This entry requires a little bit of back story.
My dad has a diverse educational background - he has three college degrees: Chemistry, Computer Maintenance, and another computer-y one ;) He's been a self-contracting computer programmer for as long as I can remember. Rewind to summer '10 and dad decided to look into trucking. The appeal was that it'd be a consistent job, and after you've trucked for a certain amount of time, you can always hop back into it (Dad would still do computer work on the side).
I was volunteering my summer at camp when mom told me that dad was going to go to trucking school. I remember thinking my dad had lost his mind, and was probably just having a mid-life crisis. Now, a year and a half-ish later, I can see that it's been an amazing fit for him. He loves trucking, and, oddly enough, my mom loves getting out and riding along with him (for upwards of a month at a time even!). Seeing how everything has gone, I now think that trucking is pretty great :)
How does this pertain to me you ask? Well, sometime tonight, I'll be setting off with dad for a 2-3 week trucking adventure – I know, I might just be a bit crazy to try this. ;)
The idea to ride along came about in the Fall, and only now did everything line up for me to be able to actually go. I've got my camera batteries charged, audio books downloaded, and bags packed. I'm pretty excited :)
I'll be riding and living in the semi with him, it will be great getting to see close up what goes into this trucking job! It looks like the first thing we'll be doing is heading to a suburb of Chicago to drop a load. After that, where you end up is dependent on where they give you a load to, but it could anywhere across America! - this can make packing the right type of clothing hard! ;)
While I'm gone I'll be blogging, taking pictures, and sending post cards – so expect this blog to be a little more active in the near future :)
If you have any trucking questions post a comment with them, and I'll try and get it answered! That way this can be a learning experience for myself, and anyone else who has ever wondered what being a trucker actually entails :)
Prayers for traveling safety is much appreciated!
What an adventure!! Hope you have a great time. I'm sure you'll have lots of awesome pictures and fun stories. I'm trying to think of a trucking question, but I am so unaware of all things trucking that I can't even think of a question. Oh, here's one: what does a driver to for all those hours driving, since he/she can't read, take pictures, blog, etc? Have fun!!
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