10 plus years local experience going OTR for first time

CAUTION: If you are going to OTR....in part to "see the sights"...& (in part) experience what life is like out West -- take heed ------->

CDL driving while pulling a "box" (i.e., reefer &/or dry van)....is thankless, boring work (mostly just bouncing from one warehouse to another)....& no one is happy or thankful to see you....when you arrive at your destinations.

On the other hand -- doing tanker or flatbed work will have you doing FAR MORE INTERESTING work, & delivering to far more interesting places....& seeing much more interesting things (unless you just think warehouses are really cool).

Thus -- for OTR -- consider mainly/mostly tanker &/or flatbed carriers.

The photos you take while doing all this....will later tell a far better story.

You're welcome....

-- L

 

Most tanker outfits don't allow passengers. Might find a couple that do.
The chemical plants I went to, passengers and pets had to be left at the guard shack while you're making a delivery or picking up a load.

 

This one is a coast-to-coast reefer outfit with a good reputation. Can take the wife with you.
Stevens Transport has a pathway to get you back on the road efficiently. We provide a unique CDL refresher course with accelerated training based on an individual assessment. To apply for refresher training, complete your online application. Where and how you begin your trucking career matters.
CDL TRAINING - Stevens Transport

www.stevenstransport.com/drivers/cdl-training/

 

Careers – May Trucking Company

 

Fleets that do flatbed work....but also do dry van/reefer loads (just in case flatbed work later dries up) would include....but are not limited to:

• Roehl Transport (also does conestoga freight)
• Werner Enterprises
• Swift Transportation
• Knight Transportation

Given your experience -- any of those (or similar, elsewhere) would probably welcome an opportunity to talk with you.

-- L

 

It's complicated. I am retired.

 

Does your wife have a CDL as well? Or is she just going to a passenger the whole time? Nothing wrong with that if that is the case, but some of these companies are paying $140k+ annually per driver when it comes to teaming.

 

my title would be dispatcher, I kept driving at least monthly if we had a driver out and work piled up my manager would watch dispatch while I’d jump in a truck and run a delivery or pickup as needed I’d also go fill in if our on call driver was unavailable to work on call like weekends etc.
I am taking a weekend refresher currently at a local school as well I forgot to mention that. The instructor told me within the first mile or two I really
Didn’t need it that he could see I knew what I was doing and I was comfortable doing it.

 

I like the idea of fill in driver in addition I would definitely use that thank you.

She doesn’t want to drive or get a CDL she also had a severe mental break about two years ago (she was laid off from her job of 8 years out of nowhere on top of a miscarriage and her mom had a heart attack and nearly died all within about 3 days time) and she had to be hospitalized and put on medication. The stress and anxiety of being responsible for that kind of vehicle and weight on top of everything else that goes with it it would be way too overwhelming for her. She just wants to sit and help with any paperwork and go see the country and spend time together.
We race cars as a hobby (myself and our daughters) and her and I have traveled all over the southeast to different race tracks for the last 20 years most every weekend so the travel and road time don’t bother her and her and I can spend days in a vehicle
And get along just fine we enjoy each others company.
I did empathize to her that this is still a job and that we have a lot of responsibility and it wouldn’t be a vacation every day and that we would see a lot of the country but Playing tourist daily was not going to be feasible and that yes on certain occasions ie layovers or 34 hour resets or the occasional vacation day or two we could do those
Things but it’s still a job and we would have responsibilities and she understands that.

 

Thanks
Believe me I am way used to dealing with ppl who are not happy to see me lol the rental business is a very tricky business lol they are happy to see you on delivery day but when the rent is over and the job is not finished and they don’t want pay for more rental time but keep the equipment and you go from truck driver to repo man things get very interesting very quickly.
I’ll still never forget bringing guys down in a 125 foot man lift with the ground controls against their will and they had that slow ride down to scream at me using the f word like a comma the whole way lol luckily the sheriff showed up shortly before they reached the ground and told them they were stealing and if they wish to debate it any longer they can debate it in criminal court and they changed their tune very quickly lol