Are driving doubles/triples as terrifying as many make it?

Yea night driving is great if you can handle it. Some people just cannot. I’m to the point of hating driving a truck during the day now. Seems like I’m moving so slow vs driving at night. Plus all the morons are typically out during the daylight morning hours. There’s a reason most of they guys I work with have 20+ years seniority. LTL is probably one of the best paying driving jobs out there. Home every day holidays and weekends off. Pretty easy to make 100k plus a year once your at scale. Give it a shot! Best of luck with your job search.

Oh empty pups in the snow are the worst thing about em.

 

Yeah, definitely seems like the best place to move onto once I could land a job in the right location. I'm probably just going to keep at it over here at the food grade place until an Albuquerque or Phoenix Linehaul or fuel spot finally let's me on board. So far it's been a rinse/repeat process of "apply-denied-reapply" at my preferred locations until something finally happens.

I mean, I also get offers for seemingly immediate hires from multiple LTL/linehauls for nights/weekend spots up in the Denver area. But apart from the 20 something tech workers to deal with, that last snow storm keeps reminding me that winters and snow sports make me into a sour grape.


So yep, definitely gonna keep at it until I slide in to the right spot.

 

Cryo pays pretty good, and it's still tank work.

Or is your heart REALLY set on fuel?

 

Anything that has me home everyday and works a somewhat normal schedule. Fuel and LTL linehaul seems to fit that bill. I've looked into cryo jobs and I can't seem to find anything local/daycab. It all seems to be "out for weeks/the truck is your home now". But enlighten me if my brain is turning into mush.

Only reason I go into that is because the past eight years I've been driving milk tankers. Seven of those were loading and the varying schedule and piling up of pickups each night on top of those already on your schedule drove me mad. Nearly the past year though, I've been on 2-4 nights out regional. It's alright for now, but I eventually want to be in my own bed each night and not dealing with engine noise from some cowboy parking right next to me.

 

You could do worse than a night linehaul gig pulling sets(doubles), or trains(triples)... I run a nightly gig from Idaho north into central Montana. Doubles and triples, weather allowing. 520 miles round trip plus drop and hook and fueling time paid. The road conditions can really get crappy about 8 months out of the year, but the compensation is quite good. I'm home everyday, weekends and holidays off... It's tough for some drivers to deal with, but it's a good fit for me.
IMO, If you have to deal with snow, ice, chaining up, and possible blizzard conditions, it's better when there's not much traffic around. You can focus more on how you operate the truck and not have to worry about all of the idiots around you. I think it's less nerve wracking.

 

brave man

 

That's pretty much it. I could deal with all of that if needed. But if there's still a bunch of tourists out crowding up the roads to get their Nordic Sports on, then they better deal with the consequences of playing around in that sort of weather like the Vikings they think they still are.

All those Eriks and Elsa's out there in their crossovers.

 

I'm an older lady. I love driving doubles. They follow so much better than a 53 when turning corners. Sure you can't back them, but I always seem to find a place to park when I need to. I drive a sleeper cab, so no hotels for me. In high winds, they are considered light, so just like a 53 with 20k or less, you stop. I've driven in all kinds of weather with them, and as long as you're smooth on the steering, they don't wiggle much.

 

The only time doubles might give you real problems is on ice or snow. Most doubles are pulled with a single drive tractor and chaining up gets to be routine.
Going downhill on snow or ice can be a real adventure. A lot of drivers will put drag chains on the back trailer but if the trailer is light they won't do you a huge amount of good.