OTR or Local?

Not all companies do that. The big ones might, but there are plenty that don't. Find a 50 to 75 truck fleet owned by 1 person, managed by 1 person, with just a few dispatchers. Try to find one that hauls bulk products like sand, rock, flour, etc.. end dump trailers, pneumatic tanks, belly dumps, etc.. You'll find what you're looking for (being trained without living in a truck with a guy). Sell yourself to the 1 operations manager during your interview. You'll end up riding with 1 of the guys who runs local for a week or so (home at night) then you'll likely get your own truck and shadow a guy for a few weeks. After that, they'll dispatch you on your own and you can tell them you want to stretch out and run their "system". Meaning you want to do the regional and longer hauls they have to offer. Seen a lot of new guys start that way.

 

I start at 1300 everyday. Do 12-16 hours. Most of that is loading and unloading. In a 16, probably 6.5-8 is drive time. Some weeks I'll start at 0015 on Monday, 0200-0300 on a Tuesday/Wednesday, then finish off the week around 1300. Its local truck driving. Nothing about it is illegal as long as you have ten hours off. It's not a 9-5 gig. And the ones that are 8 hours a day, you'll never make 100k a year.

 

You're right about not making 100k a year, personally I'd rather have something resembling a life and make half that. Just the price you pay for a little bit of rest. Having said that, even the jobs resembling a 9-5 schedule aren't always going to be that. this isn't an office job, you're not going to be back at the yard ready to clock out after 8 hours. The more "normal" schedule jobs are out there though if you look for them hard enough, my average is about 45 hours a week.

 

Otr, no bills more money.

 

I live in the middle of the city. It's a great place to spend home time (I walk, ride my bike, and take public transportation everywhere), but I wouldn't drive a truck in the DC area for any amount of money. I'll take OTR any day. I've driven I-40 coast to coast 100 times and never gotten tired of it. I love the change in geography and climate as you drive that road. I could go the rest of my life without seeing the Beltway and I-95.

 

I work, on average, 45 hours a week running local. Not all local jobs are 14/70, not even close.

 

Very few cities are as stressful as D.C.-Baltimore. Chicago, Atlanta, la, and New York are about it in my experience. Most of the time, you can arrange things so you aren't driving in those areas during peak traffic times. It's harder to do that on a local route.