So you want to haul crude oil in the badlands of ND?

The police clear them out periodically. Happened to me my 2nd night in Williston.

 

I'm in the process of getting my CDL right now. It sucks because I have a lot of experience driving big rigs but it was in the military and for some reason civilian employers don't even consider it. We have a good family friend that drives for an O/O in Williston so he is going to try to get me on there. Hopefully it works out.

 

Ok, gotta get my seven posts in here. Sorry about this. There really has to be a better way to verify that I am not a scammer or whatever.

 

Apparently my friend that is over there gets paid basically 24 hours a day because he is on call. He hauls water and just lives out of the truck so he is raking in the cash. I really hope to get on with that gig. His boss was asking him the other day if he knew anyone else with a CDL but he didn't know that I was getting mine at the time.

 

I'd imagine civilian employers can't accept your military experience because the FMCSA has it's own rules and regulations versus the military. You must be trained and certified by a state to gain your CDL. Nice thing is you will get there. Once you have yours, the journey can last a lifetime.

Rocketdog

 

This is why you can never never become too relaxed hauling crude.

This happened in Keene, ND a few days ago, the rest of us had to go around his dumb ###. Needless to say it caused the rest of us some delays. Notice how nice the weather was?

This happened in the afternoon of November 18th.

Lucky for him all his valves were closed and the oil remained in the tank.

No, he wasn't a rookie driver either.

 

Hello there
My dad is headed up to North Dakota in a couple weeks. He is an owner operator and he is going to be working with Iowa Tank Lines. Do you have any information on what to bring or any ideas of places to stay.
Thanks

 

Caudhill1966,
I live a bit west of the patch and we am going to be needing more drivers with your level of experience. HAZ,TANKER,DBLS. When do you think you are going to be ready?

There are a lot of drivers out there that are not getting a fair piece of the pie and we think we can get the best family of drivers possible by treating them with respect, acknowledge their needs and give them proper reward. Afterall, there is enough $ to share and we started this company with the idea of taking care of our families and that's how we consider our drivers too. We need each other, we do well, you do well, win-win. We are GFO transport, God-Family-Oil, in that order.

Thanks, Daniel

 

Bring lots of FR insulated clothing, warm work socks, lots of hoodies, a good insulated coffee cup, lots of determination. Also doesn't hurt to bring a positive attitude.

As far as places to stay....bring thousands of dollars (literally) and hope for the best.

I think that's a good start.

Robert.

 

I am sort of in a unique situation here. Like I mentioned, I have driven with the military quite a bit and am now looking to get my civilian CDL. To be hired in the oil fields would I need to go to a complete CDL course that takes five weeks or could I just do some driving and get experience with these transmissions and then go take the test on my own? I know I can get my CDL that way and that most OTR companies would not hire me but the oil fields seem to have different standards. Might that work?