Saia?

@ACH1130, that's strange that your blood pressure would go up. Mine went back to normal and so did all my blood lipids. This is my diet, meat. Just kidding, although it seems like it is. I'll eat about 3 servings of lettuce a day, 2 hand fulls of mixed nuts and the rest is animal protein. I don't eat dairy or any grains and only drink water. I'll munch on pork rinds too and some other low to no carb food. It's hard as heck though.

 

Yea pork rinds are awesome. Think maybe it was all the meat and animal protein I'd eat. Or maybe the dr had no idea what he was doing. It's still on the high side but has gone down a bit, went from a 3 month med card to a year... That's per the DOT. I keep an eye on it though.

 

Oh heck yeah! The FedEx CC truck had 550hp straight pipe loud and mean as hell. No governor either. I might have to save up for one cash custom. By then ill be in my late 30's or 40's get that hometime out of me lol. Or take a pay cut and run for Western distribution local or road. They got some stretched 379 daycabs, sleeper 379 w900 all custom to the Gil.

 

Watch your sodium intake and sugar. That's good you got it upgraded. Also did you go in on a empty stomach? Eating something good with no stimulants gets your actually bp. If your empty it spikes it. I like to eat acouple bananas hour or two before cause potassium lowers bp. Heard this while getting my physical driver said he ate nothing, doc told him to get lunch and come back. Had a 3 month too upgraded to a 1 yr when I got off the road. When I came on here wasn't in the best shape did that and got a 2 year.

 

Sounds like you were set up! I'm 41 now so being home isn't a priority anymore. Heck I never see anyone when I'm home anyway! I used to run dedicated to NJ every week. Did that for 4 years. We had a 379 wide open but nothing custom about it. Then they bought those brand new peterbilts in 2001 that looked like a freightliner (forgot the model number). Those things had an 18 speed with 550 cats wide open. No one passed me back then. Sadly when I was an owner operator it was all about making money. I had a 1994 Freightliner FLD with a 13 speed and a Detroit 60 but it was wide open. Had it almost a year and it never broke down once. At FedEx this past winter, they had decked out trucks but they were Freightliners and governed at 70. Down here where I'm at it's very hard to find a company that has nice trucks, especially fast ones. It was very hard for me to go from wide open to governed!

 

I ate before I got it done. Always have to fuel the tank before starting the day. I knew that it gets spiked as my dr would tell at me if I didn't eat before coming for a check up. My Gf normally checks it for me every other day and keeps me in line with eating habits. As much of a pain she is at least she's caring lo,

you two are the only LTL that want to go back OTR. I kinda like my bed every night, hotel wouldn't bother me either though, Judy living in a truck would drive mr insane

 

I've thought about going back to long haul and may someday, but not doing the crap I was doing with my "first trucking job" starter company. If I could do it more my way with a nice truck and a nice dedicated gig that paid something decent, I'd probably like it better than the LTL gig I do now. Now I'm in liftgate, residential and mall delivery hell most of the time. I kind of miss being a real trucker in other words.

 

I agree. I enjoyed the open road much better. Living in a truck never bothered me. I even liked it when I got stuck in a truck stop every now and then. Trucks sure as heck were a lot more comfortable! I guess if you don't need to be home much and don't need as much money then OTR is great. Nothing like running wide open in a convoy with your trusty bird dog and tweaked out CB radio.

 

Yeah, going long out on the big roads is an entirely different experience. Newer trucks are so nice and comfortable it's pretty much like RV'ing across the country full time. I get jealous when I see some other guys out there in the tricked out 379's blowing by me in my crappy little FL70 city truck, on my way to See's candy or some other god-awful delivery stop at the mall. I'm probably going to go be a fuel-hauler once I've got the 2 years experience they all seem to require. Those are good paying jobs...better than I'd ever make doing LTL with this company I'm with now. I know you can make $75k+ in LTL if you're high on the seniority list at a big one like Conway or ABF, but that can take years and I have no interest in that.

 

Don't miss the peddling days. I didn't mind doing it in a tractor but I hated it when I was in a straight truck, the way they made you work. After I requested to get my tractor back and they wouldn't I finally started taking ALL day to deliver, make no pickups so they caught on and got my wish.

there is a tanker company not far from me. I would love to get that gig, only 4 day work week, 12 hour day normally. Pay is a lot higher, overtime the whole 5th day if worked. Same union. Would be nice to work 4 days