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Spending hours on the road hauling loads from city to city makes it difficult for long-haul truck drivers of either gender to find long-term romance. But thanks to the increasing technology available to truckers living on the road, it's not impossible.
Online Dating
"Trucking and dating -- I've done my share of both," says Wayne Weisser, a trucker who maintains a blog about the trucking industry and lifestyle. "I'm currently driving with the woman I met online. We've been together about a year and a half and driving together for about six months."
For Weisser, meeting people online was not a problem. "I had my profile online and would try and get to know someone with emails and phone calls at first and then plan that first date when I was in town," he says. "Today, with wireless and Wi-Fi hot spots everywhere and reasonable cell phone plans, it's a lot easier to not only keep in touch, but hopefully to be able to fan that initial spark into something special."
With more and more truck stops going wireless, truckers are plugged into the same dating resources as everyone else. So it's not surprising that dating sites specifically geared toward truckers have sprung up to serve their unique needs.
"Truckers have a particularly tough position to be in," says Harlan Jacobsen, founder of the Midwest-based 18wheelsingles.com, the online edition of singles publication Country Singles' 18 Wheel page. "They're never anywhere very long."
Jacobsen is also the publisher of Country Singles, which is distributed in rest areas across nine states. "It seemed a natural connection," he says. "Interest picked up, so then we did the Web site,"
The online edition includes advice for singles, personal ads and general trucking news. Truckers can run an ad on the Web site or with the print paper, which is distributed at several hundred truck stops throughout the Midwest. Jacobson estimates that during peak months, like June and July, up to 10,000 ads are placed in the print paper.
Not all truck drivers meet through Web sites specifically geared toward people of their occupation; many frequent generally oriented online dating sites. One woman met her truck-driving husband through Match.com. "He saw my profile, emailed me and…we instantly clicked," she says.
Tough Love
Still, truckers have that ramblin' man stereotype to overcome. "Some of the challenges of trying to date online for truckers is first getting past the stereotype that most people think truckers look alike, and the second stereotype that you've got a woman in every port," Weisser says. "Most women I've found wanted the 9-to-5, weekends-off kind of person and couldn't understand how someone could build a relationship, being gone for two or more weeks at a time."
It's a telling sign that there exist more Web sites and online groups for people married to truckers rather than for those trying to date them. "It's not just a matter of finding someone special; it's a matter of finding someone really special that will put up with the lifestyle," Weisser says. But take heart: According to Jacobsen, "a lot of [people] are interested in dating truckers."
As another satisfied Match.com customer experienced, sometimes all it takes is an honest, thoughtfully written profile. At first, she was afraid to approach one member, because she first thought that "he wouldn't be around too often" due to the fact that he was an on-the-road truck driver. "But I liked what he had to say about himself, so after a couple of weeks, I broke down and sent a ‘howdy,'" she says. She is now married to her online match.
