{"id":47495,"date":"2025-06-01T17:17:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T21:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/?p=47495"},"modified":"2025-06-01T17:20:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T21:20:19","slug":"keep-your-options-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/2025\/06\/performance-zone\/keep-your-options-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep Your Options Open"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When you think you want to retire from trucking, DO NOT SELL YOUR TRUCK.  Detail it, change all the fluids, wax the frame and tanks, and sew some sheets together to cover her and keep the dust off.  If you can, park her in a garage, barn or a decent shed \u2013 any place where she\u2019s safe and out of the weather.  Then, go on with your retirement.  But let me tell you something \u2013 if you\u2019re in your 60s, the average retirement for owner operators is about six weeks \u2013 six, that\u2019s it!  I\u2019ve worked with folks like you for 48 years, and I\u2019ve learned a thing or two from all that time on the road and in the business.<\/p>

You may think you\u2019re ready to stop, but the road has a funny way of calling you back.  The first couple weeks, you might enjoy sleeping in, puttering around the house, catching up on some projects, but then something starts to happen.  That itch.  That boredom.  You miss the hum of the tires, the rhythm of the road, the solitude, even the smell of diesel.  And, next thing you know, you\u2019re looking at your old truck online \u2013 only now it belongs to someone else because you sold it.  Don\u2019t make that mistake.<\/p>

What the politicians did over the last four years to our great country, our economy, and the cost of living is nothing short of a sin.  Everything costs more, and the dollar doesn\u2019t go nearly as far as it used to.  Florida is filled with retirees \u2013 good, honest, hardworking folks who thought they had enough money set aside to retire comfortably.  They traded their work boots for sandals and expected to live the good life.  Now, they\u2019re working again at hardware stores, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe\u2019s, marina fuel docks, and golf courses \u2013 places they never imagined themselves after retirement.  And they\u2019re making half of what they did before, if they\u2019re lucky.<\/p>

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Some of them thought they\u2019d just play golf, hang out at the beach, sip a cold one, and enjoy the sunset.  That lasted 90 days, maybe.  Then boredom set in.  Restlessness.  They needed a purpose.  So, they found some kind of work, just to stay busy.  It wasn\u2019t about the money anymore, it was about meaning \u2013 and doing something.<\/p>

Never give up your way of making money.  If you\u2019re a mechanic, don\u2019t sell your toolbox.  You might need to turn a wrench again one day, maybe part-time, maybe full-time, you never know.  As an owner operator, you don\u2019t have to drive a million miles a year.  Cut back.  Cherry-pick the loads.  Work smarter, not harder.  Run during spring, summer and fall, when the weather is nice and the roads are dry.  Park that rig during the winter.  Go south for three to four months if you can swing it.  Take a break.  Then, come back refreshed, ready to get behind the wheel again.<\/p>

Let\u2019s talk about home life.  A house is NOT a man\u2019s castle \u2013 it\u2019s a woman\u2019s palace, and it\u2019s been neglected for as long as you\u2019ve been on the road.  You come home thinking you\u2019re going to relax, but she\u2019s got a honey-do list waiting for you that\u2019s as long as a trip from Maine to California.  And the kind of work on that list is different.  It\u2019s physical.  It\u2019s bending, lifting, crawling, painting and fixing.  After a week of that, you\u2019ll be saying, \u201cI didn\u2019t work this hard driving my truck.\u201d<\/p>

The thing is, when you\u2019re home every day, the scenery never changes.  The same trees, the same roads, the same cloudy skies.  And speaking of skies, if you\u2019re in the Northeast, the weather can be gray, rainy, and downright depressing for weeks on end.  That cabin fever can set in quickly, making you start to wonder if staying home was such a good idea after all.<\/p>

Be very careful with full retirement.  If you fall into a sedentary lifestyle, you might not last long.  They say if you sit still too long, you\u2019ll rust \u2013 and I believe it.  Some studies even suggest Alzheimer\u2019s disease doesn\u2019t attack a busy mind.  And let me tell you, when you\u2019re driving a semi-truck, your mind is always working \u2013 watching the road, reading signs, planning stops, calculating distance, staying alert.  That activity might be what\u2019s keeping your mind sharp, so don\u2019t throw that away and trade it in for a recliner and a remote control.<\/p>

Bottom line: be careful with selling your truck.\u00a0 That truck is your freedom, your identity, your lifeline.\u00a0 It\u2019s more than a machine \u2013 it\u2019s a part of you.\u00a0 Even if you don\u2019t use it every day, knowing it\u2019s there in the shed, ready to roll, gives you peace of mind.\u00a0 And it gives you options.\u00a0 Keep the truck.\u00a0 Keep the toolbox.\u00a0 Keep your hands in the game, even if it\u2019s just a little.\u00a0 Retirement doesn\u2019t mean you quit \u2013 it just means you shift gears.\u00a0 Got questions?\u00a0 Give us a call at (724) 360-4080 or visit our website 24\/7 at www.pittsburghpower.com<\/a>.<\/p>

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When you think you want to retire from trucking, DO NOT SELL YOUR TRUCK.  Detail it, change all the fluids, wax the frame and tanks, and sew some sheets together to cover her and keep the dust off.  If you can, park her in a garage, barn or a decent shed \u2013 any place where<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":47496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-47495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-performance-zone"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47495"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47499,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47495\/revisions\/47499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}