local exp only?

I nearly had the same problem...except I was 25+ years old at the time and had 2 years OTR under my belt. I had come off the road to finish up my college education (1 semester short) and drove a school bus during that semester. Then I worked local/regional (home every night...unless I wasn't) pulling pneumatic tank trailers for 6 more months...and then hauled logs for another year. Logging was 90% tractor trailer, and 10% knuckleboom truck (straight truck) with a full trailer. When that job came to an end, I was rejected by several companies. While I had 2 years OTR under my belt, only 1 of them was within the 3 previous years. They needed 2 years OTR experience in the last 3 to hire, and even the local T/T work didn't count. I finally found a couple flatbed outfits that wanted to hire me, and ended up working for both of them (not at the same time, though) before coming back off the road for another local gig.

You're problem isn't just your age...it's the lack of OTR experience, as well as the lack of T/T experience. A straight truck dragging a trailer on a pintle hitch doesn't count towards T/T experience at most companies. You might have to go back to school in order to get hired...but you'll have it a little easier than most. Since you already have your class A CDL, as long as you also have the haz-mat (and any other endorsements required by the school for the companies that work with them), you won't have to take the written tests to transfer your license to whatever state the school is in, and you won't have to take the state's road test to graduate, and you won't have to retake all of the written tests to transfer your CDL back to your home state. You've already got the license...all you have to do is sit your butt in class and pass the school's tests.