FAMILY!!!!
Long distance work can sometimes put a strain on family life, but it does not have to. It is so easy to come home after weeks on the road and either vegetate or be so involved with household chores that you could be with your family and not actually “with your family.” Happy at home makes it easy to be happy on the road. Think about this; one way to connect with your family while home is share stories of your travels and pictures you take along the way. On your journey there are always little bits of time that something fascinating caught your eye, the perfect sunrise or sunset on the horizon or maybe it was more like a “I can’t believe I just saw that” as your jaw hits the truck floor.
If you have school age children at home, tell your children in advance where you will be driving. Have them Google a couple of places, or landmarks that you will be driving by. Then you can take pictures of those areas. Away from home or not you can ALWAYS share your day and be connected! Also, make a game out of it. When they know where your truck is about to head and the part of this amazing nation you are about to see, make it like a Waldo game. Example: You are going through Colorado so you are challenged to see Elk and get a picture. Maybe you are traveling south and you are challenged by seeing that perfect cypress tree that looks like it was drawn from a story book or Harry Potter movie. Think about how many landscapes you travel across. Black dirt, red rock, red clay, sand from desert areas and then the Utah salt flats, etc. Bring it home so they can see, touch and feel the difference of traveling across country. When you return home, set aside time, at least an hour, and have the kids, grand-kids, or whoever tell you all they learned and then you, in turn, share the pictures you took. It will be a learning experience for them, and you can bond while you do it. It will be like you worked and traveled together.
Melissa Jensen