A day in the life of U.S. truck driver

DAVENPORT, Iowa 16 (Reuters Life!) - When sunrise comes, Wesley Wiley plans to be long gone.

"As soon as it starts to get light I'm already in my truck and ready to roll," said the 38-year-old trucker from Winfield, Louisiana while relaxing with a doorstep wedge of pizza in the lounge of the "Flying J" truck stop on Interstate 80 near Davenport in eastern Iowa.

"I always move with the light. So in the shortest days in winter that means I don't stop until it gets dark."

In the early morning Wiley will set out from Iowa for Mississippi with his flat bed truck, hauling a Deere & Co. (DE.N) bulldozer. Heavy equipment shipments are his specialty.

Like many other U.S. truckers Wiley - a 14-year trucking veteran - complains that doing this work for a living has only got tougher over the years, with ever more work required to fund a declining standard of living.

Wiley, however, admits he is luckier than most. This is because his employer, St. Cloud, Minnesota-based Anderson Trucking Service Inc., pays him a percentage of each load he runs, unlike the vast majority of truckers who are paid by the mile.

"Since I don't have to worry about how much I'm making per mile I can do this job properly," he said.

To get his bulldozer load from Iowa to Mississippi, Wiley had to seek permission from each state on his route - in the order he aims to cross them - a process that has taken nearly two days.

With more than 750 miles to go and a U.S. legal limit of a 14-hour day, Wiley says he won't make it to his destination until his second day of driving.

"After 14 years on the road I know how far I can get, where the best truck stops are and what problems I'm likely to encounter on the way," he said.

Long-distance truckers lead what is often described as a tough life, frequently spending months on the road with only a few days at home in between.

Although Wiley hasn't been home in six weeks, he doesn't know when he will get back to Louisiana.

"It all depends on whether there's a load waiting for me in Mississippi," Wiley said. "If someone wants a bulldozer sent to Oregon, then I'll take it."

He says that he is also lucky that his girlfriend has children from her first marriage.

"Her children keep her busy," Wiley said. "If she didn't have them as the focus of her life, I don't think she would put up having me on the road all the time."