2nd Career as a Trucker?

First post on Trucker Forum; I am 58 years old, been in Construction for many years, own my own company designing & building custom homes... I am veeeerrry tired of this super high stress life, especially dealing with constant never ending people problems... clients, inspectors, city officials, supervisors and workers... not to mention money issues lingering from the 2009 economic meltdown. I've taken a pretty severe stress-beating in the last few years.

We suddenly, recently, got the crazy idea of giving our construction business to our employees and doing something completely new... our favorite idea is to become a long-haul trucker team. My wife and I love long road trips. Driving 600 mile days is fun for us, and we've done it plenty.

We are young at heart, healthy & physically fit, we thrive on long work hours, we are meticulous planners and record keepers, we are completely flexible on where we live, and we have driven around 250,000 miles hauling a 5th wheel, including thru Mexico and Guatamala. We are very confident in our trailer driving ability. This seems like a good match for us, don't ya think?

Given all of that, I would really appreciate advice based on the vast accumulated experience on this Forum...

• Getting Class-A + ?: Considering the program at College of the Redwoods, or possibly lower cost school (Hi Desert Truck Driving School, <$2,000), or even working for a company that provides training... looking back with the benefit of hindsight and given our situation, what would you do for CDL... Hazmat Cert?
• Targeting Opportunity: In reading here on the Forum and other websites, there are lots of companies, lots of types of loads... Our last 10 work years, we want to make money... as much as possible. We will live anywhere, and we will work any hours... the only limitation is that my back is not as strong as it once was and don't want to screw up my back, so minimal heavy lifting. If you were in our situation, long-haul team willing to haul any load, what would you do to max out your income?
• First Year: Knowing we will be working for slave wages... what advice would you provide as to where to work, what to drive, companies, loads, etc, that would best set up to be a serious money making long-haul team, to get the good job?

 

Chinatown: Thanks! That is very specific and useful
CJ: We are not young dreamers... we know what hard work is all about
Shaggy: You seem to think I have said something provocative... not my intent... can you clue me in a bit? This is a new forum for me, and really a whole new industry and vocabulary.