Stories from People who have done it
"Wisdom is with aged men, With long life is understanding,”-- Job 12:12
I mentioned before that I have been chatting to a lot of people over the last couple of years who have been there and done it with raising kids on their trucks - here are some of the things they had to say:
"Yeah, we raised him on the truck and he did real good. I have the cutest baby pictures from back then. You know the old trucks where the sleeper was welded on to the regular truck part? He would pass out asleep on the ledge between the two in nothing, but a diaper and his Da's cowboy hat. He slept in the cabinet with the dog. We had a bed for him he decided he'd rather crawl in with the dog and sleep. He's grown now, but those were some good times."
Judy - Ex Trucker
"We raised our four girls on the truck and now they're off at college. Well I take that back, two of them are off at college boarding and the other two are back home finishing up high school exams. They're planning to go to online college and come back out with us."
"How did all of you fit in the sleeper?"
"We had it customized, it was tight, but the bunk beds went up three high and two of us to a bed."
"That's amazing! I don't know how you did it."
"It was hard, but a lot of fun too."
Elderly woman met at truck stop
"We had some amazing times with our son out on the road. I miss those days. You will too eventually. He would climb up all over the place and get into everything. My wife would get so mad, but I would tell her, "If there's no blood and no bone we have no problem." The oldest and second oldest are running my oversize loads business now. Their wives drive the lead car for checking the bridge heights and open up the grill on the back at the end of the day and they have a great time. I don't have to be, but I'm out here by choice."
Elderly man met in a drivers lounge
"We bring our daughter out here whenever she's not in school. She'll sit in her booster seat watching the world go by or be in the back playing video games. She loves being out here with her Dad while he's driving. Of course, it's difficult, because she's never really had a sleep schedule, but she's pretty quiet on the whole - not like she is right now."
Anonymous lady met in terminal
"I used to take my son out when he was little. He had a great time, although I never saw him. He was a quiet little thing. He would come out and just sit there writing in his notebook for hours and hours. I am not surprised he became a writer."
Random guy met at terminal
I have kept these stories close to my heart especially on the hard days, because all of these stories gives me hope and tell me several things:
- This has been done before so there is a solution for every problem.
- That the people who have done this before look back on it fondly.
- That many of the kids involved love it so much that they don't want to stop doing it.
- That there is so much fun to be had out here as a family.
Now that you have all the information that I have gathered, I wish you all the best in your travels whatever it is that you decide is best for your family. May God be with you!