Food grade tanker down here is garbage, but fuel and chemicals pay pretty decent. As for heavy haul i only got a 5 axle so don't know snout that, but there is plenty of OD work down here but you gotta be hooked up with someone that has access to it.
Best place to live for ownere operatrors? Well,You guys will hate it but the Chicagoland area id virtually the best for outbound Business-HANDS DOWN- You may not want to live here-But its "The place" To Live if You want The Best in Freight. Fact- You Can Load any "freight" here ,in all equipment Going ANY direction for a premium rate Truckload-LTL-Even Bulk non Tariff You need to go to Casper Wyoming-We'll have a Load for you You need to go to Toms River,NJ,We'll have a Load for you You Need a load down to Corpus Christi,Tx-We'll have a load for you You wanna run to The Motor or Glass City daily? We'll have work for you all year You wanna run local within 50 miles? We'll have work for you You wanna go up to Green Bay Daily and Beat the Crap outta packer fans-We'll have a load for you
Well, I would stretch that out a little. The upper Midwest in general is a great area to be based out of . I live in central Iowa and I stay pretty darn busy year round. I keep all my running between Nebraska and Ohio, pretty much anything from I-70 north, and I never sit anywhere. Nice thing is, I get by the house a couple times a week and off on the weekend. Never miss a holiday at home. And I do far better than I ever did running the 48. Shorter hauls pay better. Lots of stuff moves out of, in to, and within the upper Midwest.
I live in NE Iowa and do just about the same thing. You can run from the Twin Cities down I-35, then over to Columbus, and up to Chicago or Green Bay and make great money all year long.
I'm looking to buy a property, where I could call home for 6-7 month a year and safely park my truck for other 5 months without anyone watching equipment while I'm out of state. I have seasonal business up north and switching my duties in two different industries works great for me. I would like to do small maintenance of my truck myself and having option to bring truck to my driveway would be the best. I know some areas have restrictions of bringing 18 wheeler. Low taxes (or no taxes) would be great advantage. I'm looking into Tennessee and specially Nashville area where I could be home more often. Haven't discover anything yet, about getting there and see around. I would greatly appreciate suggestions of any towns I should look into.
Second that on New Zealand.... wife says no, seems they have too many really big spiders and about 17 million other bugs that can kill you.
I was pretty stoked to learn my neighbor sold his lot next to mine for $75,000 a few days ago. We both paid $55,000 for equal sized lots 3 years ago. He better hurry up and buy because land isnt getting any cheaper around here that's for sure.