Local Central Texas (Austin, Temple and Waco)

Sorry To Be The Bearer Of Bad News OP .... but Trucking is NOT the best occupation to venture into if you want to see your family more. Those that don't know any better think Day-Cab HOME DAILY is the Holy Grail... BS ! After a 13/14 hr day come home sleep-10hrs later back at it again. Your family will see you alright....See You Sleeping ! Talk about OTR... gone 4-5 weeks at a time...come home every other month and your dog barks at you ...THINKING YOU ARE A STRANGER ! Bottom Line Is YOU DO WHAT IT TAKES TO PROVIDE FOR YOUR FAMILY !

 

That's a very good point. I've been offered several jobs in the Austin area, but most are in South Austin which is a good hour or more one way, and as you said, a lot of local companies will, and do, work you right up to your clock each day. Especially in Texas since you can run every bit of 12 and 15 as opposed to 11 and 14. In my previous job which was great, there were those days where I'd run every bit of that 15 out, then I had a good hour drive home, you factor that in with getting up early enough to make the hour drive, and you made it home with enough time to shower, eat and then head straight to bed, and that's IF you didn't hit bad traffic on the way home.

It wasn't all the time, but it did happen enough that it got old real quick. At the end of the day, I questioned why I didn't just go regional. By the time I made it home, my 1 year old was asleep usually and my wife wasn't far behind him, not to mention they were both asleep when I left in the mornings. At least regionally, I'd get some actual rest instead of playing the rush game all day trying to get home. That's what I hated, I knew every morning when I woke up, that I was in for a long ### day, and the entire time I was always running as fast as possible becasue I knew, I had that long drive waiting for me when I punched out. In that particular scenario, local wasn't all that it's cracked up to be.

From what I've personally found when job searching locally in MY area, is that the jobs with the gravy hours either don't pay much, and if they do pay well, they're taken indefinitely, or you're going to run your ### off everyday to make a decent check. Pick your poison I guess, is about the best way I can put it.

 

Looks like we had the same idea in mind lol. You've got it right though, just being local doesn't mean you'll have adequate home-time.

 

That’s right. Monday for me was 610 miles and two stops. Tuesday was 625 miles and two stops. Wednesday was 610 miles and three stops, Thursday was 500 miles and four stops. Today was my only short day. I usually am getting up by 2 am or 3 am at the latest, with small kids I don’t get near enough sleep. I definitely wouldn’t want an hour commute one way.

 

I hear ya loud n clear, sounds about like my previous job. Ran so hard that by the time the weekend rolled around, I was run so ragged I couldn't even enjoy my time off, and of course the little time off on the weekend just FLEW by. There came a point where I was running so much, that I was so tired on the weekends it felt like the weeks just melted together. I'd get out of the truck late Friday night or Saturday morning, close my eyes to get some rest and it was time to get back in the truck and go again. Unfortunately I might have to go back to a similar style of running so these bills can get paid. You can only sit around so long waiting for that "one job" to pop up in your immediate area. Are you running LTL?

 

You guys are depressing me. We need some BS in this thread.... Where's da Cat?

Seriously.... Seems like around here where I live. Everything is overwork. Doesn't matter what you do. ... So I do what I do(OTR). Make twice what people around here make. (wanna make three times) And complain about too much goof off time.

 

Yes, I run multi stop corrugate. I used to run a dedicated drop/hook 565 mile or 630 mile run. Now I run up to 5 or 6 stops anywhere from 450-630 miles. Most places open at 6 or 7 am so I have to roll out around 230-3 am to run the drops and get back to get my kids. It wears on me like you said, but I am home daily.

 

I hear ya man. I'm trying to stick out out for something local but I might have to hop on a semi regional gig running intrastate and home on the weekends unfortunately. It is, what it is I guess.

 

If I were you, I'd definitely check into McLane, sysco, pfg, r&l, Estes, sefl, etc. All located in Temple.