Free time on the road

I did it for a while because they trained me. When I left before my year was up I wrote a $2500 check and this appears to be less than other companies that do training. Moreover, if you train with MCT and they wash you you don't owe them anything so that is a LOT better than what I hear about companies like Schneider.

I'm not perfect. MCT is not perfect. But they did an honest job of training me. I hate to be their cheerleader but they really did do a good job of training me. They just didn't care if I ever got back home once I went solo. I merely think their recruiting is not as fair and accurate as it should be. If you are driving a truck just to pass the time and you have your significant other with you, MCT would have been an ok place to stay.

 

good i dea im a fanactic about the n.f.l

 

Advice: Want to see the country? Buy a van and sleep in it! Find odd jobs. Oops that was in the 60's! Well, I tried to help!

 

When I get my first driving job they better send me home on a regular basis I would hate to see what would happen if my wife showed up for a visit with my dispatcher! (I SHUDDER AT THE THOUGHT! )

 

My wife and I have been on the road for 3 years and we have done and seen a million really cool things. Now I admit to being easily amused and I'm interested in most things so for us it is a lot like a road trip vacation. We have sunned ourselves on the beach for 3 days in West palm beach. Explored Larado for 3 days. Stayed in downtown Baltimore for 3 days as our truck was being fixed. We usually spend 5 days in Vancouver whenever we get there. We have toured the Little bighorn twice. Gone to Wall drug twice. Spent 2 days in Sacramento. Toured the capital in Denver, Salem, Atlanta,Harrisburg, Albany, Olympia. I like State capitals and I will always go to one if I have a chance. These are just a small number of the thousands of things that we have done OTR. We go out for long times though. Usually 6 weeks at a time so we have a few resets along the way.

 

In my experience(s), yes alot of exploration can take place. However, this may come at the expense of productivity----your miles and money at the end of the week may be a little or alot lower than if you just "kept on truckin' ".

a) Alot of this depends on your scheduling; If you run with a company that has tight delivery scheduling, less room for rose smelling. On the other hand if you run with companies that have fairly open delivery windows then this obviously presents more opportunities.

b) It is not as convenient to get into places with a large truck vs. a car, so this may factor into the time/scheduling/productivity element.

This is an idea as sometimes it is just not practical to see what you want to see when you want to see it.

i forgot where exactly i was, but this was on highway 12 in either idaho or montana (or possibly washington or oregan) but i was passing by a huge lake and had the out of the blue urge to go skinny dipping (because i had no swimsuit) but i wussed out. i regret this because i haven't been back since and it's not likely i will have the opportunity to go back at this point.

If you saw the lake and scenery, you would understand.

 

You should see some of the places we have hid our rig when visiting. We parked it right in the middle of west palm about a mile from Donald Trumps place. We found a food store that was closed and we just put her down in the dock there. You could hardly see the truck. We were at my sister in laws place for 3 days before we got a call to move it out of there. It was over superbowl weekend so I think no one was paying attention.

 

You have to remember that the company has sunk alot of money into their equipment.
A new trailer such as Wabash, Stoughton, Hyundai, etc can run up to $25k.
A new sleeper truck can average anywhere from $60k-$100k+ depending on how it's spec'd.

That's no small potatoes.

Like all businesses, the company wants to generate a sufficient return to pay back their investment plus make a profit.
Generally speaking, the more loads the truck/trailer deliver, the more $$$$ being made.

On the flip side of the coin, if the wheels aren't spinning under a load, the truck isn't generating revenue.
This includes empty/deadhead miles, waiting for loads, idling the truck, OOR (out-of-route miles), hometime, breakdowns, etc.
And so most companies will try to minimize the sitting and maximize the running of loads.

If downtime/sightseeing is on your list, you may want to consider expediting.
This is because expeditors usually sit alot between re-loads...sometimes for days at a time.
And so there is usually more down-time available to be a paid tourist.
These would be companies like FedEx Custom Critical, Tri-State, Panther, Landstar, Bolt Express, Load 1, etc...
Usually an O/O who owns one or several trucks will be looking to add a driver.

 

You're talking about Highway 12 in Washington State and that was Riffe Lake you saw. I supervise a park at the west end of the lake right across from where you drove by. Good fishing in the lake too...

 

Yeah, highway 12 is just awesome; i'm not a religious person, but to me this is proof of a higher being.

This was, along with Bighorn nat'l park, some of the best scenery i've even passed thru while trucking.