Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

Mr. Stilltrucking, I replyed to your Soul post, and then I added some questions about trucking, which you neglected to address, and so I repost them here:

I have a trucking question for you: What steps does one take when trying to get work in the trucking business? How much training, how long before one is on the road, how much will a first year driver make, what are the differnet work and payment schemes, how is the demand for the job, how will rising gas prices effect that demand? What else? Any thoughts? What should I know? What advice would you give someone who in a year or two will try and get into the trucking biz, one with no education beyond high school save for a few community college classes? Any adivce and assistance would be greatly appreiciated wise one of the interstate highway and truck stop.

Any response would be greatly valued.

wise one of the interstate highway and truck stop

I don't know anymore. That is the truth. I been off the road seven no eight years, dam I can't remember. Well anyway, I do remember that there were a lot of people on the CB bitching all the time. Talking about how much they hated truck driving. Most of them went into it looking for a crystal highway to romance, adventure and wealth beyond measure. They seemed pretty disapointed. I guess those TV ads for truck driving schools forgot to mention a few unpleasant details.


If you are addicted to speed it is a wonderful job. Gives you the perfect rationalizion. "Anybody got any Go Fast"

One more bit of advice about highway romance.
"Now I ain't saying you shouldn't be greasing your fifth wheel, just be dam sure you got your gloves when you do it."

How many teamsters does it take to change a light bulb?

And always look for the union label.


Wish I could be more helpful.

That's odd...

You stopped truckin' right about the time I started...

So unless you rolled through Missoula in May of '98, then I probably haven't seen your rig out there...

Lovingspoonfull.I am sorry to i did not address your post about the soul.
I will try to go back and find the post you are talking about and reply.

I just saw your name logged in for about a minute and I remembered who wrote the piece about destructive cultures and re-thinking living in the moment. I thought it was traveller.


I am looking for it now.

Mark. I was all over the north west in the nineties. We probably did cross paths.

A first year driver should make thirty thou a year, it sounds like a lot but that is 300 days a year on the road, loggin 70 hours a week but really working a hundred hours counting the work you don't logg cause it would cut into your 14 /3/4 hours a day driving time. That is running 900 mile over night trips, unloading forty five thousand pounds of freight, hanging chains, fueling, paperwork and etc etc etc.

But the world has changed I last trucked in about 2001 for a little while. I had to quit because my dreams were getting too intense. I was having to many nightmares about driving a truck and I would wake up and got damned I realized I was driving a truck. I don't think anybody knows more about consciousness, semi consciousness, pre consciousness, and unconsciousness than a truck driver. The end of my carreer came in Gulf Port Mississippi. I backed inta a truck three times while trying to park. My blood sugar was approaching the point where I was falling in and out of coma. I should have just pulled into the feul island and fell out on the wheel, but I decided to be a real pro and back it into a parking spot. When they asked me why I had hit the same truck three times I told them I feel asleep. I maybe the only driver to fall asleep while backing up

Anyway all this is moot because I remember you saying a while back that you had changed your mind about truck driving.

I only reccomend it for people on the run like me. It was a sweeth annonymous solitude. I can't explain it, Kerouac said motion is the only freedom. or something like that.

Have I answered your questions?