This will go down on my permanent record...

A entirely too long backstory:
I found this site near the end of 2017, or start of 2018. Same old story that gets told on here all the time. I was coming to a crossroads in my life, not only middle age, but also professionally. The universe kept telling me it was time to change, maybe I was listening. My family had just gotten through the Thomas Fire (+/- 400,000 acres) at the end of 2017. We were evacuated a half dozen times and the ash and smoke were unbearable in Santa Barbara County. I was hopeful that 2018 would be better. We had headed up to Mammoth Mountain after New Year's to deliver a few surfboards to a customer, and while we were there mudslides came down and killed 21 people in Montecito. It completely cut off my hometown on the 101 freeway, and it was a further devastation to our area that spent the better part of the month on fire. We were stuck in Mammoth for a few extra days which wasn't that bad. LOL

Anyway, I was over just over everything and just wanted to work and pay my bills...

I joined TTR and followed a similar trajectory on TTR asking the same old questions, I also found new and inventive ways to look like an idiot to you all, but eventually I went and got my CDL, and I chose Western Express in Bloomington, Ca as my first company. I chose Western mainly based on its location, and from going there and sitting outside in the drivers area and listening to drivers talk before i signed up for orientation. It was fairly mellow and I knew from TTR that everywhere new drivers go basically sucks. So off I went.

After 90 days behind the wheel at WE I was eligible to become a trainer. That sounds insane to me even more so now, but it would bump my miles up and of course my pay. As a trainer I was averaging $1200-$1800 a week. There's more than a few stories that I've told on here about the "Super Trucker Trainee, 'Sir Talks a lot', and "Granny Mother Trucker." I had fun, paid my bills and made some really good friends, my DM included.

Now TTR preaches a lot of things, one of which was just suck it up and get your first year done and then move on. I followed that advice. A few months before my 1st year ended at WE I sent @Dave_in_AZ a message about his ad looking for drivers at Landstar. I figured what the hell. Dave was straight forward, no ########, and explained to me his program. He was clear in saying that this was big boy trucking and from time to time you'll get it broken off in you, but the upside was worth hassle. Sounded great to me. Dave was clear in that his fleet ran Cascadia's, and manuals for the most part. No worries, I'd driven a manual before, but it was going to be a quick learning curve.

At this point about a month away from my (1) year, which was required by Landstar, I wasn't even able to apply yet and Dave calls me to discuss some particulars about the truck he's going to buy. Full O/O spec, APU, all the gauges, brand new 'fridge, manual transmission, etc... He asks me what my color choice would be. I said "white", I want to be invisible. For years applied what I call the "sniff test" to things in business and grabbing things out of the refrigerator. Well Dave calls me back and sends me the bill of sale for the truck with 384,000 miles on it (or close to that) that he just purchased for me to drive. That's a hell of a good sniff test, and I hadn't even qualified for Landstar yet.

I've said it here before, if you can qualify for LS, and if Dave is willing to get you a truck you'd be a complete idiot not to reach out to him to find out.

The only thing Dave is going to give you is an opportunity, and in my case some mentoring. This is a walk away lease deal with a great truck, and good freight via Landstar. The contract was simple and concise and Dave will leave you alone unless you mess something up or something cancels. There's none of that Mega / White Volvo Russian / sketchy BS. Do your job get paid, mess up bad enough you're gone. Duh.

Well its 2 years and 10 months later, my truck has about 200,000 more miles on it. I put new drive tires on it a couple a months ago, it is in great shape and ready for another 200K. The oil samples are insanely good, and i absolutely adore this thing. Running for Dave, and the fitness of this truck has made me excellent money.

How excellent you ask? We paid off the balance on it Wednesday! Yup its my truck. The truck was $93k with all interest, taxes, fees, etc. Over 75% of that payoff came directly from money earned while working for Dave. I owe Dave a huge debt of gratitude, and he isn't ever buying a beer when I'm around.

This is also a big thank you to all of you that have directly or indirectly helped shorten my learning curve.

I'll be adding to this thread from time to time. Mostly just ramblings and some photos.

 

Hey @TripleSix you once said something about putting your name/handle on the door.