Ask A Trucker: Home Edition

Here are a couple of questions from one curious reader that landed in the ? A Trucker mail bag on August 22nd, 2008.  Both are home related hence the title of this installment.  Both good questions that I never saw coming.  Check ‘em out:

• Q #1:
  

What kind of home do you have at home.  For instance, is it a home in a development with other similar homes, a mobile home in a park, a ranch on some acreage, a condo or townhouse, etc.  I’m not asking to judge you or anything – I’m just trying to gauge how much I would miss home being away for so long and only there for three days at a time.  If it were me, I would figure since more time was spent in the truck that I wouldn’t actually want to spend much on a physical “home” and maybe just have a condo or mobile home.

• A:

I live in a manufactured home.  It is on one acre of land in an area where two homes are allowed on each property, and each property in the area is right around one acre.  Most everyone has two homes on their land including us.  Here is a floor plan of our home:

The land and the home was bought before we become truckers.  If it were up to me I’d sell it all and just be homeless until we decide to give up trucking.  Can you imagine how much money we would be saving?  A bunch.  But it’s not up to me.  There are two of us, and a unanimous decision is needed.

The bottom line, we miss it greatly.

• Q #2:
  

Who takes care of home for you when you aren’t there, like mowing lawns or picking up mail, checking for burglaries, etc.  Do you have a neighbor or family friend do it?  I am so nosy but I just don’t have a clue how I’d handle things like that.  I don’t know if you would want a neighbor to take care of it or if you just wouldn’t want anyone to even know when you were on the road.  Wow – so many things to think about.  

• A:

It’s a big house and when we bought it we had family in mind.  The master bedroom is ours, obviously.  Bedroom #2 is where Bunny’s mom and dad reside.  Bedroom #3 is their computer room.  Bedroom #4 is where one of Bunny’s brothers resided.  I mentioned that there is a second home on the land, and that is where Bunny’s sister lives.  So as you can see, we don’t have much to worry about as far as our home is concerned while we are out of town.  They all take good care of the place and our pets (one cat, one snake) while we are gone.

Do you have a question you’d like to ask a trucker? If so, click here. If you’d like to read Q & A’s already asked of a trucker, click here.