The American Dream, is it still possible?

Let's say you're out for 4 days, how many do you take off? Again, LA is not my only option. I wouldn't mind living in Phoenix or Albuquerque, Vegas is not quite my cup of tea though. And yeah, if I really had to be out 3-4 days to really make it work I wouldn't mind, I would just ideally like day work, maybe one night out and back the next day, the triangle thing doesn't sound horrible either. If you're out for say 3-4 days, or hell in general, what kind of off time do OO's get? I know being a OO is hard work, but surely a big reason for doing it is so eventually you're up and running in a decent way and can spend more time with friends/family and make a better living as well? And isn't there more than just the big cities for freight? I've seen guys with such decked out rigs doing all kinds of dedicated stuff, like hay runs from around yuma to LA, Flatbed work between Texas and CA, etc. I know there's lots of little towns out there with some BIG industry in them. I think ideally I would like to do flatbed work.

Also, I have another question... If I'm ready at some point to finance a truck and maybe a trailer at the same time, let's say I want to go to some where like Cardinal or Landstar, will anyone approve me? What about with little to no money down? What if I want to run off of load boards for awhile? Do I have to either already have contacts and guaranteed freight or be with a company that is guaranteeing me loads?