Drivers who didn't go to school

Me, I worked on a road service, Knew how to fix them, never drove them.
Then hanging around grain haulers I would do ride alongs.
They would sit in the bar by the truck dump, and I was told to move them up in line.

Next thing I know I'm getting a call about driving full time hauling grain.
Then I moved out west and then got a job there hauling grain and new center piviot systems. Just 18 years old.
Got a call one day about long haul driving, Well I was 4 months shy of 21.

Half way into the trip my new boss goes how old are you?
Well I'll be 21 in 4 months.
He kept me and never had an issue untill 3 days after I turned 21.
Got caught running around the Il. scales. Just a tad overweight. Il. was still 73,280

I was grossing right at 80. opps

That was the fun days. Like other posters have said, you can't do that anymore.
To much trouble

 

I started in 1975, there was no such thing as schools other than the school of hard knocks

 

In 1989 I started with a Pipeline co. that worked in all the states and other countrys.So I had to get the chauffers license, cdl wasn,t around yet. I grew up on a farm and at 9 or 10 I started driving cars and pickups,I was doing field work on a tractor, so driving a 62 bisqane 3 on the tree was alot more fun. My 1st big truck drive, we flew to Portland OR., at a yard there was my R Model Mack with a steer flat, the foreman said fix your front tire and get down to Oceanside Ca., it was January, I was excited to get rolling and see the wild west.

 

Haven't been able to read all of the posts but heres my input... Raised ina country town where we all were driving pick-ups by 9. I was hauling logs out of the woods to the road drivers at 13.......Truck? 1963 Mack Twin-Stick, all spring suspension........... Power steering? All the power my little azx could muster up... LOL

 

Micheals?????,.............I started driving with them in the cable division,..

 

Yeah Walleye, Michels pipe line. I miss the varity of work, driver,laborer,operator,mechanic,welder,chain sawing, surveying,etc. They made alot of money,with the big horizontal drill rigs, and now I think they have it all covered. With all the new divisions, like wind power and pave. It wouldn,t surprise me if, they dredged a channell across the country in 8 weeks, and controlled the shipping. We had a fun crew, one phrase was, 1 you pass up is 1 less, you,ll ever have. haha We had women calling the main office, trying to track us down, the women in the office wouldn,t give them any info. haha Good times. I left Michels in 1998, not the smartest move,it,s been a pretty rough road since then. I,m broke down in Chicago right now, I have to check out of the motel, today sometime.

 

A friend taught me to drive. I would go on trips with him and sleep on the floor with a sleeping bag curled around the shifter. We would swap the drivers seat going down the road until I learned to shift.
Then I got a Teamster job at a nuclear plant construction site where I drove a truck on site only.
When they grandfathered CDL's I didn't do it like a #######.
After that job was over I knew I wanted to go OTR but had to go to school to get my license.
I was floating gears the 1st day in the truck and didn't tell anyone my past.

 

Great tread Dumpinmack, Thanks. Me,I started out with my Dad joy riding in his "58 LJ Mack,the extended Peterbuit of it's day,around 1968. It was when "Men were Men and so wasn't the Women." It was a gem for the day, single screw with real 24" rubber (not 24.5 which is actually 22") a Quad Box with a big ole 195 Cummin's for power. I feel bad for for putting this in because of the valiant member PharmPhil. We were pulling a 50 yard cable driven siccors dump. It had a cable winch behind the cab to drive the 5 part cable to dump it. Arm Strong steering and it even had A/C, you just had to turn the little knobs on the dash to open the windshields up. I was about 11 when I first robbed it and drove the back streets where the yard was, my first pothole with that power steering almost tossed me out the passenger door. I was lucky for that upbringing, could never get that kind of education from a school. Yeah those were the days my friends, none of the baloney we have today.

 

I was with them in 93 and 94 mostly out in Colorado on a directional drill and also working as a aerial linemen,...

Lot's of fun and money,.....But I was 20/21 and was lacking in the common sense department at the time,....lol......