“Truck driving isn’t a job, it’s a way of life,” say the truck driver behind a moving video that has taken Facebook by storm.
The video “The Life of an OTR Driver” was created by 50 year old trucker Bill Everly. Everly regularly shares videos on his YouTube Channel, Salty Pirate TV, but he says that he’s never had such a strong reaction to a video before.
Everly’s video is set to the Journey song “Faithfully” and it delves into the personal sacrifices that truck drivers and their families make as part of the life on the road.
In a followup post that Everly made after “The Life of an OTR Driver” went viral, he explains his motivation for creating the video:
“It wasn’t a sob story, it was more or less an awareness, a tribute to truck drivers. But it was made for the general public to understand the life we go through. I love my job. I love trucking. I will not give up this job for anything. Yet it’s a sacrifice. I miss my daughter a whole lot. I miss my step-children Jack and Cindy. That’s part of the job. That’s a sacrifice that a lot of us drivers make.”
Since the video was shared on Facebook earlier this week, it has been viewed nearly 400,000 times and has been shared more than 13,600 times.
Thousands of drivers have commented to let Everly know how much they appreciate the video.
YouTube user tankerdriver gerry wrote, “Excellent video..such a great message and speak the truth..definitely hard for all Otr drivers with families.”
Driver Otis Martin wrote, “My daughter doesn’t speak to me anymore because I was never home. She is 30 now and still doesn’t understand. So i sent this video to [what] I hope is still her phone number maybe now she’ll get it. Thanks.”