Discuss what priority is and when the dispatcher should be contacted. If times get tough, grit your teeth, get busy, call a supportive LOADS member. Do not sit by the phone waiting for your driver to call. They don't or at least shouldn't expect you to.

Be sure the person at home knows how to handle basic home maintenance. Both parties need to be able to handle all household chores and repairs.

Before the driver leaves, be sure the party at home feels secure. Explore together all "bumps in the night" so they are not a sudden fright to a woman left home alone. Make sure the homefronter feels the house is securely locked and safe for those nights alone when imaginations can run wild.

Be sure BOTH parties' names are on bank accounts, leases or anything else that might need signing or taking care of. Also, be sure that the homefronter has adequate transportation for taking care of normal errands and emergencies. "Get a ride with someone" is not sufficient.

Driver, be sure the office knows your wife's name and any special circumstances that may require her to reach you.

Make time to listen to one another. Hear emotions, illness, distress, frustrations, and anxiety and discuss them. If ugly information needs to be shared, go lightly. Drivers remember, we aren't whining when we talk with you, you probably are the only "adult" we've talked to in a while -- bare with us and let us unload some stress also.

Try the five-minute conversation. For five minutes, one-partner talks only - those five minutes are followed by the other partner talking. Then five minutes of interactive conversation. Neither partner is allowed to interrupt the other. Don't use directive words such as "you do this, you make me feel this way, etc.," try using "I feel this way because." Pointing a finger at someone will only make that person retreat.

Drivers, before showing up at the door, make sure you call home first to announce your arrival. By not notifying the family, this could frighten them. This also gives the family unit time to reschedule their plans if possible, to be home with you. You must remember some plans can't be rescheduled and just like your life on the road, our lives are usually based around a schedule.

Honesty is the best policy! Don't hide anything you may think will disturb the other, although some things can wait, relationships are built upon trust and communication.

Drivers frequently pick up free trucking publications. Drivers, bring them home for your partner to read. This will help educate those at home about the industry. Who knows, someday we won't call fuel gas.

Drivers, send cards and/or postcards to those you love and miss. Leave love notes around the home before you leave (even hide them to be uncovered days later); imagine how that will warm hearts.

This is for both, small deeds go along way. Drivers, do the homefronter a favor on occasion; if it's in the budget, do the laundry before you get home to have more family time.

Drivers remember, the loved one at home is pulling more weight than normal families do, so being tired is not an excuse. Please, don't drop a ton of laundry as you walk in the door and then expect to get "lucky."

Erase the "cheating" ideas from your mind. If you wonder if your driver is being faithful, ask yourself if you want the driver to wonder the same about you. Both parties feel loneliness, and diseases can be shared! Cheating is a signal that there was/is something wrong in your relationship prior to the event.

Drivers returning home after being out for weeks need to have time to re-adjust to the family structure. This does not give drivers the excuse that their job is done however once they return home. Be supportive and spend time with your family, not your favorite chair and remote control. It's quality of time that matters, not quantity.

Give a little, take a little. Honesty, communication and trust are the backbones of all relationships. Don't close your minds and hearts to one another, reach out and remember why you love one another. Discuss your hopes and fears with each other. Communication should start at home and continue while the driver is on the road.

If there is a time the driver absolutely needs to get home on a certain date, be sure to let the company know at least 2 weeks in advance. Put it in writing, copying everyone in the office who may need to know. Don't be afraid to tell dispatch when you need to start heading in the direction of home.