Old OTR experience, Thinking about returning

Personally, I think that if you don't have anything requiring your regular presence at home, and you and your family can handle you being away for a month or so at a time, I'd hop back in.

You'll definitely need to start school again and start from the bottom, but I suspect that your experience will come back you you VERY quickly and inside of a month on the road you'll be way ahead of anyone else at that level of experience.

Give it a shot, you may have a retirement job.



Edit to add: Oh, and I know how tough it is to find a job, especially for someone your age. I'm 45, degreed, with a lot of corporate experience and I find that most companies are looking for the 20-nothings to train instead of paying for the experienced seasoned management types like myself.

 

What has changed? Be ready to get inspected way more often, show your logbook about 20 times as often as in the past, show registration and proof of insurance like you never had to before, scheduled appointments for pickup and delivery, scales you can bypass with prepass or drive through at higher speeds, 70 or 75 mph in the western states (if your truck will do it (and if the company will allow it)), anti-idling laws which vary from state to state and may or may not be enforced, no smoking in restaurants, expensive fuel if you buy your own, the company telling you where to fuel if they buy it, getting your CDL suspended for an "unsafe lane change" or following too closely, not much on am or fm radio, etc., etc. But I am just getting started. Some changes for the better, some not.

 

yeah and driver cryin about anything they can find to ***** about on the cb

 

And this from someone who doesn't know what the inside of a truck looks like just yet

 

i been goin with my dad since i was 8