Introduction

Well, I've been reading here a while, thought I would get on board and say hello. I'm an old fart, drove for 5 years a long time ago for a manufacturing company (corrugated boxes). Looked at going OTR for the money, but with 2 little kids at the time I didn't want to give up home time.

So, I changed jobs a couple times, ended up in the plastics industry programming CNC equipment. But I never got the road out of my system. Thinking of going back to it as I get into my later years.

I would be starting from the beginning, and I've been checking out schools and companies that do training. Also messages Chinatown and got some good info from him.

Anyway, I'll be reading and continuing to learn from you all.

 

Very much appreciate the info and welcome from all!

At this point, I'm not ruling anything out...P&D, line haul, dedicated, regional, OTR...I'm willing to look at all options. When I drove before, many years ago, it was day runs, dispatching anywhere from 2:00 AM to 5:30 AM, depending upon the customer and drive time to them. Back then it was 10 hours driving, 15 on duty, running a 7 day/60 hour log book. I loved getting the truck load trips to a customer 4 or 5 hours away, making that one run out and back and done for the day. Other days, multiple stops, or making several truck load trips to nearby customers, all live load.

I've only spoken with a few OTR companies at this point, and for a couple of those, I'm outside of their hiring area. (Edit: I should have said "communicated with" via email. I've not spoken with anyone in person or on the phone.) One of the downfalls of living near the coast, I guess, along with hurricanes (been through a few of those). I also spoke with a couple of drivers that pick up and deliver at my current employer, and they tell me that their companies have occasional openings for line haul, which surprised me. I asked if those jobs typically went to senior drivers and was told yes they did, but most of the senior guys in their home terminals didn't want them, so the companies were hiring new drivers for some of those jobs.

I first need to get my DOT physical, and make sure I can pass that, since I have a vision issue in one eye. My optometrist tells me I meet the requirements for the DOT, but I want to have the complete physical and make sure I pass all aspects of it. That'll be next week. After that, I'll be in a better position to move forward with either private training or getting on board with one of the companies that offer their own training.

Again, thanks to you all!