Looking for good OTR company that the wife can ride with me weeks on end

I'm thinking about looking to go back OTR. I'm regional now, home most nights actually, but very very bored! Lol. I love the company I work for, Hoekstra Transportation, but they rarely go further west than IL. I live in Hilliard Ohio, western suburb of Columbus, and rarely get further than MI or IN. I'm actually in the perfect position tho. I'm basically on a salary style pay. So I get 2500 miles pay every week regardless unless I go more than that. Dedicated Kellogg's. fantastic company with great and caring office personnel. I'm even in a 2014 Pete 386 that I've had since it had 70 miles. So again, a great company, I'm just bored with regional. Lol.

I've been driving over 5 years. Good record. Well the wife and I have been talking about her quitting her job as a dental assistant, and going on the road with me full time for a while before we have kids. But I'd want a job that kept us out for at least a month straight bc we are basically planning on living out of the truck. Might even put our stuff into storage and get rid of our rent and utilities and just save up to buy a house. But one question I have is, with these new HOS regulations for restarts, would it even be worth it? I don't have to worry about the restarts with my current job.


My next question is, who is a good company, anymore, to do this kinda thing with? I don't want a company who's going to throttle my miles after I've hit 2300 or so for the week. I want to go somewhere that will allow me my full weekly mileage potential. Not saying I expect 3800 miles every week, but I just don't want them to purposely hold me back simply bc I've reached their magic number.

Im not one to work for big companies tho. I've heard heartland loves to throttle your miles. But what about a company like Schneider? Are they any better? I'd much rather go with a small company anyway tho. I do want to be able to hit up all 48 continental states. I don't want to be limited to a region by any means. One reason my wife wants to go is to simply see all the lower 48 states, and maybe some of Canada, from a truckers perspective.



Anyways, any info at all, be it good trucking companies or what have you, will be greatly appreciated!

 

Oh, forgot to mention, I have a little experience on flat bed bc that's the kind of truck I was trained in for 5 weeks. But no tarp experience. It was a curtain side style. But I've got experience with coils and things bc of it. And I drove 2 years, a refer, so plenty experience on that. And of course dryvan. Just to throw a little more adventure at it, I'd like to try flatbed. It seems there's more money to be made and I like the harder work of strapping and chaining. Refer is my last choice. Lol. But will do it anyway. Just don't like the 2-3 hr on average live load and unloads at these grocery warehouses. But I did make good money with my last refer job tho.

 

I appreciate it Chinatown and Joseph! I appreciate the info. I've actually gotten a call from Melton and they seemed like a respectable company. Seemed genuine. I've thought about Gordon as well. Seem like a good company.

 

MJE, thanks for the info but I don't need training. Lol. Been driving 5 years with a good record.

And Kev, I appreciate it too, but we are going to team drive. She doesn't have a CDL not wants one. She just wants to see the country. She rode with me for 3 weeks once when I worked at continental Express. But the furthest west we went in that 3 weeks was TX.

 

I've also thought about US Express. They seem good. Unlike their trucks. Plenty big enough for the wife n I. But all they have in Ohio right now is local dedicated.