Here's my dilemma: I'm working a job that I hate, but it pays good money. I need the money, because I was unemployed or underemployed for most of last year and part of this year, and my wife was in a similar predicament for even longer than I was. I'm also licensed to drive big trucks, but driving a big truck pays next to nothing and keeps me away from home longer than I want to be away.

So do I stay in a job that I hate that pays the bills, or do I take a driving job that gets me home regularly and pays only a small part of what I need to get by, or take a long-haul job that comes close to paying enough for me to pay my bills but keeps me away from home? Bad set of choices to work with. What I really need is to hit the lotto jackpot so that I wan't have to go to work! But until that happens, I've got to deal with the above choices.

If I can believe half of the claims some of the trucking companies make, I ought to be able to earn in the low $50,000 per year range. That would be about enough to keep current on my bills - if the claims are true! This also implies that I'm able to keep a handle on my on-the-road food expenses. I don't think this would be a problem, since I have some experience with that area.

I know I could get some decent miles if I drove team, but it drives me crazy to have someone in the truck with me. And driving solo means not having someone able to help during those (hopefully rare) occasions when a driver gets into trouble on the road.

Other issues
One of the other issues I hae to think about is e-mail access while on the road. A lot of companies offer personal e-mail access through the in-truck Qualcomm satellite terminal. But Swift charges an arm and a leg for this access. I don't know if that's standard, or just Swift's way of screwing it drivers.

Cab Park-'n-View looks like a decent option. Pay $30 a month, and when you pull in to a subscribing truck stop you plug into a set of jacks and get cable TV, landline telephone, and dialup Internet access in the cab of your truck. The biggest drawback to this is that you have to pull in to a subscribing truck stop, have to be able to find an empty connection jack, and have to pull in long enough to do your e-mailing, phone calls, etc. If you're in a solo truck this would probably work ok. If you're in a team truck, this would not work - you'd be on the roll too much.

One of the advantages to cab PnV they don't mention in the brochure is that if a driver has a laptop and a cheap webcam he can do video conferencing with his loved ones. If it's possible to set up a schedule that driver and family can keep, a driver could avoid running up big phone bills by relying on this technique, and conventional internet phone (voice over IP) technology.