I gotta question for all you OTR guys out there, how long do you spend on the road before homesickness sets in. I'm a local driver, so I can't really relate, but I did run regional for my current company about 3 months at the beginning of 2009, and in all honesty by Thursday I was itching to go home, by the way I typically ran out on Mondays, and always had weekends off. It's always been a question of mine, I never could get used to being away from the wife and the house for any duration of time, you guys are definately a testament to mental fortitude to be able to stay away from what you know for weeks at a time. Lets be honest here too, no need for the "if you're a real man you don't get homesick" mentality, everyone has to itch to get home at some point in time.

Zach, Pritchett truck 1410

 

I'm no longer doing the OTR thing anymore but when I did I found that after about 3-5 days I started missing the MRS. but it seemed to go away after about 10 days. If I stayed out longer than 4 weeks it came back again. It also depended A LOT on how busy I was

 

I miss my dogs after about one day and my wife after about a week

 

I miss mine as soon as I walk out the door.

 

When Single stayed out for 2-3 MONTHS called I hired someone to take care of my mothers yard and she had access to my Bank Account for all my Bills so they got paid. Then I made the 450LB MISTAKE and could not stay out longer than a 2 weeks.

 

if im running and making money and not sitting at a truck stop then probably i could two weeks or so

 

About 2.5-3 months and I start getting pissy and go home for a few days.

 

3 days

 

I guess a lot of it might have to do with the type of truck you're driving as well. When I ran regional with Pritchett, I was issued a 2007 Mack Vision, granted it had low miles and was clean, but the interior was about as plain jane as you could get, literally just a bed in the back with 2 closets, no space for a fridge, nearly impossible to hook up a TV, so at the end of the day there wasn't much to look forward to. I've heard through the grapevine that Heartland Express trucks are basically decked out with the same lack of comfort, basically just a place to lay your head at night. It might be easier if you've got something with atleast a few comforts of home, fridge, tv, microwave, I think things like that probably make it easier to pass the time.

 

Keeping up with the news from your home base helps.

Your local newspapers via the internet, the television stations you watch at home via the satelite.

You don't feel so disconnected when you get home and folks know stuff you didn't hear about.

The waves of homesick roll in and out.