Ed Pawlowski wrote:

I missed the opportunity. Looks like a fun job for a couple of years
in your 20's or 30's, but not what I want to do as a long time career.
I drive a desk and I'm home every night at 4:40 PM.

I was a little burned out from programming and it was a nice break. It took
a while to restart my software career but I didn't have a lot of pressure so
that was no problem.

That's a downside of OTR. I moved to Montana because I liked the area but
with OTR you're essentially living in a truck, with three or four days off
at home every few weeks. The upside is the lack of continuity. By that I
mean when you deliver the load, the job is done; it doesn't haunt you for
years like a software project. With a 40% turnover in the industry,
employers are used to people leaving. After the first couple of years I
could quit about this time of year, go to Arizona for the winter, reappear
in the spring, jump into a truck and hit the road. Now my boss tends to have
panic attacks when I say 'vacation' and the word 'retire' really peaks his
blood pressure.

Trucking can work out well for retirees too. Same deal, work summers with
somebody else buying fuel for your really big RV, take the winters off.