The American Dream, is it still possible?

I sure wouldn't depend on California produce as a major part of my income. That state is drying up for lack of water and getting worse. Scientists think the drought may last another 30 years or longer. Some idiot city/town officials are even fining people for not watering their lawns while other municipalities are fining people that do water their lawns. The whole state is screwed up.

Farm2Fleet is another one to look at; they specialize in dry van freight and you pick your loads.

If you move to another state, consider one with no personal income taxes such as Nevada or Texas. There's good trucking in both states. Reno is booming, but Las Vegas has better year round weather. Which ever state you choose, contact the company you would like to lease on to and ask if they can keep you busy in that particular state.

 

Getting some good snow in NorCal this weekend.

 

Yeah they say they need o/o at the ports but you'd never think it by the poor rates that kind of work pays. Being your own boss is great. If you thrive on challenges and twice the workload with half the sleep and bloodshot eyes. That's how we roll. Freedom.

 

That's true. Big problem with California ports are wait times to get into the port to get a container or drop off a container. Four to 6 hours is normal & sometimes 8 hours with no detention pay and no idleing the truck. You can blame the Longshoremans union for those long waits;they don't care, they get paid no matter what.

 

That's impossible! To quote our president, "You didn't build that". So how could you?

 

You know what. Let them stay there for a day for free in a hot cab. I would definitely not change a thing if I was paying those drivers and they agreed to it.
I bet those companies could charge them rent and the suckers would still work there. Now that's someone you could explain the concept of American dream.

 

Let me start by saying that I have NEVER been to the ports in California but if they are like the ones in Houston I wouldn't want to put my just purchased truck in them every day. I have to go to them but when I do it is slow and easy. All the trucks working them on a regular basis seem to be falling apart and the oilfields or farm would be the high life for those trucks.

 

Short Haul can be defined in many ways. I would suggest looking @ the number of nights away from home as a guideline.

Centered from LA basin; good paying freight that delivers less than 5 hours out is a rarity so a home every night gig would be a challenge. Yuma, Vegas maybe PHX depending on SoCal Traffic. Problem with Phx is not much truck load comes out.

At that point you are looking @ around 500 mile max trip length to ensure you can pick up and run to drop same day or first thing in morning. Then repeat the other way. Thinking: SF Bay area, Sacramento, Reno, And Tuscon/Nogales. Perhaps a triangle route.

If you start looking in the 600 to 800 mile range: that opens up SLC, Northern Cali and Boise. Triangles may be more easy to set up. LA -> SLC -> Reno/SF -> LA or reverse could be a 3 to 4 night loop.

The hard part is finding consistent freight that pays a reasonable amount. You will be bidding against the Majors cariers and the lowballers. Many of the Major cariers have western region fleets and Even CNA (Cali, NV, AZ) fleets.

Relocation: As an OO Relocation is not a problem. The obvious is to look to locate near a place with a good volume of freight. One of the expenses that we all need to keep in check is deadhead miles.