observer.

[vavega]

hi! i am vavega (real name diane) and i have been driving TT's for 24 years with 22 at the same company, doing T/L and ltl from CT to DC. i'm getting the feeling that the company i work for is about to go under so i googled driving jobs and found this forum. great place, with a good mix of experienced drivers and newbies. actually i'm shocked to see how many people want to get into driving. but i have to admit it has been great to me, and one of the best paying jobs i ever had. beats working in a biology/chemistry lab any day.

off to make a pest of myself somewhere :wink: :P

[Attitude]

Hi, my name is Ron. I've been driving for about 6 yrs. I started out pretty much like everyone else doing the over the road thing. That got old quick for my wife and two kids. I guess what did it for me was when my daughter asked me when I was coming home forever :sad: Didn't make me feel to good. So about a month later I found a local job and I've been doing the local thing ever since. I haul dry bulk cement for a local company that delivers to all of the state-wide concrete plants and I'm lovin it. Pay is desenct and the company I'm with takes pretty good care of the equipment. I've been thinking of trying to buy my own truck and get my own authority to run bulk for myself. I hear there is a lot of money in that and I figure since I enjoy doing it so much for company, why not give it a go on my own and be even happier. If anybody has any pointer for me feel free to send any info my way. Hope to start hearing from more people. Everybody take care out there. Be safe and God bless!

[Rhode Island Red]

Hi I found this site a few days ago and am still wandering around and getting lots of good info. I am glad to see that there is such a great resource for women in trucking on this site.

I am a CDL student at a school in RI although I live in MA (actually one of eight women enrolled in a program of almost 100 students total). I wasn't doing too badly with my road driving and straight-backing. Got the PTI, brake tests (bleed-down and four point) down. Now we're on the alley docking manuever for a few days and what a mess! I'm the one who is not getting the concept at all! The instructors and more advanced students try to be helpful and I keep practicing, but will I ever get this? I can hardly wait to spend two hours with the state police at my licensing exam. Would love to hear from others who made it through the MA testing experience.

[KCRider]

Hello to all. My name is Steve. I will soon be 48 years old. I am married to the most wonderful woman in the world, and we have two great children. Our son turned 14 nearly five months ago, and our daughter will be 11 in May. We (and the mortgage company) own a home in Central Pennsylvania, but there's a long story associated with how I got where I am now.

Sit back, relax, take your shoes off, and read for a few minutes.

While I was growing up, I had an insatiable appetite to see this great country of ours at somebody else's expense. I didn't want to panhandle my way up, down, and around the United States; and anything illegal was simply unacceptable. So, I developed what I though was a brilliant idea: Drive Truck. Not any truck, mind you, but a semi. I had dreams of driving coast-to-coast in the one of the most decked out rigs in the world: A Peterbilt... Not just any Peterbilt, though. I wanted a long-nose Pete with a double-bunk and a CAT for an engine. 13 gears was also an option, but I wanted 16. The more I read the classifieds about truck driving jobs, though the more I started thinking: Firms want drivers with Experience, but I don't have experience, and the only way to get experience was to drive. I was beside myself as well as in a Catch-22 situation.

So... in 1977, I attended the now defunct MTA Truck Driving School, formerly located near Exit 247 (formerly Exit 19) of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I was too young to drive over-the-road, but not too young for MTA to take my money and "teach" me how to drive a rig. After "graduating," I set out to find any job in Pennsylvania that would have me driving "local," since the minimum age to drive intrastate in Pennsylvania was 18 then. After months of looking, I applied for and got a job driving from one end of U.S. Steel's Homestead Works to the other -- 12 hours a day. Plus, the pay back then was more than I had ever earned in my life: $6.25/hour. But, that got too old too quick -- a year to be exact.

Having turned 19 and learning how to "disguise" certain OTR age *requirements* I got a job driving for Triangle Trucking for two years. I still can't believe it took the Safety Director two years to learn my true age, but that's another story.

At the ripe old age of 21, I ran OTR for a "friend" who had more money than Forrest Gump and bought himself an old truck, leased it on with a company I won't mention here, and he let me drive that truck as long as I wanted to drive it. I drove it two years until I found a really good paying job with Health Benefits in 1981. The company I went to work for was the non-Union spin off of Helms Astro Division, Team Transport, Inc., located near Warrendale, Pennsylvania. My six-year career there was briefly interrupted by a six-month stint at Shaffer Trucking, located in New Kingstown, Pennsylvania (it's a hard place to miss if one is ever driving north on Route 11 out of Carlisle, because the terminal sits in the median of the northbound and southbound lanes).

Anyway.... on a chilly morning in February 1987, I was involved in my first and only accident in six years and more than 750,000 miles (I still have my log books). An elderly woman entering Interstate 70 near Wheeling, West Virginia, drove right under my truck. And, as Forrest would say, "that's all I got to say about that."

Four years later, I received a degree from a University in Pittsburgh. A year before graduating, I married the woman of my dreams. You see, when I was having all those dreams of driving and seeing the United States at someone else's expense, I made a promise to avoid getting married until I matured, saw what I wanted to see, and was more than ready to retire from Driving - permanently.

Getting back to what happened after graduating from college in 1991, I got a job working for the U.S. Department of Energy (from 1991 until 1998) and, now, I have been with my present employer, a firm responsible for monitoring the health and welfare benefits for Pennsylvania's fine employees, since 1998.

I am not a Driver, but I still consider myself a trucker. I drove those roads that lead from Maine to Florida; Florida to Washington; San Diego to New Hampshire; and New York City to San Francisco. I know about Cahone Pass, Tehachapi between Barstow and Bakersfield. I drove over the Grapevine and, on one winter night in 1982, I followed a driver westbound on U.S. 12 from Missoula, Montana to Lewiston, Idaho.

I continue to "drive" those roads, but I no longer have 18 wheels to play with; I have two. I ride a motorcycle, a black and gold Kawasaki Concours. I respect the ability of each one of you out there, and sometimes I wish I could step up into the cab and drive a few miles. So, the next time you see a motorcycle, it might be me. You'll know because I'm the one letting you know when it's safe to re-enter the slow lane. I'm the one who doesn't follow too closely. I'm the one who still has that mystical truck-driver's blood in my veins... and in my heart... and in my soul... It never leaves. Nor does the memory of my handle: "Late For Supper."

Thanks for letting me share my introduction. Y'all take care...