Central Refrigerated Truck Stop

Speaking of old timers and offering up info, I was talking with a guy today that runs an '06 W900 w/ a 475 CAT, he hauls boats for a company out of MO. He said he doesn't get great mileage as he weighs 63,000lbs empty because the trailer weighs so much (its a 48' that is extendable to 55' to haul yachts). Good thing the boats only weigh 5,000lbs each...he's running close to 80,000lbs with a 15,000lb payload lol.

 

Boy, I was lucky my first time around, Got my CDL license at the dmv in Whitier Ca and a plane ticket to Detroit, picked up a tractor in Royal Oak Mi. and bobtailed in the midst of a bada$$ thunderstorm to Chicago, picked up a trailer and went and loaded four household shipments arround Chi Town coming back to San Francisco,emptied out there, dropped the trailer at the agent that had bought it and bobtailed down to Whittier, no trainer, no maps no sweat, made a good driver out of me, now I face driving with a trainer to get a job if I want to drive OTR, too bad the tanker is not a full time job!

 

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!! You are quite the comedian. I guess you haven't read where people have been sitting waiting for loads? I have been sitting all day today waiting for a load. New flash, freight, even reefer freight is down because incase nobody notified you, there is a recesion on so there are more trucks than freight right now.

 

well its better than dry van right now, there are a lot more people sitting and waiting for loads in the dry van sector. Sitting is part of the job, it would not make much business sense to deadhead you 500 miles when another guy is finishing up a run 250 miles closer. I can understand why you sit, and I can understand why you complain about it...no miles = no cash...trust me, I know the deal.

 

no matter what u r doing right now it is all an waiting game unless you are in the right lanes of traffic, you are an runner, and you are with the right company.

 

Some drivers at Central are getting plenty of miles! Depends on who your FM is and what freight lane your in.

Central don't mind dead heading there L/O's

 

So can anyone give me some insight on the written CDL test?

 

it's been a long time since i took the test but it was fairly easy back then. cdl plus all endorsement tests.

i can tell you this though. that hazmat test now is something else. nothing like it used to be. 6 trips to dmv to take the test 3 times. becuzse they kick you out if you not there 2 hours before closeing to make sure they call your number in a timely manner. better plan on going way ahead of closing time. so you can study what you missed and hopefully pass the retest. do it in one trip. and you better read EVERY WORD in the section.

i've been waiting two weeks now to submit fingerprints. something about the scanner not working.
and there is supposed to be an upgrade for all the locations in the country coming on monday.

2 months and i'm still waiting to get my hazmat endorsement. and this has to be done EVERY TIME YOU RENEW YOUR LICENSE.


cdl test should be easy. just read the book and you'll do fine

 

Cool, thanks a lot for the reply & info. If I'm not getting a hazmat endorsement though, do I still need to test for it on the written test? And does Central require hazmat?

 

The CDL test will be broken down into several parts. General knowledge, air brakes, tankers, doubles, and hazmat. Only have to take the parts that you'll need or want. I would recommend taking the hazmat and anything else that is offered just because it widens the hiring pool. From what I understand, if you want haxmat tho, you'll have to study up on it your own.

Talking about dead heading. Thats just part of the job and #### glad I'm a company driver because of it. Once I was deadheaded 1200 miles and have just completed a combination of deadhead w/bobtailing that was a little over 600. Delievered in Marietta, OK on Wed. that was a drop and hook then they wanted me to deadhead that tlr to Liberal, Ks, drop it off, then bobtail back to OKC to hook up to another tlr that was at the KW place, and will be taking it back to Liberal when I come off of hometime. As a side note, ####, but bobtailing can be a rough ride!!!!