Profile For Dave T.

Mostly bluegrass and country for me anymore. I love to sing along and I know the words to just about anything on the radio nowadays. I only listen to satellite radio anymore and if I lose service, I’ve got days of music on my iPhone. I’m fairly well rounded when it comes to music and can listen to just about anything. I love to change the words up and make the songs funny to keep myself entertained while driving. I tried comedy podcasts it found myself laughing too hard and not paying enough attention to the road. Audio books put me to sleep so that’s a definite no.

For me, I question myself everyday why I’ve been driving a truck almost 20 years now. Back in 2008, I was working in construction when the housing market took a dump. I thought I wanted to give this a try so I went through the community college and got my CDL that July. I had my first job before I graduated and started the day after. I got on with a smaller mom and pop outfit OTR. I did my one year and got the experience, mostly in New England and decided to try local. I got a job ******* beer and did that for a few years before trying to go back to school… needless the day that didn’t work out for me. Back to trucking I came. Got my job back at the same distribution company eventually and did local delivery for a few more years between building materials, beer and milk. One of the best jobs I ever had, that company went under and I lost my job again but I still had that CDL. Got a job jockeying trailers for about 5.5 years before I destroyed my knee and had to have surgery which resulted in yet again, me losing my job. I moved here to VA for a fresh start and to be closer to my family. I got a job hauling fuel for a local company where I could be home every day. I decided that when I got that job, I was going to then find a decent place to live and then a good woman. Well, all that happened just as I had wanted it to but that job got to be too much and she was over an hour away. Through that job I was able to meet and work with my new employer as a contractor hauling their fuel. It took 2 years to do it but they finally hired me on to haul fuel for them. I did take a pay cut but I work Monday through Friday now and no more than 40 hours a week. It does kinda suck with the pay cut for now but in the long run, it’s going to be worth it. Instead of my girlfriend being over an hour away, now we live 15 minutes from each other and we’re looking to get married and buy a house together eventually. I’ve never been married and don’t have any kids but honestly, even with the pay cut, I’ve never been happier.

This career definitely has its ups and downs and you will for sure question your decision to go this route but stick with it and put your time in. There were several times I almost up and quit just because I was tired of the headaches, the crappy dispatching, traffic, etc., but I didn’t. I had my eyes on that end goal and I’m finally right where I want to be with the woman of my dreams. The road is yours to choose, it may take time but anything is possible. I’ve hauled fuel, milk, beer, equipment, building materials and cheap general freight so I’ve almost done it all. I’ve still got the CDL after all this time and therefore I’ll always have a job no matter what as long as I can keep my record clean.

We had a guy back over a bollard around an above ground tank and ripped 3 of his 5 load heads off his trailer. It was pouring rain and he couldn’t see out the passenger mirror because it was soaked and he was going back blind. He didn’t wanna get out and look. Luckily the belly valves were shut. Same guy also cross dropped at a customer site and ruined 20k (10k gas/10k diesel) gallons of fuel because he was too busy talking to a worker there and didn’t pay attention. He finally lost his job after he had a major spill somewhere else. He was parked nose up on a pretty big angle, opened all the belly valves (the trailers have a manifold system so you can drop the whole trailer at the same time through one load head but mainly used for for pump loads), flooded the vapor recovery and was pouring a load of dyed out of the rear port and didn’t even know it. Luckily someone saw it and alerted him to it but it made a heck of a mess. I’m not with that company anymore but he cost them a lot of money and time.

Pay attention to what you’re doing at all times! A conversation that takes your focus away could cost you and others their lives.

I used to travel that route from Hagerstown to Harrisonburg just about every day making deliveries way back when but I don’t get up that way much anymore. I grew up outside of Williamsport but now live in central VA. I haven’t keyed up my CB in almost 20 years though. It’s been sitting in the box in storage ever since. Luckily I don’t have to drive 81 much anymore. It’s a nightmare out there.

Also, look into companies that have an emergency fuel operation. There’s a company here locally that keeps people on the books strictly for emergency and disaster relief. I’ve heard they start at $650 a day for an 8 hour shift and time and a half after 40 if you’re out that long. It’s mostly Class B work too.

Have you considered other forms of hazmat? If you’ve got at least a year or so under your belt, hauling fuel is a great career. Whether you have a Class A or B, there’s a potential to make some decent money and possibly have the home time you’re looking for as well as the pay and benefits. I started out delivering heating oil as my first hazmat job and got into driving the class A tankers hauling ethanol then on to the gas and diesel. It was a stepping stone for me as it led to my new and certainly improved job with the state. If you have the experience, look into broadening your horizons into a different area. If you’re already hauling that kinda stuff, propane could be a good option or even butane in the winter time for the fuel terminals. There’s also local p&d that have good pay and benefits too. Keep your options open.

Excuse my ignorance as I haven’t driven OTR in over 15 years, but is idle air still a thing at the truck stops? The company I worked for didn’t want us to idle while in the bunk so they paid for it if it was available. I haven’t seen it in a long time but then again, I get to sleep in my own bed every night. I wish we could have had APU’s on the trucks, that would have made it a lot more comfortable. Nowadays it’s just annoying if the AC doesn’t blow cold enough 😂

I have been using unisom sleep gels for years. It has the same ingredients for sleep as the Benadryl does. I got hooked on Ambien a long time ago and it took forever to get off of that. Now I can’t sleep at all without some kind of medication but at least I don’t sleep walk anymore like I was on the Ambien. That stuff is dangerous. Also, my ears ring really bad at night so I have to have noise to sleep with but I have a super noisy neighbor upstairs who works night shift from home… his office is directly above my bed with hardwood floors. I tried different types of headphones but I’ve been using the soundcore sport x20 ear buds for almost a year now. They make ones specifically for sleep but the x20 sport has the ANC feature plus the ear hooks so they stay in my ears while I sleep. After almost a year of every night use, they still last 8-9 hours of continuous play. I use a sleep sounds app on my phone and it helps to drown out the noise from upstairs and anything else so I can sleep. They’re actually comfortable to sleep in and I’ve only lost one in the bed one time since I started using them.

It’s tough making that transition for sure. I went from working second shift for 6 years to having to be at work at 6am and it took me a long time to get off that night shift sleep schedule.

Back when I was jockeying trailers at a good size distribution center, I had a guy come in the yard one evening who worked for a local carrier. Our company had contracted with them to help us shuttle trailers between the DC and the cross dock. I was absolutely floored when I pulled up to his driver window to give him some instructions and he held his finger up to tell me to wait while he wrote on his note pad. This guy was 100% deaf… driving a big truck. Nothing against him at all but I couldn’t believe that he was able to pass the tests without being able to hear. It was extremely difficult trying to communicate with him in a high pace setting like that. I’ve got no problem with folks with disabilities bettering themselves, but I just couldn’t believe it. I guess he was able to get his CDL after those lax regulations were passed.

I’ve been hauling fuel for about 3 years now and I’m way out of shape. The toughest part of the job for me is getting in and out of the tractor with a bad knee. We have a few customers who made terrible decisions on their drop placements for their tanks that make it very difficult. Sometimes I have to run a 20’ hose under the trailer because the drops for different products are on opposite sides. Lifting that hose full of gas and trying to drain it can be tough. We have other customers who placed their drops above the level of our load heads so you’re technically dropping fuel uphill. When those hoses are full of diesel, they can be extremely heavy and difficult to manage without making a huge mess. Sometimes I think we deliver to those places because other companies refuse to due to driver safety. If you go with one of the bigger companies that mainly does gas stations, it shouldn’t be too bad. You can always get creative and never have to lift a full hose like I try to do if I can. We carry jugs of diesel additive to dump in before we drop… I keep a few of the empty ones around to place under the hose so it’s a gradual downhill from the trailer to the drop tube. Work smarter, not harder.