What area of construction is he in?

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It is sad, I guess I have a sickness. I never felt more alive than driving a truck up the interstate at 80 lol.
It is a state of mind and a way of life. You love it or you hate it.
Dispatchers are clowns. Always have been. You put in some time, get some experiance, and then you find a nice little company that does not advertise and has close to 0% turnover. They are there, just hard to find. Just wish steel would pick back up so mine was going again. My wife will not let me sit waiting much longer.

Allot of Central trucks in my area lately, more than usual. I don't know if they picked up a new contract in that area or what, but I have been seeing a few a day on 86.

On the pay thing. Trucking is what it is. The larger companys like Central, Werner, Swift, JB, ect ect. Are cutting there own necks. They are lowering rates and lowering rates to try to keep there trucks moving. This is depressing the whole industry. It is almost sad watching them do it to themselves. Rates are lower than in the 70s. They had been stagnant since the 1980s, now they are dropping.
New trucks are selling at the prices they did in the 80s as well, and used trucks are not moving at all. It is a buyers market for used. You can get a great truck for almost no money, but you will not pay the payments on the rates available.

As for one comment I needed to make about JJ and his chicken lights.
I love chicken lights. Bling it out man. But lights and chrome don't make money. Also, if the light is on the truck it has to work. So you go thru a scale house and 1 of those 300 lights is out, they have a reason to stop you.
Not worth it to me, I like to fly under the radar.

And for all the haters out there, I LOVE CORNBINDERS

To begin with, my husband used to drive when the kids were young and stopped because he was missing too much. Now with them so much older, what are we missing??? At this point, is there any job out there that is not stressful. Everyone everywhere is being forced to do more with less. That is just how it is.

While I don't feel I really need to justify our family decision to anyone else, the bottom line is we have thought this through very thoroughly. We wish we would have done it sooner in the year when we first thought about it instead of having the economy hit my husbands job the way it has. Every industry every where is going through changes, and his has as well. Only thing is, we have realized even if things were to pick back up, the zeal for doing a great job is gone, and he will not be able to turn a wrench the same way he has before. Not to mention 5 years of no raise, and newbies being brought in with NO experience and they get paid MORE than someone who has remained loyal to the company for the last 10 years. Why? It is all politics. I have been laid off twice and went through a business selling (while I was the accountant and knew about it and really had to be the bad guy and went through so much emotion it was not healthy).

Both he and I want to be able to leave on good terms so that if for some reason things don't work out we can come back. However, with numerous people in the area losing jobs every day, who knows what will happen.

We WILL make the best of it. WE are a team. WE want have come to grips with the things we are going to give up to be able to have our 5 year dream. On the other side, we will get to see each other every day. Our stress balances with the other person around. This is the best decision for US at this point in time. WE are aware of the changes, have seen the changes, and have our eyes wide open. If things don't work out, they don't. We will find another way to get to our dream.

My buddy has a "Live Nudes" neon sign that you could hang in your passenger side window when Jess isn't in the truck...shhh don't tell Jess =)

That's the attitude I have =)

Well said! I thought about how to answer that all morning, but your summary almost mirrors what my answer is.

Jess would find out then she would have to hurt ya for even suggesting it!

Wolfden's Husband Wayne Leased a truck and didn't get the miles to make it!

Unless you have a great FM you won't make it as a Solo Lease op, Teams and trainers do better!

Even training the last month JJ's miles were skinny

Its pretty simple Central don't have the freight for everyone to get good miles at the moment.

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Bugs the Navigator
Is it left then right? or Right and two lefts? IM CONFUSED!

As bad as it sounds, the guaranteed money during training is better than I am making right now, and Chris isn't doing much better. Even if the paychecks end up a little better than the training money on the other side of training, we will be coming out ahead. After talking things through, we will probably only use Central for the education and my initial experience. Other than that, we will make sure whatever choice we make in a year or so is the one that is best for our family. We have heard it is rough as a solo lease, which is why we continue to remap things each time we get new information.

Can JJ train us, Jess?? Then at least we'd be keeping the money with people we know.

I'm like JJ and some of the others in that I love what I'm doing. I like not knowing where I'm going to be next week. Yes trucking has it problems and especially with starter companies but.....no matter where you go or what you do, its going to be a "starter" one way or the other.

Unlike Mama Mia, JJ, and some of the others, I'm not a business oriented person. I'll be company the rest of my life and I'm pretty ok with that. Gotta know your limitations. Hey JJ, can I come drive for you when you start your company?

At least the motel I'm in is very nice and there's a quickie mart across the street for beer runs. Woo hoo. Just wish I knew how long I will be here. Anybody in the Dallas, Rockwall area wanna come show me a good time?

Oh yea, 1 more thing. You keep hearing about 1 yr being the magic # and can then find another job? Better count on 2 yrs now with this economy and with the insurance companies being in the drivers seat.