Soon to be ex-oilfield trash moving to Reno Nv.

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/threads/oilfield-rookie-wannabe.163307/
This was my original thread about moving from Vegas to Texas to participate in the oilfield boom. I had some really good experiences out here and made some amazing money, but now that's over. I miss the desert and 24 hour lifestyle ya know? After fracing took a dive i was laid off along with thousands of others ( drop dead Saudi's) . Ive been working for coastal plains trucking as a crude oil driver for about a year and a half. Its really easy work just drive a tanker to a production site and pickup 185 barrels of crude oil and deliver it to a pipeline drop. Ive posted some videos here https://www.youtube.com/user/williamaellern if you'd like to see what that's like! It's not like they are laying off or anything but if im not making 6 figures id just as soon live in Nevada.
It was really kinda cool to see how many people followed my trip out here and i even got to meet some of them when our paths crossed though that wasn't very often cause i was always at work lol! Anyway i thought about moving back to Vegas but like over a million Californians have moved there and changed the soul of the town to something really negative . Crime and traffic are outta control so i sold my house there . I think Reno might be the place for me its about 500,000 people like Vegas was when i moved there in 1997. Plus with the river and Tahoe nearby recreational opportunities are really favorable.
Now Im looking for advice about local companies in the Reno/Sparks area. The 2 on my radar are Flyers Energy because im already driving tankers with hazmat and TWIC and Shamrock Foods mostly because its kinda physical and pays pretty well as far as ive been able to tell. I spent 3 years swinging sledgehammer and carrying iron and i like it ive always been a gymrat.
I know one of you guys is going to be knowledgeable about the Reno area . Im heading out there at the end of april for 4 days on a scouting trip and have a list of places to check out. Anyone wanna add to those 2 places ive mentioned?
Thanx in advance i got a lot of good advice on my move to Texas back in 2011 . Btw the best advice i got during that little adventure was to show up at the companies door and talk to someone! Wondering if thats what i need to do now, its one thing to send in a app and another when your looking them in the face and saying you're ready to work!

 

So i went to Reno for 4 days to check out the situation and here is the report for those of you who are curious! First off Reno is kind of booming right now with a lot of people moving there and as you can imagine rents are fairly high. South of town hundreds of houses are being built right now with most of the prices being in the $300,000 range for 1600 sq!! Im looking at paying $1500 month for a 1200 sq apartment in a nicer area, yeah i know there are cheaper places but im kinda interested in quality of life with no hassles ya know?
I went out just casually job searching my second day there just to see if i could talk to some drivers and op.m's . The first person i talked to was a Flyers energy bobtail driver who was eating lunch at a gas station. He was really cool and said that he was making $21 an hour delivering various chemicals and lubricants all over town and loved the company.He told me Tanker drivers get $ 25 to $27 which is what their website says too. That sound like a pretty cool deal since i have a lot of tanker experience (crude oil) plus their equipment looks well maintained which is a big deal to me having driven some really sketchy rigs down here in south texas. I thanked him for his time and moved on.
My next stop was the Airgas facility in Sparks. I managed to get past the less than helpful lady at the counter and talk to a long time driver, he said he'd been there for 30 years and wasn't going anywhere else. He mostly did transfer meeting another driver somewhere in the middle of Nevada and swapped tankers and brought it back to sparks. sounded like cake driving and home every nite. He said they are definitely looking for more of the same drivers plus cylinder delivery in Reno/Sparks area (hospitals, welders etc) Wages are in the $20 range.
My next stop was at R+L Carriers there were no drivers to talk to but at the counter i had a minute with the operations manager who seemed less than eager to talk to me, maybe he was having a bad day. He said they have lots of openings in night line-haul to Sacramento and back. He quickly rattled off some numbers which sounded like $160 a day and .30 a mile? roughly $200 a day i guess. They are now advertising for that and city pickup and delivery. Their yard looked very rundown and the equipment i saw was that way too so i wasn't too enthusiastic about the place.
I next crossed the street to Con-Way who's yard was way nicer and equipment looked really good. I walked in and was immediately turned over to the op manager who was a really nice and chatty guy.He said i would do line-haul to sacramento and back evenings starting around 9 pm with some dockwork on the sacramento side . It was 21.30 hr and 49 cents a mile to start with raises up to $25.41 after 3 years 52 cpm.Thats about $60000 year to start. He was very disappointed that i didnt want to start tomorrow and gave me his card and said call when i made the move.I know that XPO just bought them so things are kinda in flux at the moment and everyone is wondering if it will be better or worse there.
I also heard from a few other random drivers that every constuction company in town is hiring bottom and enddump drivers cause of the building boom but im not really interested in them being a fan of health care and 401ks ya know?
Im probably gonna hit up Flyers first followed by Airgas cause hazmat pays the best and i have a really good life insurance policy lol!
Ive reserved an apartment for the middle of june and am really ready to go my house in San Antonio is on the market and im sure it will sell fairly soon check it out here http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...PageImplicitClaimGA=false&fromHomePageTab=buy
ill miss my cool pad but texas is over for me its time to move on

 

They had a job fair while i was out there but id like to go home every nite! They seem to have a good rep though