If you consider a career change, chose an occupation other than trucking.
Trucking is NOT a career, it is a dead end job. Career implies that you have room for advancement.
The only advancement you will make in trucking will be on the fuel lines,
that is if you're lucky and lardass Swift driver decides not to stand in line
at Subway, while parked at the island. Very rare.

It's what you make of it. I love it.

Some people should maybe work at Subway and not drive.

It IS what you make of it ? Wonderful! In that case, please explain it to me. Do you have any control over anything? I assume you also believe in the
Tooth Fairy. :roll:

Lets see. I have my own authority so nobody tells me what to do. If I don't like the load or anything about it, I don't take it.

I go where I want.

I pickup when I want.

I deliver when I want.

I get paid what I want.

I take a nap when I want without a Qualcom going off wondering why my truck isn't moving.

I go home when I want.

I stay at home for as long as I want.

I take as much time I want off between loads or as little time.

If I want to make more money, I drive more.

I use to believe in the tooth fairy and played the game as long as I could. The money was great!!

:roll: OOOps, my bad. Sorry, I did not realise you were your own man.
In that case, you are absolutely right.

No problem. I like your avatar. Is that Christopher Walkin?

Yes it is, and I look sooo much like him. :lol:

Had to edit my post. Just noticed I wrote live instead of like.

Can't disagree with the spirit of this, but the unfortunate thing is that even 10 years later, all the other jobs out there still pay so little that I'm not much better off than this OP. I'd have to work two jobs to get out from behind the wheel, and I don't really hate driving.

I can't say I like driving steadily downhill year by year into an abyss either though. Nowhere to go advancement wise, pay tops out fast, and then steadily declines as the annual cost of living increase slowly erodes your earning power. If/when minimum wage actually goes up to more than most of the security guards I know are making, it's really going to suck our earning power down with it. Now we're only making less than twice minimum wage per hour? Fantastic.

But the OP might not have any better choices. I don't. I've been looking at going back to school online for a second, more useful degree, and I can't find a market for any degree I can get online (even from legitimate, accredited universities with distance education programs.)

Nothing much for it but to carry on carrying on, and make the best of it. I'm in a similar situation to the OP with kids, and I've never done hard OTR in my 10-year career. I've always been home on weekends, and home during the week, since day 1. It's possible, although not easy. It's manageable. It can be done.