What's the attraction to OTR in 2023?

I've done local p@d , linehaul , gas hauling and it was ok but being divorced and kids grown I prefer otr reefer .
Been with my company a while now and don't have to deal with typical reefer bs and home alot , rarely pick up or deliver anywhere I haven't already been 25 times and always busy and planned out sometimes a week out .

 

You're spot on about China. Hate to see all the angst between our countries but it is what it is. We went there for 3 weeks back in Jan 2018 with our Chinese sister in law. Spent most of our time in a small town about an hour SW of Shenyang. Her friends and family were so hospitable. They had big home cooked meals for us almost every night and if not we went out to eat at some nice restaurants.

We hopped a train and went down to Beijing to have a look see for a couple of days. We opted not to go to the Great Wall it was so cold but we did see Tiananmen Square and Chairman Mao himself at room temperature. I remember when we got back stateside I was really craving a good cheeseburger and REAL breakfast - bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy. Seems like the Chinese don't have a similar concept of breakfast like ours.

 

Yeah, food is different. I miss my Southern breakfast, biscuits & gravy & pancakes.
I buy Peking ducks from street vendors and give them to family members. They love those, but I don't. It's ok though, they're family and if they're happy, then I'm happy.

 

We went to some fancy restaurant in Beijing that put on a show serving the Peking duck. It was good but expensive. I really enjoyed the food over there the beer and liquor flowed freely too. We talk about going back in another year or two. This time in the summer tho.

 

We went to a dinner theater. Don't remember the name. One of the acts was a petite girl spinning a large wooden barrel, like a huge beer keg. She was on her back and kept the wooden barrel spinning and in the air just by kicking it with her feet.

 

Did you see the Universal Studios park, It's like a Disney Land park.?

 

I've heard that it totally depends on which VA as to the experience you'll have. It took about 2 years but I got everything dialed in...they track my CPAP so I can get a compliance report whenever, meds show up in the mail and it's just been annual checkups.

I had an a-fib incident in 2020 not long before I got sober. It was obviously alcohol induced because no problems since, but the prize was 2 more meds to take and I have to go see the cardiologist once a year.

For the last few years I've scheduled PCM -> cardio -> DOT physical in that order and it's been working. Was already used to playing this kind of game after 20 years of flight physicals in the navy.

 

I did that with XpressCo also. You may know, XpressCo closed the doors and reopened as Western Express.
First time I saw Wayne Wise didn't know who he was. He was wearing work khaki's and sweeping around the building with a broom. Cool guy and everyone liked him. Drivers always got the benefit of the doubt.

 

We're going sometime this summer. Due to sanctions, can no longer catch a direct flight out of Las Vegas to Shanghai or Beijing. Have to drive to Los Angeles or San Francisco. I won't fly Delta or any other USA owned airlines to go there because the service is crappy compared to Chinese owned airlines. Plus, on USA owned airlines can only take one suitcase and any more than that is $100.00 each. Chinese airlines can take two suitcases free, plus a carry-on bag and a personal item such as laptop computer.
Probably looks like I'm overpacked, but most of the stuff won't be coming back on the return flight.

 

Oh yeah, I remember hearing the stories about Wayne Wise....everyone thought so highly of him when got there. They had just bought SMX at that same time. I'm trying to remember if he's still living, I'm thinking he's been gone for a while now.