10 plus years local experience going OTR for first time

I do enjoy flatbed and the problem solving required with some loads I like the challenge of it. With the various types of equipment we dealt with and quantity delivered especially during turnarounds in plants and we were running hundreds of light towers and welders along misc things from pallet jacks to forklifts , pumps, skid steers and utv’s I always told my trainees when it started that you will be one hell of a Tetris guy after this and you start figuring out how to make stuff to get the most use of your trailer and stay legal. Lol that was probably my fav part of it

 

One thing that I find strange is company’s would say OTR experience and like to not count local outside of class A.
And I understand being Louisiana and not dealing with a lot of snow and ice or mountains could be brought up, but I Hans probably driven in every single industrial plant or refinery on the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge all the way past New Orleans to the gulf.
Some of the units and areas of these places guys wouldn’t even feel comfortable taking a golf cart down. I’ve backed my trailer onto barges on the Mississippi River with inches to spare on the side with high waves and the barges moving all over.
I’ve been in situations where I’ve been on jobsites alone with no one around for miles and gotten mg truck stuck and had to get creative and pull it out with a 60ft man lift.
And if any of you guys have ever driven Baton Rouge or New Orleans imagine doing it daily if you’ve ever seen the French quarter in New Orleans imagine trying
To navigate a truck and trailer thru that night mare that was built for horses and carriages. We’ve had OTR guys come along and leave fairly quickly
Because of the situations we found ourselves in daily and they couldn’t handle solving those problems Daily Here’s a few pics of my adventures lol

 

Multiple years and outcomes but there is a story behind everyone lol

 

You seem to be enjoying life, despite the ups and downs. I know what you’re thinking, get into a truck and see the country. I’ve been pulling oversized and superloads since the 1990s. Love it. Meeting and rubbing shoulders with other heavy haul drivers. Love it. Lots of respect.

HOWEVER…

If I were in your situation, with a good wife, grown kids, and the hobbies, I wouldn’t go OTR. Stay local. Keep your hobbies, stay in the gym, Get yourself into the best physical shape possible and enjoy life. Want to travel? Rent a car. I prefer motorcycle.

 

Based on your posts, you were a regional driver, not a local driver.
You and the wife can enjoy the OTR life and if she ever needs a break, can get a decent local job with an LTL outfit, such as Old Dominion where you're home every day and make great money.

 

work local and get an RV to go enjoy the country.

 

I'm not questioning your ability or description of anything. I was just pointing out that trucking companies make decisions based on what they are required to use and not necessarily what you tell them. Even if what you tell them is 300% true. For example, my 18 years of daily driving was reduced to "home-daily, day cab, hourly". It wouldn't have mattered to the particular next trucking company if I had hauled unstable nitroglycerin across corduroy roads during a zombie apocalypse to save a village. Your ability is not in question by anyone. The bigger the company evaluating your application the more rigid and DMV clerk-like evaluation is likely to be. "We are hiring someone to deliver ice cream to a hospital and you were a Formula 1 driver for 9 years, I don't think you are what we are looking for." The rapid and utter collapse of common sense in trucking companies is hard to overstate. That's all I'm saying.

 

Yea I have a motorcycle myself and that’s my preference as well we’ve rode some distance on our bike as well.
The OTR thing is our way of being to travel while making a living.
Traveling on our own or on the bike involves
Out of pocket costs for us and taking off from my job.
she also is unable to work now and when our youngest daughter goes off to school she will be home alone during the day while I am at work. She does not want to be alone like that and he new meds from her mental break are very difficult for her to cope with alone and it makes her very depressed. So that’s also a factor.
My favorite motorcycle trip we did was when we rode from southern Louisiana to deals gap in North Carolina we made a giant 1800 mile loop in about 4 days it was one of my favorite rides did it all on a Ducati hyperstrada i miss that bike a lot

 

I understand and I didn’t take it as questioning my ability sorry if I implied that to you.
I was just speaking in general from a companies outlook of how my experience is viewed upon as a new driver.
And that I’ve probably experienced way more challenges than a OTR driver with a year of experience that was my view on it. That’s all
I do appreciate the input though thank you

 

We do have an RV it’s just very expensive and have to take time off work to do any traveling with it right now the money and taking time off to travel is very difficult