Driven Women

Get real

GG–I’m getting annoyed that you keep painting a prettier picture of life on the road than what it really is. I don’t want my kids going over the road. My daughter reads your columns faithfully and thinks that driving would be great. She’s been begging me to teach her how to drive. She’s too smart for this business, and I want her to go to college and make something out of her life.
     Driving OTR is no life, unless you don’t want a life. You’re away from home for days on end, truck stop food makes you fat and lazy and you have to take a shower where hundreds of other people took one. It’s crappy, and you shouldn’t encourage people to get their CDL, not even for local deliveries. You have to be a complete idiot to want to drive for a living.
     Get real, Golden Girl. Living on the road ain’t so golden.
     Dapper Don, Michigan

Don, it's refreshing to know that there’s one person willing to admit he’s an idiot without coaxing.
     If your daughter’s got the mind and mindset for college, then send her. Did it ever occur to you, though, that she might be interested in driving so that she can start her own company? A college degree teaches her to think, the CDL is money in the bank no matter what, and it offers the opportunity to learn the business from the ground up. Unless your daughter does something really insane, your daughter has a better chance of remaining employed and calling the shots with a college education and a CDL.
     Don, you probably know this, but it’s worth reminding you. The more you discourage your daughter to drive, the more she'll want to.
     Cheers,
     GG

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You can e-mail Golden Girl at goldengirl@otrprotrucker.com or mail your letter to Over the Road Magazine, P.O. Box 549, Roswell, GA 30077-0549.