Going Over the Road with Knight

Discussion in 'Knight' started by Misesian, May 23, 2014.

  1. 1278PA

    1278PA Road Train Member

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    My point was hay is not a high dollar load. What does hay cost? And i doubt you are driving far with a truckload of hay. But what do i know im not even a driver.
     
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  3. OverDrive

    OverDrive "A Watchman on the Walls"

    The hay loads I carried were from UT to Bakersfield: but UT alfalfa pellets trucked from UT to the ports in L.A. for shipment to China!
     
    Fajo Thanks this.
  4. Fajo

    Fajo The Dark Knight

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    Alot of them are coming out of Southern AZ now, The Knight fam bought some farm down there also. Its a quick as you can run it load drop asap when there. Tho I don't know the ends and outs as I don't haul it in a refeer box, tho I will say they have tried.

    And yep, its all off to China.
     
  5. Sad_Panda

    Sad_Panda Road Train Member

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    There are hay loads from the middle of Oregon to California as well. Compressed, cubed and shipped to China, or down under. Quiet a few outfits pull hay for overseas markets and make money on it.
     
  6. Chewbongka

    Chewbongka Light Load Member

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    I have a local job now but I still miss going out OTR. Knight never gave me any problems and the problems I got from shippers and receivers were forgotten about once I hit the road. I never drove crap loads because most of my runs were dry van in the southeast and midwest which are mostly drop and hook beer and paper loads. They are a good starter company and even better if you need to take a pet along. Overall I enjoyed my time there and recommend them to rookie drivers with pets looking for a job.
     
    Misesian Thanks this.
  7. Smokeeater

    Smokeeater Light Load Member

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    Oh dont forget those high dollar bales of recyclable material ie trash .. haha !!
     
  8. koiphish

    koiphish Bobtail Member

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    Hey Misesian, I'm over by you in Bentonville! I am thinking of going to Knight here soon and this thread has pretty much sealed it for me and has given me tons of information to go off of.

    But here's my story and my issue... 10 years ago I was bored with my career as a linux systems administrator and decided I wanted a change and decided to become a OTR trucker (mainly based off all the awesome stories my trucker uncles had told me over the years). I saw an ad on the back of a newspaper and gave them a call without really researching into it and they quickly recruited me and I was on my way to CR England's drivers school the following week. They talked all this fantasy crap about leasing my own truck and how much money I could make from it and the benefits were that I could turn down loads and have riders with me. Me not knowing any better, I leased a truck and I averaged from 3000 to 3300 miles a week... then I turned down 3 loads to New York and Jersey (I HATE the Northeast!!!) and I guess they got pissed at me... I wound up sitting and waiting for loads more and more often and they were giving me crap runs and began averaging 2000 to 2500 miles a week. After a few months of that, I was told by my DM over the phone (as friendly advice) that I shouldn't turn down any runs, even if they are to New York, because you get sent to the bottom of the crap list for it. After hearing that, I decided to turn in my truck and tell them to eat a big bag of ****'s and I quit and went back to being a network administrator.

    10 years have past and I still hate my career and was recently laid off. On top of that, the wife decided she is divorcing me (she got all religious on me) and took the kids and moved out of state. So now I have no home, no job and no bills. But here's the thing... I have dreamed and fantasized about this over the years and remember the places I saw while on the road and often talk about it with my friends and brothers. It was soooo freeing to be on my own and not have bosses all over my back and not having to deal with office politics and kissing ##* just to advance or keep my head off the rotating chopping block.

    So now i'm in a position where I can either go find another networking job, or I could go back to OTR and get out of my mundane life. Since I have no home or bills or family to come back to, I can stay out over the road all the time with hardly any free time needed. I can just stay out and put my money into savings and maybe by my own truck in a year or two. I can get runs through Minnesota and stop off to see my kids when I can and FaceTime them a ton.

    Here's my issues... my CDL expired like 6 years ago and I have only 5 months of experience that is 10 years old. I bailed out on a truck lease and i'm not sure about the schooling costs. The incentive that got me into leasing was that if I leased, my schooling would be paid off by CR England. So not sure about that. People are saying I should just go up to the DMV and take the CDL test again. But 10 years is long time to not have driven a rig OTR. So not sure what I should be doing.

    My other issue is my blood pressure. It is too high to pass DOT physical. I am taking meds to control it and I heard that I could pop a viagra an hour before the physical and it would drop my blood pressure down a ton too... but I would have a boner during my physical... soooo ummm... yeah!!!

    What is you guys advice on what I should do and how I should proceed?

    I like Knight Trans... I ###### sure dont want to goto Swift, I know that!
     
  9. OverDrive

    OverDrive "A Watchman on the Walls"

    To be frank, with your short and long-ago driving history, and lack of good refs, dont think you can make it back into trucking!

    Know about unfulfilling professional jobs, but a BIG part of trucking is sticking it out to get a min of 1-2 yrs OTR experience so you can freely move on to better trucking jobs later
     
  10. Misesian

    Misesian Road Train Member

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    With that record you would probably start from square one. You need to get your CDL back, pass the physical, and probably go out with a trainer for a few weeks. It would be starting as if you were a student fresh out of CDL school. If your skills have gotten rusty enough you can't pass the skills test, Knight does have training out of Phoenix still.
     
  11. OverDrive

    OverDrive "A Watchman on the Walls"

    I know knight as most trucking companies dont look very favorably upon those who "hit & run," the trucking industry. Think it will happen again, esp those having had professional degrees/jobs making big $.

    As they say, " absence makes the heart grow fonder" as once getting back into the daily grind will bail again!
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2016
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