CC has been a place that has morphed from strictly being a site that celebrates old cars into one that is about vehicles of all kinds. Back in May I shared with a few people that I had made a major life change. I decided to leave the practice of law – something in which I had been engaged for right at about thirty-eight years. Being too young to actually retire (I was not yet 64 at the time) I decided on my second act: I decided I was going to get a Commercial Drivers License (CDL) and drive big trucks.
Yes – Lawyer to truck driver in a few easy weeks. What was I thinking? I went into some depth on this in a couple of posts on my blog – like where I talked about leaving law and where I shared my new gig. The short version was that I had become increasingly tired of a high-stress treadmill. My practice had mostly included working for national property & casualty insurance companies. That work never paid top tier rates, but the tradeoff had always been steady work and reasonable hours. That tradeoff had been getting increasingly out of whack in recent years and I decided that I wanted off the merry go round.
But why trucking?
Anyone who reads here can surely see the allure of driving for a living. I had been a pizza delivery guy for one semester in college, and also drove parts delivery vans for a couple of warehouses as summer jobs. I have always loved driving, but had no intention of becoming a 60-something pizza guy or Uber driver.
An uncle had worked for one of those companies where you bought your own van and got dispatched to pick up parts at one location and deliver them to another when a company’s “just in time” inventory system was not working as it should. My research indicated that the bigger the truck, the more money the driver makes. My new daughter-in-law’s father drives a tractor-trailer for a living and graciously spent some time on the phone with me giving me the ins and outs of the business. One of the chief takeaways is that there is a shortage of drivers, and this is one field where a guy my age is in demand. It was then that I formed the plan.
Obtaining a CDL today is much more difficult than it was in “the old days” (whenever those were). One method for getting one was to get hired by a company that would train a new driver. Those are large companies, and the deal is that you will get paid while you train and will not have to front the cost of obtaining the license, but then you will be obligated to work for them for a time (one or two years is typical). The other way was to go with private instruction.
This was going to involve several weeks of school (and a few thousand dollars out of pocket in addition to a lack of income). I reasoned that because I knew exactly zero about the trucking industry, it would be foolish to yoke myself to a trucking company for a fairly long time for a short-term benefit – especially at my age. It seemed to me that I would have more options if I got my license on my own.
I first checked a school affiliated with our local community college. Four weeks of class and the first week would be devoted to obtaining a learner’s permit from the state BMV. The class work was all by video and the driving instruction would be at another location. I was interested, and they started a new class every Monday. Another school was a purely local operation, and cost about the same. This program was five weeks, and I was expected to have my learner’s permit on day one. In my mind, this translated to more schooling for the same cost – which was a good thing.
I contacted the second school. I would have to fill out an application, go through an interview, sign off on a background check and go for a drug test. I would also have to get a “DOT (Department of Transportation) Medical” – this is the certificate that says you are healthy enough to drive a truck, and without one of those this whole plan would blow up.
I started with the medical. I am fortunate to be in good health and was issued a certificate good for the maximum two years. I passed the background and drug screens (as I knew I would) and got accepted into the school. The rub was that there was not a new class starting for another three weeks. Fortunately, my “out date” at my law firm had been very soft, and I had plenty to do in the transition to keep me working up until right before the start of classes. I had hoped to get a little time off, but ended up finishing work at the office at 7:30 p.m. on a Saturday evening and beginning “truck school” the following Monday morning.
The next few weeks would see a complete transition in my life. And the next few weeks here will share my experiences in going from a normal driver to someone licensed to drive just about anything that rolls. So stay tuned.
I look forward to hearing about your new career, JP. One of my “second-career” ideas is to drive sugar beet trucks locally, so your experiences in getting your CDL will be helpful.
I understand there are some exemptions for trucks used in agriculture, so that some who drive solely for farming purposes are not required to jump through so many hoops. I have never learned the particulars, but you might want to look into that.
Wow, JPC, big life change! Can’t wait to hear all about it!
Commercial truck driving seems like it would be similarly stressful – it has the same pressures for cost and efficiency (two reasons you cited for leaving law) that virtually every other profession has today.
Plus drivers don’t give big rigs much respect (meaning space) anymore – not really sure they ever did, but drivers today are so much more distracted today with phones and screens.
Interested in hearing how this goes. I got my commercial drivers license (back then) in a 1968 Ford Station Wagon that was new at the time! I was grandfathered in through the years as the company that I worked for required a CDL for anyone that drove a company vehicle. We did have a number of large trucks but the biggest thing I drove was an F-250 pickup truck. At some point I did have to take a written test on the newer regulations – Maybe in the mid-1980’s, give or take. Where it got really interesting is when I moved to Germany. Had to take written and driving tests in the car but they gave me equivalent of a CDL! It was more work getting my motorcycle license transferred to Germany. I still have never driven a “big” truck on the road. I have moved them around in a parking lot as needed but I am in no way really qualified to drive on the road. But, I still have the license.
My mom and dad got their first driver’s licences in Ontario in 1931 and 1930 respectively. At that time the were only 2 classes of licence, chauffeurs if you were paid to drive and operators for everyone else. The catch was that the minimum age for the chauffeur’s licence was 16, but it was 18 for the operators. Needless to say, they both got chauffeurs, as did all their friends.
In the mid sixties my family went to Europe to visit my aunt and my parents got International Driver’s Licenses and my mother thought it was very funny that they were given some sort of a “heavy vehicle” classification.
My first boss’s husband did the exact same thing – 35+ years in law, then got his CDL and worked another 25 years in long haul. Brilliant man and native Texan who winced around my thick Yankee accent. Over time he and my boss became my “adoptive” parents as a transplant down South. Good man, and he loved the road.
I am super interested in this, because I too am a lawyer and I want to get my CDL and hit the road for at least a little while (a year or two) before I am “too old” to want to do it! I too got tired of private practice and actually looked into this a couple of years ago before I took a job as an attorney for a government agency. I love my current role, and it’s a lot more enjoyable / less stress than private practice. When I leave at 5pm, or go on vacation, I can truly leave the work behind for the first time in my 29 years of practice. But I would love to hit the open road. I still have the “Driver Pulse” app on my phone that a lot of the carriers use to recruit/onboard drivers.
Congratulations on getting out there and making a change to improve your enjoyment of life. Too many people just complain about the status quo and whatever their situation is instead of figuring out how to help themselves. Life’s too short to spend it stuck in whatever field you may have chosen (or had chosen for you), a year, a decade, or much of a lifetime ago if you don’t love it. Our family made a massive life change going on fifteen years ago and don’t regret anything about it except that we probably should have done it even sooner.
Polish that bulldog and keep on truckin’! If I see you on the highway I’ll be sure to use your handle…
Ditto that! Although, I can’t help but wonder whether you changed one set of stresses for another?! (we’ll see as the story unfolds!).
I retired at the end of 2019 at age 57, largely because I didn’t like the vector things were heading from a corporate culture standpoint. Turned out to be providential timing, given everything that happened in 2020 and following. It was also only because we had no debt and I had a decent pension that we could make the jump financially (a frugal-ish lifestyle helped, too).
The wife of good friends at church (who is my age) drove OTR for a few years (she’s one of those who’s worked at just about every kind of job), only stopping due to a health issue that took her off the road). She’s got some stories!!
Look forward to riding along. “Keep the shiny side up and the dirty side down… shakin’ the trees and rakin’ the leaves!”
I think of you regularly Ed – twice a week I drive past the Lafayette, Indiana location of your former employer!
Thanks, Jim – your experience was one of the things that gave me some encouragement. In hindsight, I wish I had done this sooner. But isn’t 64 the new 46? 🙂
Congratulations JP, on your big career move! I hope your new path in life, is very satisfying, and successful for you. And driving remains a pleasure. Sincerest best wishes!
I have taken a somewhat opposite direction. As I live and work in a downtown urban setting, I decided to give up car ownership several years ago. I also live less than 500 feet from a light rail hub, here in Ottawa. As the city spent $2 billion dollars on a state-of-the-art commuter train system. I admittedly thoroughly enjoy being car-free. There are also many car rental agencies nearby, whenever I do want personal transportation. I don’t miss increased traffic, skyrocketing car ownership costs, and ever-growing aggressive drivers. I do hope other drivers treat you with respect, and your new career is a very satisfying and lucrative experience for you, and your family.
As a young child, one of my favourite television shows, was the short-lived series Movin’ On. Starring Claude Akins and Frank Converse, as two truckers travelling across the US. Helping the lives, of those they met. Interestingly, Converse hosted a sales video for Chrysler in 1980, promoting the K-Cars. Compared to the Aspen and Volare, the K-Cars were impressively heavily computed-aided in their design and construction.
Wasn’t a huge old country fan, but Merle Haggard’s Movin’ On was a great accompanying song to the TV series. A #1 Country hit in 1975.
Thumbs up for Claude Akins! He was a staple of TV in my youth. The man has 236 entries as an actor in his IMDB profile, most of which were TV shows from the early 1950s through the early 1990s. Movin’ On was a bit late for me in so far as I was starting to move on from serial TV watching by the mid-1970s…but the big rig focused topic of this show did warrant a few watches.
Interesting acting change of pace, as Akins starred as General Aldo in 1973’s Battle for the Planet of the Apes.
I remember the show, but I think I was in high school when it started running, and I didn’t have as much time for tv-watching by then. I always liked Claude Akins, though.
I suspect you get many thumbs up from the people here. I am one of them.
It will be very interested to read about your future experiences.
This is so cool! I must have missed any previous mention of such a change, but let me heartily congratulate you for embarking on such a big life change.
I’m really interested in following this transition as you move forward. After 30 years as a property & casualty agent I can relate in a big way to the stress, the piling on (especially in recent years) of more complexity in the industry, the weighty expectations and modest rewards that seem to only become weightier and even more modest as time goes by, etc. I’d love to just say goodbye to it all and do something else. At 56 I feel more and more like the window is slowly closing on my chance to do that, but reading this certainly shines a new light of hope.
I can say for certain that truck driving would not be the road (pun intended) for me, but this is still inspiring to hear.
Having known about Jim’s career change for a while, I will refrain from saying much directly about it for fear of inadvertently saying too much.
However, I can say Jim’s career change has resonated with others, similar to how it has done in the comments.
Late last summer I had to give a deposition. The attorney I was working with had been in practice well over 30 years. I told him of a fellow attorney and his career change to truck driving. This attorney’s face lit up and he was highly intrigued, wanting to know more.
Long ago my hometown newspaper had a feature about a local attorney who was still practicing law four hours per day at age 104 (or something like that). It alluded to how attorneys tend to keep on trucking in their career. Jim has taken that phrase in a much more interesting direction.
This is going to be extremely interesting. I myself frequently wind up staring at my desk, not wanting to give multifamily architecture another thought, tired of having to make so many people agree on things…..thinking about just driving a daycab for local deliveries and listening to podcasts.
The allure has been there since I was a kid, but all my guidance was just people angrily gesturing at the ladder.
I’ve been waiting to hear some details about your career change, so I’m glad to see this!
Very interesting, from a number of perspectives (and I bet a lot of readers will end up re-evaluating their own job choices after reading this).
The route that you took – a few weeks of school and a few thousand dollars in expenses + lost income – seems like a solid investment for an in-demand profession. Way back when I worked for a company that did research in industrial education, this scenario was held up as the ideal situation. For example, a profession with a much longer credentialing process – or certainly jobs that require something like college degrees that aren’t even relevant – makes it much more difficult for folks to switch careers. I am somewhat surprised that there seemed to be a big gap between the community college course and the private school. Again, many years ago, Indiana’s Ivy Tech community colleges were regarded as one of the best examples of community colleges matching courses to industry’s needs. In your case, the private school seemed like a more compelling choice.
I’m very interested in hearing more about your experiences. Thanks for writing this up!
The Ivy Tech program seemed to be a kind of hybrid between “vocational school” and an outsourced program. Another thing that kicked me over was the job placement situation, with the Ivy Tech program offering a jobs website. The school I chose had employers come in to talk to us, something that I found more appealing.
I’ve been waiting for this story and can’t wait to read all about it!
I’m particularly interested in the “schooling” involved in learning to drive a big truck. I’m fascinated by how people learn things and the formal structures involved in teaching. So this will be good reading for sure.
Here in Massachusetts, one of the current local stories is about the uncovering of a state police scandal that involved giving out CDLs to people who never took the courses or the state test. We love a good state police and/or Registry of Motor Vehicles scandal here (we seem to have them regularly, so no there’s shortage of entertainment for those interested in such things), but it’s scary to think about improperly licensed big rig drivers out there on the road. It’ll be good to hear about what in fact should happen in this licensing process, when it goes well.
It is not just your Massachusetts that loves a good scandal – I learned that in Indiana there had been a CDL school that was also licensed as a state CDL testing facility. The scandal was that they were charging tuition, giving minimal instruction, then passing all the students into a CDL. I think it was up near the Chicago area – which is where most of the mischief seems to happen in our fair state. 🙂
Are you familiar with The Long Haul: A Truckers Tale of Life on the Road by Finn Murphy?
More than thirty years ago, Finn Murphy dropped out of college to become a long-haul trucker. Since then he’s covered more than a million miles packing, loading, and hauling people’s belongings all over America.
I’ll bet you and Finn would have a lot to talk about!
I cannot wait to hear about your adventures.
This topic brings to mind this very interesting book, a favorite of mine, which was written by a soon-to-be sociology professor who worked his way through school as a truck driver, and made a study of the profession his dissertation:
https://tupress.temple.edu/books/pedal-to-the-metal
The author is now Professor Emiritus at the University of Illinois/Chicago School of Public Health:
https://publichealth.uic.edu/profiles/ouellet-larry/
Godspeed, JP! The allure of the open road will always be an intriguing ‘pull’ for many people, myself included. Congratulations and best wishes on your new adventure in life.
No doubt your choice definitely strikes an emotional chord with many readers, and I look forward to future updates.
As a late 40-something who’s spent 25 years in the corporate world, I’ve had similar longings of changing careers and becoming a commercial pilot for some Alaska bush outlet. It’ll never happen for a number of factors…some pragmatic, some not…but a man’s gotta have his daydreams… I admire you for having the fortitude to take the leap.
Good on you, JPC.
I’m about your same age and have found myself out of work after the recent decline in real estate. I reinvented myself for my last job in land title and will need to do it again for my “final act.”
I’m also leaning toward something outside of the cubicle, away from screens, so I will be following your progress closely.
Good luck!
This is a revelation to me. For many reasons. Thank you, sir.
I too applaud you for taking this plunge and for taking us along with you .
May the road rise to meet you .
-Nate
That’s fabulous news Jim! I totally get it, having been in a very high stress occupation – bioChemical teaching and research – for 3 decades, and retiring early in my late ’50s to reduce my anxiety level and perhaps concomitantly extend my life expectancy. I was very fortunate that my wife’s career in Family & Internal Medicine allowed me to do so when I did, and I don’t regret it for a moment. My 2nd career of writing and editing for a vintage audio publication (now defunct) didn’t pay much but was great fun while it lasted, no regrets My wife still love’s her profession, she’s one of those lucky ones, and still works part time at age 75.
Trucking sounds like a fun gig when approached with your positive mindset and in the right circumstances (short haul?) and best of we here will still have the benefit of your great writing and insight… Mazel tov!
I’ll add a similar story: one of my son’s good friends was a contract Archeologist with NY State, vetting road and building projects for potential Native American remains and artifacts before allowing them to proceed. A very interesting and varied profession requiring a Masters in the field, but heavily funded by grants and the whims of the legislature, and dependent upon weather and other rather unpredictable vagaries. After 10 years of an income that was too uncertain to support a family predictably he became a big-rig short haul trucker and it’s been a good change for him. My son also got tired of the uncertainties and is now an Archeologist for FEMA, a switch that has been most beneficial for him and far more stable. Change is often a very good thing, even under duress.
Thanks for this great article, much appreciated!
I’m a Career Coach for a major local Chicago – area “workforce development” agency; we enroll low – income people into the federal WIOA* Program in order to access free trainings and then careers in various areas, and CDL training is one of our high – demand areas (others are health care and IT…). In this area, CDL Programs generally run about $8000.00 in cost, and WIOA pays that whole amount. To be eligible, you must be “low – income” – one can be un – or under – employed, receiving benefits (SNAP, Medicaid, TANF…), live in an “economically – distressed” area, or be “Basic Skills – Deficient”, e.g. at less than a 9th – grade level in math/reading via results of an ABE (Adult Basic Education) literacy test. Veterans or spouses of veterans are automatically eligible, as are certain groups, e.g. Native Americans, Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders…
One must have a clean driving record, be deemed fit enough to perform the job, and absolutely be drug and alcohol – free, testing is done by both the schools and employers; just today, I found out one of my clients was dropped by a driving school because she did not pass a drug screen…
Age – wise, I have kids just out of HS (must be 18), to those in their 60’s – it’s a bit harder to get a CDL job when older, but all my older clients persevered and got good gigs… everyone makes at least $30.00/hour to start…
One thing to consider: many firms want experienced “over – the – road”, e.g. long – distance experience before being considered for a “local” CDL job. However, I just had a recent grad get placed with UPS in the southern Chicago suburbs…
Many of my WIOA clients are women… also, we’ve had quite a few Ukrainians (refugees…) enroll in the program this past year…
If you can take advantage of the WIOA Program, then DO IT – the training is free, and I’ve had clients complete a CDL Program and get good jobs within three months or so…
I am very critical of the waste in our Federal government, but WIOA is a great program that is worth every penny – we are very strictly audited to ensure “good outcomes”, which in the end means placing people in good jobs. Our agency does very well in these metrics, and we’ve no issues with getting funding. A WIOA agency I worked for years ago, however, did not do well, and they had to close as their funding was cut off for having poor outcomes…
Your state will have a WIOA Program, and these programs are administered locally, e.g. Illinois has a network of “American Jobs Centers”; Google your state and “American Jobs Centers” or “WIOA”, here is the IL portal:
https://www.illinoisworknet.com/WIOA/TrainingPartners/Pages/Locations.aspx
“Staff at one of our Illinois workNet Centers or community partner locations, located in your city or county, can introduce you to the wealth of programs and services available. This is a free service for Illinois residents and employers. Click here for a printable statewide map that shows all of the WIOA sites in Illinois…”
*WIOA Adult and Dislocated Worker Program
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/workforce-investment/adult
“Workforce services for eligible adults are available through one of the six core programs authorized by Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The Adult program serves individuals and helps employers meet their workforce needs. It enables workers to obtain good jobs by providing them with job search assistance and training opportunities.
WIOA establishes a priority requirement with respect to funds allocated to a local area for adult employment and training activities. American Job Center staff, when using WIOA Adult funds to provide individualized career services and training services, must give priority to recipients of public assistance, other low-income individuals, and individuals who are basic skills deficient. Under WIOA, priority must be implemented regardless of the amount of funds available to provide services in the local area. In addition, veterans receive priority of service in all DOL-funded employment programs…”
This is great information. My son’s new father in law took advantage of a similar program. He had been in another field until his company went under. He qualified for tuition assistance for retraining under a state program.
I did not qualify for that kind of thing – I made too much before and nothing about my life could have been classified as “disadvantaged”. But for those who are disadvantaged, something like this can be the ticket to a good middle class living.
Congratulations on the change! I’d be surprised if more than a few on this website didn’t have some similar interest in being on the road.
Dr. Seuss created “The Book About Me” that a child could fill in with facts ranging from eye color to career ambition. At around age seven, my chosen career was truck driver. Apparently, my grandmother was not amused.
It was the swinging ’70s. What can I say? And, looking back, it’s one of the roads not traveled that perhaps I should have!
JP, congratulations on making a move to do what’s best for you. I was not expecting this, at all, when I just clicked onto CC. I am looking forward to reading about your new adventures as written in your inimitable style.
Congratulations on making the move! Peace of mind is something that is hard to place a price on. Forty years ago, after he graduated from college, my older brother looked into becoming an owner operator. The attraction to him, was that as a “business owner” he could work extra hours and boost his income. He never made that move, but he found a job that allowed him to work a lot of overtime, that satisfied him for years. Another benefit of trucking was that he could operate from the “country”. Lot’s of truckers live, and have their families in more rural areas, since they take their business with them.
As a blue collar person, I would imagine that there could be a lot of drama over the fact that you have gone from a vaunted upper middle class career to a working man’s occupation. I’m sure that at your mature stage in life, that you know how to make the wisest decision. Around here, lawyers are generally venerated just under doctors, and I now have some of each in my extended family.
I retired after 26 years in my primary occupation, then did another 13 years in a permanent part time occupation. I decided to retire just as the pandemic became serious, I was going to be 65. Good luck, and I am interested in hearing your story
Thanks, Jose. I have an odd mixture of white collar and blue collar in my family background. Most of my family have been supportive, but I can only imagine how mortified my paternal grandmother would have been!
I will admit that Mrs. JPC liked telling people she was married to a lawyer more than she likes telling them that she is married to a truck driver. 🙂
I’ve tended to own small cars (currently a 2005 Honda Civic), and the couple of times I’ve driven a full-size Detroit lead sled, I felt distinctly uncomfortable. I can’t even imagine driving a big rig, but clearly some people do it successfully.
Clearly you don’t look down your nose at blue-collar folks, which is a good thing. I say that as someone with some credits towards a master’s degree.
Wow.
I decided that retirement was a matter of finance, not age. I ran the numbers and pulled the plug at 58, because I could. Now entering my 13fh year of retirement, Best thing I ever did. My days are filled with doing and learning interesting things. I don’t miss the endless beatings by the “job creator” trying to get more work out of me at all.
My uncle took a buy-out from AT&T in the early 80s, when he was in his 50s. For a while, he took occasional gigs driving cars between dealers and auction houses. Paid a bit, and gave him something interesting to do.
Like the others, CONGRATULATIONS on daring to take this move.
Many, many years ago, a friend of mine who worked as a high level aide to the Governor, quit and became a truck driver. I know he stuck with it for at least a couple of years, but he was a bit closed-mouthed about it when questioned. Then I lost contact.
As a parallel story–in 1968, the major timber company I worked for offered me a promotion to the head office as a prima donna executive; a job that would take me out of the woods forever. I turned it down. Since then, I have been on my own with rarely a paid job of any kind. (Requires a crash course in the arts of self-production and living within limits. There are no background checks or application forms).
Today, we in America have front row seats on how civilizations die. Once legitimate “development” is done with, we are only able to spin out temporary financial boomlets built on debt (a fifth of the economy is in finance) or to magnify, legalize, bureaucratize and inflate desk-bound services (88% of jobs are in services) into utter frustration for the providers and maddening despair for the receivers.
(While at the same time gutting the natural world that sustains us and provoking the rise of dangerous enemies).
Way to go, America, (and all those civilizations that preceded us) and good luck, Jim!
(or are you jumping from Scylla to Charybdis?)
Congratulations and good luck to you. I’ve been in the law biz myself for 40 years and the end of that road is now coming into view. I have a few ideas for the next chapter, but driving a big rig isn’t one I had on my list. For one thing, as much as I enjoy driving, I find that after about 5-6 hours behind the wheel on a given day, my back starts protesting.
Thanks for all the support and atta-boys in these comments! I have always felt among friends here, and appreciate all of the good wishes. I will offer one spoiler – I do not regret making the choice!
I was slow in getting this together, and was a little afraid that this tale might not be all that interesting to most readers, but perhaps I was wrong about this.
I’ve been hoping this series would run soon. I knew there would be a lot of interest. Career change is something that so many either ponder or take the plunge on. I knew your unhappiness was considerable, and I’m so happy this is working for you.
I got my CDL in Iowa in 1972 under very different circumstances, and did a bit of local truck driving and then of course drove a city bus for almost a year. I enjoyed both quite a lot and considered falling back on that after I left the corporate world and moved to Eugene.
You already mentioned this career switch in a comment, a while ago, so I already had my holy-cow-moment. Respect and congratulations!
I’m looking forward to the next 50 installments. Alright, alright, I settle for 45.
Now this is going to get interesting with so much to write about from an OTR perspective. The few times I considered becoming a commercial truck driver I decided against it. First because I had a close family friend that retired from commercial truck driving in the early 90s and he warned me the pay was considerably less after 80s deregulation and the dissolved the broke up the unions in the 80s. Also my 13+ years as a buyer at a national grocery wholesaler showed me how much pressure drivers are under to deliver goods on time. Only then finding out they have to queue up and wait for hours until a delivery dock opens up. I also have a friend who’s family has been in the trucking business for three or four generations and he is lawyer that specializes in Truckers Rights.
Wow, what an interesting twist and change of life’s direction – going from lawyering to trucking! Best wishes to you, JP, on the move. Can’t wait to read your chronicles.
Congratulations Jim, and way to go perusing a new career!
I’m looking forward to you chronicling your adventures!
Be safe out there on the road.
Someone above mentioned a desire to become a bush pilot in Alaska. I too had that same daydream every now and then… giving up the engineering and flying planes in Alaska… just never had the cajoles to act on that desire. Besides, I never even made it to my private pilot’s license anyway, let alone a commercial license. Kudos!
I have been intrigued by this since you mentioned it in May.
I read your blog piece just now on the “why”: it sounds awfully familiar. I too work in law, in crime, and either defending or prosecuting, the consultant class has ground much away from the better parts of the job. Not to mention the money, not that there’s really ever been much of that in that disreputable corner of law. (I like “the consultant class”, btw, is that yours?) Somehow, that class is never the one to pay for their alleged efficiencies and their new proprieties. They grow very rich, and invest it in the dark money of equally society-dispiriting effect called private equity, which then accelerates the process further.
The Melbourne Age newspaper has long published a local poet-looney of sometimes-wonderful insight (or poignancy, or silliness) called Michael Leunig. I’ll attach one of his amusing musings that’s probably about architecture as much as things at large, but it also nicely describes what the consultant class have done to so much of the world.
Best of luck away from them, on the road.
here, then!
Here’s a humorous take on trucking from the British TV show Not the Nine O’Clock News:
https://youtu.be/w9lmCpIzhFo?si=9izxT5I1z4z6X5Hi
Long haul truckers used to be in greater demand because many wives didn’t want their husbands gone overnight, for various reasons. The small grain dealer/fertilizer seller I did the paper work for went from 6 to 4 to 2 trucks with 40′ dump trailers as they added more storage bins to simplify operations. The worst accident we had was when some wet lime didn’t slide down the dump, and it tipped over toward the swift-footed young driver, giving him a good scare. Another driver ripped the diesel tank open on a parking lot lamp post, causing an expensive cleanup of fuel.
Wow, that’s a change. I’m just a couple years younger than you at 61-1/2 (at this age the half years become important again like they were when we were under 10 LOL) and I definitely don’t feel too young to retire; unfortunately I have to wait for Medicare to kick in in 3-1/2 years. I’ll be able to keep busy easily.
However, I have occasionally thought of something nominally similar – driving a school bus. I like kids, and I’d still have most of my days. But not yet; maybe in a couple years.
Looking forward to hearing how it goes for you.
I heard about JPC’s career move a few weeks at another place and was hoping to hear more – looking forward to it and glad to hear that it seems to have been successful. Being able to do what you want rather that what others want or keeping in the same skill or role just because you know it (and presumably are competent at it) is a luxury everyone should have.
Definitely saying tuned.
I retired as soon as I could, the day I turned 62. You’re making the rest of us look kind of lazy, JPC. Good luck with the new career. Have you decided on a CB handle yet?
Congrats to you JP for making a successful career move!
I was getting burned out at age 50 and couldn’t imagine working for another 10 years, let alone until age 65. However, the responsibilities changed at my job, and I got a second wind, making it to age 68 and 40+ years of service. Now retired for nearly 4 years (just as the pandemic started), I miss the challenges and the camaraderie but not the stress!
I gather from your blog that your musical taste doesn’t run to truck-driving songs. Is that going to change? 🙂
Haha, this old dog only has so many new tricks to learn! 🙂
Interesting story, kudos to you for making the jump from something you didn’t like.
Reminds me of a friend of mine, a bit older, late 80s now. 70’s-80’s, hell, probably 60s and into the 90s, worked on computers. He hated every second of it. Tried a couple of different things, but always came back to computer as he knew it and could get a job in a second. Finally in his 50’s he went to truck driving school and worked his way into a job. Lots of free driving and ride a longs, but he did it. He never looked back. Worked into his 70s, banked SS for years and retired comfortably. And a funny thing is he likes working on computers, builds them, tinkers with them, but not for a living.
One more thing. Worked with a relative for a time in the late 60s. I’m not sure if it was the vehicle he was driving or just the fact that he was doing it as a job. Had to get a “chauffeurs” license. Took the driving test for the state of Missouri in his Pontiac Bonneville. Which gave him a license to drive pretty much anything, including semis, which he knew nothing about.
Congrats, Jim. I’m glad to see you’ve revealed your “encore career” to the general public. I think frequently about retirement, but I’m currently not in a good place financially to be able do so. My time will come eventually and I’m hoping to find something I really like.
Regardless, best of luck and keep the shiny side up!
Hi JP,
Book that may interest you:
Data driven: truckers, technology, and the new workplace surveillance
Karen Levy
https://catalog.metrolibrary.org/Union/Search?view=list&showCovers=on&lookfor=truck+driver+surveillance&searchIndex=Keyword&searchSource=local
A friend quit truck driving when his company installed a surveillance unit in his rig.
One of my wife’s friends drives semis for a private company, they don’t have surveillance units.
Good luck on your new career!
Antoine
As a former lawyer, now trucker, perhaps you know of the frozen trucker case?
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/mar/23/neil-gorsuch-supreme-court-frozen-trucker-alphonse-maddin
Nothing to do with trucking, but law, I was in the “voir dire” stage of jury duty where they told us more than a little detail about the case they were considering us for.
Apparently the plaintiff had bought a new BMW SUV with a diesel engine, took it to a local filling station they’d used before, but the diesel tank was somehow filled with gasoline, they ended up ruining their engine after filling up..they used the proper diesel pump, but unfortunately got gas instead of diesel.
It was more interesting to me than other cases I’ve been to (our city seems to have need of quite a few jurors, I seem to get selected for the initial selection stage about every 3 years or so) but I didn’t get choosen as a juror…normally I’d be glad not to be selected, but in this case I was interested and wondered how the case turned out.
Good luck on your career change. Never had a CDL, but I kind of did the “opposite” while in college I worked for Hertz as a transporter, back in the 70’s got to drive all sorts of rental cars to or from our home location…one of the “old timer” co-workers there took a liking to me and advised me not to plan to make a career of working at Hertz (guess because I worked there for 2 years so wasn’t as transient as many other drivers…except for him). I told him I didn’t plan to, but even though the job probably ended up paying less than minimum wage (we were paid by the trip, not actual time, and I’ve never been a particularly fast driver) I thoroughly enjoyed both the scenery and getting to drive a variety of cars, particularly at the time that many old models were disappearing and new ones coming on. Plus, it scratched that itch of getting to sample many different cars such that I’m sure I’ve saved money not buying multiple cars (have only owned 5 cars in 50 years of driving) guess I also enjoy them by proxy, both my Dad and brother-in-law have owned way more vehicles than I ever have). Also have to admit that more than once when my “regular” jobs post Hertz weren’t to my liking (mostly enjoyed them but sometimes not so much) I’d fantasize about going back to my old job….of course it’s not the same thing working at a job for 2 years as working 40 or so, but I guess I brought (or left) some of my personality at pretty much every job I’ve had…since retired, but mostly liked it when I was working (though none of my post-Hertz jobs involved transportation).