Comments By Troubador222

He is on Sirius/XM in a big way. They are pushing his show big time, and supposedly, it has brought in a ton of new subscribers. I had never heard him, mostly because I had not listened to AM since the 1970s, but I have heard of him. He is great, and you are spot on that he is mesmerizing. I read that originally he was an anti government type, but after the OK City bombing he vowed never to encourage that type of thing again, and switched over to the paranormal material. Which frankly, I find refreshing.

Heh, that whole thing got me laughing after it all happened. Poor old skunk. I know I creamed him. He went out giving me a scare though, at exactly the right time.But like I said, you cant wreck a truck to save a skunk.

My friend, you have encouraged me from the start, and I have tried to keep up with your story too. I really hope everything is well for you. I would love to meet you. I will look into Bretts new app soon, but......... to much going on this home time, and enough to think about. But it is not lost on me that he has that app.

Just a lot on my plate at the moment. But, YES, I will sign on and lets meet. I would love that. Ya know, you are a bit of a hero of mine, sticking to your vision, and going where you wanted to go. I often reference this site at CRST terminals when I do get in there, and get a chance to talk to students. I always reference you by screen name to tell them of someone who had the idea what they wanted and worked hard to get there.

This home time, we have got our house in order, so I felt confident to borrow against my retirement, which means a LOW interest rate. I bought a 2005 Mazda Mini Van for a personal car when I come home, and had enough left over to pick up a new lap top, That means I will be connected again on the road. I have my phone, but I am an old man and my thumbs are too big to really work on that phone. Just always frustrates me. I need the laptop. And the bonus is, once I go solo, I can start working on my music again, and even use the new laptop to record new material.

Never linked it here, but I have a couple of truck driving songs I have written in my head, that I want to get done.

Any of you guys want to hear my stuff.....Henry Harrington's Music

Hope this is alright with Brett. This stuff is my passion. Both Acoustic Americana and Electronica. Once I go solo, I have a ton of new material, I just need time to sit down and work on. It's all in my head at the moment, but.......... I just need the time, and that is what solo will give me.

Kind of funny, when you are involved in this kind of thing, song writing. If you dont do it and write it. it comes out in other ways, and people thing you are strange because you start singing at any moment.

What I love about this right now......... I was a land surveyor all my life. It is a highly technical and physically demanding job, and I dont care what you guys say about dangerous........ you have no clue. I used to make 50 grand a year on regular pay and with OT could get into 65. I did as much training as I did straight work, because I was good at it. I was a pretty successful person. It was also tough dangerous work, and me being who I am, I just thrived at that stuff. Well once that crash happened in 2006/7 down here, all that work just vanished in a big puff of smoke. I have sent out literally many hundreds of resumes, and got ZERO replies. Now I am a truck driver, it seems I am a popular guy. Now I have worked through my contract with CRST, I am a thousand more times popular. What a difference to my self esteem. I have worked since I was 15 years old. I have always been able to find a job of some kind. I have done some ****ty jobs when that was all I could find, but that is what you have to do to support a family. I have scrubbed toilets when I had too, and ya know......... I am proud to have done that, because I earned a living doing it when nothing else would do that. I made sure my family ate and had a place to live.

Now...... I fulfilled my contract with CRST, and even though I live in a tough area for truck driver hire, I have all these companies basically competing to have me come work for them, because, I went to a school, took on a contract, fulfilled that contract. Was a safe and careful driver. I have people calling me to come to work, and offering me 5000 dollar sign on bonuses.

So.... in the course of my work, I had to make some choices. I went to CRST, behind on my car payments and behind on my mortgage. Well, we finally were accepted into the Haarp program, and we have saved our house. Even though we did not have a variable mortgage, our mortgage was sold and our insurance cancelled and tripled in cost, which is what got us in trouble. I lost my car. I dont care about the trade off. Believe me! I saved my house. If they had not done what they did with the escrow costs, I never would have had this trouble. This is what started my journey to be a truck driver. I thought of doing it back about 12 years ago, but at the time, I thought I had a good career. \

Well, on finishing my contract with CRST..... I decided to take on a few risks. Right now with the miles we make, I am getting 5500 to 6000 miles a week team. Means the miles are split. I get paid .32 cents a mile for normal freight, and .36 for HAZMAT. My contract is paid off. If I leave now, I owe ZERO to CRST for my school.

So, I lost my car. We saved the house and my wifes car. My wife is the administrator of the lab at a hospital locally, and makes around 50 a year. We just did not had the income to save it all. So........ to keep the house, I had to accept having my car repossessed. We almost got that, too, but my 30 year old son lost a job, and he has babies. No fault of his, just bad work. He works in the same field I did. Just crap that happens. I am sure you guys have heard it. But........ because of me changing careers and because of the help from here........ I have saved my house. I just borrowed against our 401K because we can do that at a ridiculously low interest rate and bought a car, and had enough left over to buy a new lap top. And I have job offers to chose from. And people who call me all day wanting me 6to work for them.

Oh and believe me, we were not stupid. If I lose all jobs, my wife's salary can pay the new mortgage. The payments for the 5 grand to buy the new car and laptop are at 4%. 200 a month, and any driving job will pay me enough. I bought a 2005 Mazda MPV with 120 miles on it. It has a Ford V6 engine. I owned a Ranger with the same engine, I out 200 grand on and sold still running. I paid 4500 for this one out the door.

I had to laugh, I checked it all out end to end, looked at the engine, the brakes, the tires, all inside to see how the interior was, wear on carpets, head liner. I mean this one was taken golden care of. Not even foot wear marks in the carpet. So I pick it up, take it home, and last night I am driving it, go to the store to buy supplies to go back out, and I see this unit on the ceiling over my shoulder. It is a TV/DVD player. I never noticed that was in the thing when I bought it.

Sounds good Troubador. I for one wouldn't mind teaming but Id have to do it as a couple team. Im just too funny about my personal space:) CRST tries to recruite me constantly but there option was 5 male team mates my pick of course but that wasn't comfortable for me.

The best deals with CRST are either their new Reefer division or their Dedicated runs. Fir what ever strange reason, we cannot switch to either. But everyone I know who has left the right way, gets called back and offered a run on both. And both start out at 40 cents a mile on the split miles. \

I have followed your posts in here when I could, and see now you driving for WEL group, and I know nothing about them. Who did you start with?

Where I live, in SW FL, there is always a problem down here getting hired. I want to go into flat bedding. When I look at the job boards here, I get all these companies advertising, then call them, and find most of them only hire north of Tampa. Melton was a flat bedding company I was seriously interested in, but even though they advertise here, they do not hire. My only choice in Flat beds seems to be CRST Malone, and they are lease on only. And regardless of if leasing is a good idea, I do not have the experience running a truck to even consider leasing at this point. I have right now, Knight, SRT, Shnieder, and Werner all talking to me. Werner is offering me a 5000 dollar sign on bonus. That is probably going to be the deciding factor. If I do go on with them, what they are talking is an Eastern US route, but mostly midwest to southeast. Not too much north east, which is what I do not like. I hate the NE. SRT wold put me back on that west coast runs that I love, but no incentives, and I am not sure I want to run reefer. Werner has a flat bed division, and I could move over there eventually. The starting job would be a slip seat gig, leaving the truck in Atlanta, then they have their own bus which shuttles drivers back down here and home time starts when you get off the bus, and it has a 4 day turn around, so i could do 3 weeks out and 4 days off.

The job Shneider offered here would fly me out to where ever they needed me and fly me back home home for home time.

Knight would have me drive 120 miles to Lakeland FL and leave my truck there.

SRT did not even discuss that stuff.

Right now, I am bringing the tractor home, which is totally against the law in the city I live in, but with the property crash, the city code enforcement really backed off. The first time I came home with it, the guy stopped by, and I leveled with him, about when I would be here, and it was how I could get home, and I was doing all this to save my house. He cut me a break and told me, as long as none of my neighbors complained, he would look the other way. I appealed to all of my neighbors, and have had zero problems. But...... because I only come home every 6 weeks or is is part of that, so I want to find something where I can leave the truck somewhere. And Werner told methey have their own bus, and assured me it was not the dog, and had on board TV and food and drink, and shuttled drivers down here all the time. Well, that 5000 grand payed over 2 years looks good. It is 1 cents a mile less than knight or SRT to start but looks good, and they do have some incentive bonus programs like safety and mileage.

I also called a couple of companies who require 1 year, just to chat, and one, Lessors, liked my story and circumstance,( being 53, and working so hard at this age at a total career change, sometimes gets you some points. They know you are serious about wanting to work.) Anyhow, they took all my info and told me they would be calling me in march of next year, because they liked what they heard so much, but had to adhere to their policy. They told me when that does come around, I would start at 38 a mile. 3 to 4 weeks out, my choice, with 1 and a half days given per week out, and numerous incentive bonus programs, but no sign on.

Like Daniel said, I have heard by some of their drivers, that they do push the lease hard. Now I can tell you, with CRST, we go all over the lower 48, and there is no place we go, that I do not see their trucks on the road, or at shippers. So they are moving some freight around. One thing that always made me wonder though, i have seen their team trucks with 3 people in the trucks. I think that is training, but after running team for almost 9 months with 2 of us on a truck, I cannot imagine having 3 there, and someone must be sleeping in that top bunk when it is moving, and that is insane.

CRST had a student fatality about 3 months back where the trainer was making the student sleep in the top bunk when the truck was moving. The truck rolled and the student in the top bunk was killed. That happened on I 40 in NM. One of the guys who I went to school with ended up with a trainer who was making him use the top bunk while the truck was moving, and he called me, and I passed that on to my trainer, and my trainer called safety, reported the other trainer, and got my friend off that truck. If any of you guys go out with a trainer who wants you to do that, GET OFF THE TRUCK! We had our monthly safety conference call on that issue right after that student was killed, so all my info came from the company, and they told us at the time it is entirely against company policy for that to be done, because it is so dangerous. I cant see how having 3 people on the truck it can be done any other way though.

There was an hilarious video making the rounds a few months back, from a TV station in Salt Lake City where a disgruntled driver from CRE drove his truck into the entrance of the parking garage at the SLC airport. Took them 6 hours to pry that truck out, after taking all the air out of the tires.

I do know that most of their trucks are governed about 2 miles an hour slower than us. CRST passes CRE just about every time But we also pass Swift, Werner, Prime, and Stevens we leave sitting in the dust.

But yeah, you have to remember, all these training companies are just big companies. I would imagine if you go there and work hard, and be professional, you will do fine, and get the experience you need. I was layed over in Laramie Wy about 2 weeks ago because of winter storm closures on I 80, and was at the Petro. I hung out for a couple of hours and met a Landstar driver who is an O/OP, which is what Landstar is, all O/OP. He started at CRE about 18 years ago, and told me they are fine to start for, just watch the lease thing. My trainer with CRST is a lease/op and is doing well, but had about 5 years experience before he ever tried a lease, and did a bad one before he started his at CRST. Now I am shopping for solo positions, one of the companies I have talked too is Trans Am, because they hire out of where I live, and they are all lease, and they were selling it big time. I know most of you here recommend against it but it is something I may consider in a few years because I want to get into flatbedding and the only flatbed company that hires out of here is a lease company. That being said, I have about 9 months experience, and if I ever consider doing a lease, I plan on running a company truck for a year at least like a O/OP, looking at the numbers, before I ever consider doing it.

I picked up an XM radio a while back, lucked into a shelf model at a Pilot no box, but all parts there for about 1/3 the box price. I had one in my personal car for years, and I like the great selection of what ever you want to hear, pretty much where ever you want. So there is a guy who just started a show on there, but was around AM for years named Art Bell. He does this late night talk show thing on UFOs and all things paranormal. Now while I am about the most reality based skeptic, well versed in science type guy you are ever going to find, I love hearing this stuff. You dont have to believe it to enjoy it. And I love a good spooky story that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. So one night, he has these guys on talking about a thing called Electronic Voice Phenomenon, which they claim, they take recorder out in places and catch the voices of the dead.s And about half of what they had were childrens voices. This about midnight, and I was on, (if I remember right) I 40 in either NM or TX. And these voices of children were just the creepiest thing I had ever heard, and these guys who did it are going on about how they think some of the are actually demons who are posing as children to lure people into being possessed. The road was pretty much deserted and dark, and no where near any town. And suddenly................ the biggest damn skunk I have ever seen in my life ran into the road right in front of the truck, and I took him out.

I think I actually jumped in the seat, and I know I yelped. And there was nothing I could do. He just was there at the wrong time, and I am not going to run the truck in the ditch to miss a skunk. (I got a small rabbit once too, and just missed a deer one night). And you guys have to understand my back ground a bit. I used to catch live alligators and rattle snakes. I hung out in biker bars. Real biker bars. I have had encounters with things that wanted to have me for dinner and successfully killed those critters to defend myself. There is just not a lot on the face of the earth that normally frightens me. Heh, people who did my line of work, the land surveying, have a bad habit of going out into all sorts of wild areas by themselves because, we are just used to doing it. I am more cautious in my old age, but I still go out in the woods by myself. The desert. The mountains, even the swamps. But that little old skunk at the right time, hearing that creepy radio show, almost made me get religion.

CRST has always been good about getting us home on time. Though I have been staying out for 6 or 7 weeks at a shot.I did that to make some money. Also to get through the contract. One time CRST ended up getting us home about 3 days early. I think that just had to do with the availability of a load going to Florida.

How is CRST treating ya?

They have been good to us. We told them we wanted to work, and they believed us. I just fulfilled my contract and my school is paid for. I am actively looking for a solo gig, but not for anything being wrong with CRST. Its just I do not get good rest in the moving truck. That and I want my life back. We do mostly long runs to the west coast and back with quick turnarounds, and sometimes spend days on end in the truck either in the drivers seat, or in the sleeper and very little else. I figure working solo where I stop every night, I can get back on my walking regimen, and do a few things before I sleep at night. Among other things I am an active musician, and I plan on taking a guitar with me once I go solo so I can get back to working on my music. There is no room for one on a team truck.

My co driver is single and lives in a rented room at his sisters house, so he does not mind the long stints out. I did it to make money and get the contract period done. Now I dont want to stay out 6 or 7 weeks. So that will mean he and I will probably part ways anyway. His sisters husband drives for another company, and his plans are to move over there at some point and team with him.

In all honesty though, if I liked the team thing more, I would seriously consider staying with CRST. I mentioned this in the CDL Training Dairies, but they just gave out across the board raises, started extra pay for HAZMAT loads, at .04 a mile, which is better than a lot of companies. They have also started a tiered bonus program based on total miles driven in 90 days, that is very attainable. Based on the miles we run, we would qualify for the top bonus if we stayed the whole 90 days which would translate into about 1200 dollars. The lowest tier would mean about 300.

There was a driver robbed and beaten at a truck stop near Dallas earlier this year. We stayed at that truck stop, and the thing that struck me, was there were only a few lights in the parking area and when I did go to leave the truck at night, I could not see between the trailers in my mirrors. A few more street lights would have gone a long way to making that a safer place. This was a TA, so it is one of the big name outfits. In general, I have never felt threatened. I do carry a large firemans pocket knife, but it is a tool, not a weapon, and has the windshield breaking knob and the seat belt cutter. If you stay aware of your surroundings and dont go out of your way to put yourself at risk, chances are you will be fine. Dont flash large amounts of money around, walk in lighted areas. Lock your truck at night when you are sleeping.

As to cargo theft, our company has a policy about high value loads, that says not to stop until you are 200 miles away from where you picked up, except to fuel or scale, and not to stop within 100 miles of where you are delivering to if you have to sit on the load to deliver at a certain time.

I talked to one of our drivers who had stopped at a rest area near DC and was awakened by noises and got out, and caught 2 guys trying to pry the lock on his trailer. They jumped into a pick up and took off, and the driver had some time left and decided to move on down the road to a different location.

A lot of the horror stories are based on perspective and expectations. Some people are just primadonnas who expect to be coddled too. I recently saw a thread at a truck driving forum from a young man who went to the same company I did, went to the same school, stayed in the same motels, and was now starving out on the road. Well he did not like anything, knew better than all the instructors at the school, and because he switched trainers several times, then co drivers several times, the company is not giving him any miles. And it's all someone else s fault.

Me, I thought the school was great, the motel more than adequate, my trainer was great, and we remain friends and talk often. Plus, even though the pay was low to start, I ate every day and sent money home for the bills, and never starved.

While it is possible to get some bad experiences, a bad trainer, the truth is, it will be all about what you make it. If something comes up that is not to your liking, address it in a professional manner and chances are, you can get it changed to your liking.

CRST has always been good about getting us home on time. Though I have been staying out for 6 or 7 weeks at a shot.I did that to make some money. Also to get through the contract. One time CRST ended up getting us home about 3 days early. I think that just had to do with the availability of a load going to Florida.