My little guy loves being on the truck. Following his daddy round the truck while he checks on a load, Sitting at the drivers wheel pretending to drive, waving at traffic as it goes by and meeting all the different people in the truck stops. He probably has an adopted Grandma and Grandpa for every state - people who miss their own kids and grand-kids by being out here. He also sleeps better on the floor of the truck than he did at home waking up every night and finding his "Dada" gone. This I know for truckers wives is one of the hardest things to deal with.
So with all that being said 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 keep these stories close to my heart especially on the hard days, because all of these stories gives me hope and tell me several things:
So with all that being said 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 keep 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.
This is one of the most amazing stories I have heard yet and I feel like I need to add this on this post. It always inspires me to see parents doing their best to keep their families together by and it is even more amazing to find single parents out here doing just that. I have finally found one and here is his story.
I met a trucker in the Wendy's of a truckstop in conneticut who had been a single trucking father with not one, but two kids on his truck with him.
He had been married, but on the divorce he managed to get the kids (This for a man in American is a miracle). Unfortunately, he was also a truck driver and needed to stay working. So rather than quit and stay home on the benefit he took both his kids out on the road with him. One was only a few months old. Luckily, both children were very well behaved and enjoyed riding on the road with him.
The two little ones slept on the bottom bunk (he put a large blank across the bottom in the gap between the cabinets and bed) creating a small crib for them to safely sleep in.
He slept on the top bunk.
The oldest rode in the truck chair next to him reading and playing on her gameboy, while the youngest rode in the car seat on the floor. He used bungee straps to anchor the car seat to the two front chairs and then to the bed.
After asking him why he didn't have the children with him now. He replied that he had been in a rollover accident and could not bear to have them out here with him anymore. At the time only the youngest had been on the truck and had been in the back sleeping when in front of him a bus cut off another truck who swerved into him forcing him onto the shoulder and into a ditch. His son had been in the back on the bunk and he is not even sure why, but during the rollover his arm moved out to the side of him and into his hand slid his son. Both of them were fine, but it spooked him enough that he sent his kids home to live with their grandparents.
He wants to bring his kids out on the road with him now that they are older, but is waiting just a few more years so that it is safer for them.
I met a trucker in the Wendy's of a truckstop in conneticut who had been a single trucking father with not one, but two kids on his truck with him.
He had been married, but on the divorce he managed to get the kids (This for a man in American is a miracle). Unfortunately, he was also a truck driver and needed to stay working. So rather than quit and stay home on the benefit he took both his kids out on the road with him. One was only a few months old. Luckily, both children were very well behaved and enjoyed riding on the road with him.
The two little ones slept on the bottom bunk (he put a large blank across the bottom in the gap between the cabinets and bed) creating a small crib for them to safely sleep in.
He slept on the top bunk.
The oldest rode in the truck chair next to him reading and playing on her gameboy, while the youngest rode in the car seat on the floor. He used bungee straps to anchor the car seat to the two front chairs and then to the bed.
After asking him why he didn't have the children with him now. He replied that he had been in a rollover accident and could not bear to have them out here with him anymore. At the time only the youngest had been on the truck and had been in the back sleeping when in front of him a bus cut off another truck who swerved into him forcing him onto the shoulder and into a ditch. His son had been in the back on the bunk and he is not even sure why, but during the rollover his arm moved out to the side of him and into his hand slid his son. Both of them were fine, but it spooked him enough that he sent his kids home to live with their grandparents.
He wants to bring his kids out on the road with him now that they are older, but is waiting just a few more years so that it is safer for them.