East vs West; where is the money for a company driver/rookie

Well I guess I'm the odd one out, here. I started driving the same month it all hit the fan back in 2008, banks were collapsing as I was learning to shift gears, so my choice of carriers as a new CDL holder were admittedly limited.

I started out doing the North East, mainly MA, NY, NJ and PA. Working reefer in those states fosters an appreciation for truck stops with parking, not waiting 45 mins for a fuel aisle to free up and cities that weren't built in the 1700s. We ran NYC and received aptly described "Danger Pay" for delivering to certain customers.

Although it was intimidating, I am glad for the experiences. I learned how to back up well. I learned how to manoeuvre my truck into places that we're never designed for trucks. I learned how to read signs and I learned how to swallow my pride.

I am one of the only drivers at my current job that shrugs off Chicago, doesn't dodge Detroit, doesn't flip out in Philly and knows the difference between Long Island and Long Island City. When you can back up, manoeuvre your truck and read the road signs, you quickly figure out that a city is a city is a city. Some are easier than others, but if you can manage the harder ones, the easier ones fall in line. Not so the other way around.

Honestly, the earlier you overcome obstacles in your career, the less fear you will have facing new obstacles. We had a lot of drivers who were never pushed outside of their cozy-zone and have become deathly afraid over the years of trying something new, or going some place strange. Some of my friends started doing only regional (within 300 miles of the yard) at the same time that I started, and a handful of them have yet to leave that radius. They won't cross the border into the USA because they are too intimidated by new, different things and believe all the horror stories from the lunch counter,

 

will you train? you sound like the kind of trainer i'd like!! not till fall tho....

 

I trained my spouse and current co-driver from scratch (with permission from the owner of the truck at the time) and we are running as a team now! It seems crowded enough some days with two people and 2 cats in the truck, I can't imagine how it would be with another adult in here!

Loud first year on the road as a team, we took a dedicated run from Nova Scotia with stops in Quebec City, Montreal and Toronto and then switched trailers and headed across the Canadian Shield to Thunder Bay and then Winnipeg, switched loads and came back to Toronto and headed back to Nova Scotia. Let's just say that you can drive in blowing snow, ice and the most miserable winter weather imaginable after doing 5500 miles of it each week. After doing that run and getting so many miles on snow covered roads, the truck now doesn't stop for any kind of weather.

In the same vein, the road is pretty remote in Northern Ontario. You pass a sign for "Next McDonalds: 500km" (300mi) and there was no cell phone service for more than 300 mi. The potential to get in trouble is immense (I hit a moose at -34*F and we had to drive the truck with no rad, so no heat or windshield for 100 mi just to PULL OVER because there is no shoulder on Highway 11) we still had to be towed another 120mi to the nearest shop.) I know a lot of guys who will not run coast to coast in Canada because of how remote it is in winter especially, but we did it 100 times in a year.

You have to face the things you fear or they fester. It gets worse, not better.