Man, if you happen to recall just ONE good place in our *your old* state... please let me know. I'm about ready to take a KC load just for the food~! I'm tired of Chicken and/or Eggplant parmigiana ..... and Ruben sandwiches!~
I guess so. I don't take much joy in it. The main change is law enforcement. If you can get clear of the towns and keep them out of your hair it's good. Otherwise they chase down to sniff at everything that moves at night.
You are dreaming if you think there are any perfect jobs and trucking is on the far end of it. You work like a rented Mule, by the time your 50 your health is declining, I have the top ten but young drivers are caught up on extened hood Petes, freedom of the road and big money.
Hate night driving. Drove some nights my first gig. Hated it. Headlights blind me sometimes especially the j holes that have to keep their brights on. My driving partner said the reason the truck stops fill up at dark is all the drivers are old and can't see after dark lol l
Your best bet would be to go flatbed then. I know what you mean... I can't stand driving at night but, unfortunately, this industry operates on a 24 hour basis. If you were to drive flatbed, generally speaking, nearly all deliveries (and pickups) that you will make will be during daylight hours, since the loads that flatbed usually hauls tend to revolve around shippers that are closed at night. Remember; it's the hours of operation of both the shippers and consignees' that tend to determine your hours as a driver catering to them. That being said, two flatbed companies that come to mind that pay well (compared to most other OTR companies that hire new drivers) would be Melton and TMC. Also, I do believe Melton has APU's which are invaluable if you are going to sleep in the truck; especially in the summer. Honestly, I just don't know how most of these drivers are able to sleep and to survive and remain driving for any length of time if they are just relying on the trucks AC while idling all night... or all day. And then, should the outside temp reach a certain temperature... poof! Everything shuts down to both dead silence and no cool air at all..... just the lovely, idling roar of two huge diesels from your neighbors' engines less than 6 feet away from you on both sides of your truck. And not to mention when one of your neighbors has a faulty airline valve that constantly turns on and off every 2-3 minutes..... ppssshhhh!.........ppppsshhh!
Let me try to tie in running nights and electronic logs. If you need to knock out 700 miles on 11 hours driving, imo nights are the only option. That is averaging 63.6 mph. Try leaving a major metropolitan area after noon (lunch time). If after the first hour, you have only traveled 45 miles, you are screwed in reaching your goal of 700 miles, no matter how fast your truck goes. After electronic logs kicks in, I think you'll see more night driving because there won't be anymore fudging 15 or 20 minutes to make 675 to 700 miles in 11 hours. I think I'm starting to notice more night driving already.
Solar powered wussies!....lol!....Just joking guys but I never realized night driving was a big deal!
Probably so...I have noticed it also. I have averaged 71 mph over 11 hours running at night...781 miles but that was moving! I guess when I get stuck on E-logs it will give me a ticket!...lol!
Hmmm. Lets get those big, loud, slow, dirty stinking trucks off our roads during the day, I've got stuff to do in.my car.