Loving this flatbedding

Fishing trips, fishing stories, cars, 4x4s, tools and welding, adventures in wrenching, good food, adult beverages, cute waitresses, farm implements, pets, cattle, vacation stories are always welcome.

 

Good to hear a positive experience and not another bash post. I could be wrong but I think when you really genuinely enjoy what you do the money comes as a by product because you start to challenge your self to work smarter and faster. Pride does wonders to work ethic. Makes sense to me...but anyway

be sure to let it be known who has the best spot to get a plate of gator. Keep it easy

 

Welcome to the bright side of trucking. Don't make it look too easy or you will have more window lickers trying to get in. With a big grin on your face tell them how physical the job is and how sweaty you get all the time or frostbitten in the winter. Don't forget about getting stuck in the mud etc.

 

Ya had to include farm implements and cattle didn't ya?.... smh

 

Would you believe that I got my current gig the same way I did my very first flatbed job? The first one, I wanted to go there because they had flat top W9s and trailers that didnt have headerboards. The thought about the chains and binders and tarps secured on the open headache racks appealed to me. I had never drove a truck that had a headache rack full of gear. Yeah, weird.

I was pulling for a flatbed company, had an oversized JD windrower. Was trying to figure out that since that load was exempt for needing a permit in Illinois if that meant that I could run on Sundays (back in the day, you couldnt run an oversized on Sunday in Illinois at all.) Noone at the company could tell me. Not one person. Stopped over at the Iowa 80. A driver was on the fuel island fueling a bobtail. Why? Because his load was too big to bring through the fuel island. Wow. At the biggest truckstop and cant get through the fuel island...sounds like a hassle. I want in!
Well, I asked the driver about Illinois and he pulled out the Illinois provision sheet. I learned that day that just because a load may be exempt from needing to purchase a permit, the OSOW rules still stand. Long story short, I put in an app and it took me almost a year to get my foot in the door.

 

I purposely left out motorcycles though.

 

I'm with you on Texas. When we were deciding where to relocate to, it came down to Texas or Nevada.
Flatbedding is good; agree on that too. I did a lot of that hauling commercial air conditioners or construction equipment such as bull dozers, road graders, etc. to California from Tennessee and North Carolina. Hauled lumber out of Stockton back to east coast cities. Had a good time running on paper logs.
Only went to Canada once; hauled a big boiler for the heating system for some commercial building in Burnaby.

 

BTW, @negativecold13, that's actually a good name for someone who enjoys running through the Canadian winters.