Woman Reveals the Best and Worst Parts of Being a Truck Driver (Exclusive)

Ione Martin spends her life on the road, but as a truck driver for over nine years, she’d tell you that’s exactly how she likes it.

Martin, 31, is an “over-the-road” truck driver, also known as a long-haul trucker, meaning she hauls freight from location to location, crossing state lines and often driving all day.

“Every day is different,” Martin shares exclusively with PEOPLE. “My job is open to 48 states. Wherever I get assigned a load, that’s where I’m going. I can work 14 hours of the day and drive 11 hours of it.”

“I drive all over the country, and I’m picking up different kinds of freight. Sometimes I don’t know what I’m gonna be picking up,” she says. “I’ll go there, pick up my next load, and then start heading in that direction. I live at a different truck stop every night and go to a different state every night.”

Given her profession, Martin lives by appointment times and legal clocks, which determine her schedule and the length of her days. With her appointment time, she knows where to pick up her load and where it needs to be dropped off. From there, she can plan out breaks and rest stops to get the load from one appointment to the next. 

“I am restricted to a certain number of hours. I can work every day or every week; there are various types of hourly constraints,” she explains. “I’m on duty 14 hours a day, but I can only work 11 hours at a time, which means I’m limited to 70 hours per week. It’s a constant juggle of figuring out how to fit as many loads as possible into that clock.” 

When Martin’s shift is done for the day, she pulls into a truck stop and parks for the night. She then conducts a post-trip inspection to ensure that no mud flaps are missing, no lights have gone out and no tires have gone flat. After that’s all done, she hops in the shower and gets ready for bed. Before falling asleep each night, she tries to strategically plan out her next route around interesting stops in the area.

“I’ve been experimenting and trying to prioritize stopping at some place where I can find something fun to do or interesting. I try to set aside two hours to go out and find something to do. I try to park near state parks or weird monuments and weird things like that,” Martin shares. “Things that my dog can do with me. I try to give myself like two hours to do that. Then sleep before I wake up, get ready, and hit the road again the next morning.” 

Her job requires a lot of planning and logistics, but Martin also makes sure she has time to actually see the states she’s driving through. 

“I drive through so many states. There was one day I drove all the way across Minnesota, and my feet never touched the ground. I drove the whole way through it,” she says. “But that’s because I wanted to experience North Dakota, where I was going. When you take the time to plan your stops and schedule, there’s always an opportunity to explore a state. There’s time every day to experience a little bit of every state.”

As for her go-to truck stop snack and drink, Martin says she is “pretty much fueled by watermelon and Coke Zero at this point.” 

To pass the time in the truck, Martin always has the perfect playlist ready to go, switching between music and audiobooks. 

“I’m very big into a jam session. I sing a lot in my truck. It keeps the energy up for me and keeps me awake,” she says. “My mom has an Audible account, and I listen to whatever my mom is listening to on audiobooks sometimes.” 

Although being on the road can get lonely, Martin has a traveling companion with her: her dog Wells, whom she got around nine years ago.  

“When you first start, they usually won’t let you have a pet when you’ve just gotten your Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) and you’re a rookie,” she explains. “I recall reaching my six-month milestone with the company. They said, ‘Hey, you just graduated the trial period, you get a raise.’ I said, ‘Can I have a dog now?’ ” 

Martin drove straight to a shelter in Nashville and found Wells, who was 5 when she adopted him. 

“He’s anxious, but he’s really come around to trucking life. He has all his routines that he does in the truck. He loves to make his blankets into a bed right next to my seat,” Marin shares. “It’s so nice to look down and see his little face. It definitely makes the travels less lonely. He’s been my little trooper. He’s a good boy. When I say he’s my supervisor, he never stops just watching me when I’m working.” 

When she’s not driving, exploring or spending time with Wells, Martin documents her life and job on TikTok. She was inspired by the other truckers she saw posting on social media and decided to share her life as well. She hopes to increase visibility into the lives of female truckers and connect with other women who might be feeling lonely in the profession.

“Trucking shouldn’t… this shouldn’t have to be a bad thing. This should be fun. Trying to make it fun and sharing it has helped me feel more connected to other people,” she says. “I love everyone who follows me because it has really helped me cope with the isolation.”

“I wanted to show other young women that we exist, we’re out here. You’re not alone. You’re not the only woman doing this,” she adds. “I wanted that connection for myself when I was first starting.” 

Martin hopes to shed light on the realities of her job, sharing all the highs and lows that come with it. The best part, she says, “is the travel.” 

“I’m exploring and seeing fun stuff and seeing new things. Things I would never see if I were living in one place,” Martin says.

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The worst part, however, “is the isolation,” she admits.

“It’s such a mental game out there to keep yourself mentally healthy and happy. Especially as a woman, because it’s so hard to seek community with the other drivers without feeling gross vibes sometimes,” she says. “That’s not all truckers — plenty of the men out there are respectful — but there’s more than enough who are not.” 

The main message that Martin has been trying to share with her videos is that “truck driving is what you make it.”

“It’s for anyone who wants to do it. It’s approachable, it’s relatable. It can be fun. It’s hard, but it can just be like a positive and relatable thing,” she says. “It’s not as mysterious as people think. Truck drivers [say], ‘This is not what it’s like.’ I say, ‘But it can be.’ It can be, and it’s not that hard.”