Location:
Sacramento, CA
Driving Status:
Experienced Driver
Social Link:
I started in this forum sitting in my old apartment dinner table browsing the forums day and night thinking if I wanted to pursue trucking. Long ago. I was under heavy financial burdens that prevented me from attending school. I moved back in with my parents with my wife, I dropped all my bills including the apartment. When we finally had some breathing room I quit my job and attended Central Refrigeration Services school. A class of 7, only me and another person survived. Put in a truck with a complete stranger for a month, I was expected to exceed and force a friendship with this stranger. Sweat, tears, long nights and days, anger, frustrations, and being away from the family were a common thing in my life. I finally graduated! Assigned a Black 2012 Freightliner Cascadia and thrown into the wilderness. I survived that first month and things were still challenging. I came on this site not knowing a damn thing about trucking and here I am! I been where you/'re at right now. I've had my share of doubts, and I've asked millions of questions on this forum. I know how it is being new to the industry. I made it through and I have been driving for 4 years now.
After over 3 years of OTR, I finally landed a cushy local job driving double tankers delivering to gas stations. Home daily, 2-3 days off per week with hourly pay. If you work hard, the sky is the limit! Now who wants some gasoline!?
Posted: 1 month, 2 weeks ago
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2022 Truck Driving Championship
It was a great day! We had really good participation this year
(Ps please make this photo my profile picture. It will not allow me to do it myself...)
Posted: 2 months, 3 weeks ago
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Why do you stay driving for your company?
Banker hours. M-F. Weekends, holidays, birthday off. I can get off early if I need to I just need to tell dispatch (Good Friday). $32.65 per hour and I can work just about as many hours if I want. #11 on seniority board and I'm one of the Lead Trainers. OD is the pinnacle of the industry.
Posted: 2 months, 3 weeks ago
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I've been training for 8 years now and I've had some students who were seriously lacking in the backing. One guy couldn't even straight line back after the 2nd week. They all ended up getting their license, some just took an extra week or two.
You did get your license? Well that means you can back, just not consistently. I truly believe your issues are 95% mental and only 5% skill. Which isn't difficult to fix you just need a specific kind of trainer and a very tailored teaching style. I would love the challenge. I wish you luck in your new career path but I wouldn't discount what you did manage to accomplish in your short time driving despite the challenges.
Posted: 3 months ago
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Make/Brand of truck you prefer to drive and why? Just a topic of discussion!
KW T680
Posted: 3 months, 4 weeks ago
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OD Driver Training Program, is it over for March
Which terminal/region? If its in the Northern CA region I can do you wonders. I am in close contact to all the powers-that-be
Hey Daniel I am in NY, the position is for the Brooklyn terminal, recruiter called from a North Carolina number. Appreciate the offer Thanks
If you do get back with them you better go linehaul. You don't want to be doing P&D in Brooklyn
Posted: 3 months, 4 weeks ago
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OD Driver Training Program, is it over for March
Which terminal/region? If its in the Northern CA region I can do you wonders. I am in close contact to all the powers-that-be
Posted: 4 months ago
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Help A Potential Restaurant Owner That Has Never Cooked A Meal Ever :-)
Hello. I am planning on opening a restaurant with some family members. I am trying to do some research on how I would go about this. I know nothing about the restaurant business nor have I ever cooked besides the occasional Top Ramen. It's hard to find good and specific information on this. A lot of what I saw was talking about simply buying the restaurant and hiring cooks, and not being too involved. Essentially most people are looking for a source of passive income. This is not what I want to do. I would like to manage everything related to owning a restaurant, except the cooking, cleaning, serving and the recipes. I would love to work from home, but of course don't mind if I have to get out and network with the cooks I hire. What is the best approach for this type of business, where we buy the restaurant, handle operations, and hire cooks? The plan is to succeed with one restaurant and buy a second one. Rinse and repeat. Easy money. I would like to do it full time, and as long as I can get paid $2500+ with the one restaurant, it would be perfect. Would appreciate any and all advise. Also, if someone with experience owning a restaurant wouldn't mind sparing a few minutes for a conversation, it would be much appreciated, thank you
Posted: 4 months, 2 weeks ago
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Risk of foods with poppy seeds and drug test
Yes its true but you'd have to eat a ton of it for it to show up
Posted: 4 months, 3 weeks ago
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Advice on finding a dispatch position
My wife is a dispatcher for an OTR company consisting of mostly O/O's which are a lot more difficult to dispatch than a company driver.
The key is you need to start at a small mom n pop company and work your way up. My wife started with a company of about a dozen drivers and she was there for 6 years and she just recently moved to a a larger company that doubles her pay.
Posted: 5 months, 1 week ago
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Going from 6th to 5th gear in a 10 speed
My students never shift into 5th gear to make a turn and they all passed their test in CA which is super strict (well over 15 students at this point in my career). Take the turn in 6th gear at low RPMS. You're not loaded.
As far as getting in 5th - At 6th gear 1000 rpm is exactly 15mph. 5th gear 1000 rpm is 10mph, try to take yourself to exactly 10mph and rev to 1000rpm and put it in. Line up your speed with the gear to hit that sweet spot. The specs could be different in our trucks so it may not work though.
Posted: 5 months, 2 weeks ago
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Getting OD Certified next week!
Which Regional Safety Manager are you testing with?
Posted: 5 months, 2 weeks ago
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Is this bad for the truck/trailer?
I drop my ttractor air bags at pickups a lot that don't have a dock. That way I get a nice downhill when I have to move the pallet to the front of my trailer with my pallet jack. I let gravity do the work for me.
Posted: 6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Old Dominion is giving us Friday and Monday off. 4 day weekend for Christmas. Both Friday and Monday are paid.
I'm telling you my friends. Best company ever.
Posted: 6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Do People Still Cheat Logs Now That They're Electronic?
Back before Prime updated their ELD software to instantly go on Driving as soon as the truck moves a foot I drove 7 miles from a truck stop to my delivery without going On Duty or Driving. The truck would not register you as Driving until you have driven a few miles or if your driving time exceeded 4 minutes. So before that 4th minute I would pull over and put myself back on Sleeper Berth. Take off again and rinse and repeat 3 times and I was there. It was very fun and definitely tickled the law-breaking Russian side of me that is not stimulated enough.
Agreed about the grey areas. There are a million of them. No one can truly be 100% legal at absolutely all times.
Posted: 6 months, 3 weeks ago
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Don't go P&D you'll have 10 of these and even worse every day
Posted: 7 months ago
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Air Pressure Rebuild Test and Revving/Assisting Engine
That's the Air Recovery Test portion of your Air Brake test.
No you cannot assist it. I tell my students to not even assist it before 85 either. It needs to go from 85 to 100 psi on its own unassisted. Be sure to state how long it took and whether or not it was a successful test.
Posted: 7 months, 1 week ago
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Dude if you remember Guy Hodges or even me with Central then you are a serious old timer like myself. I believe im either #2 or #3 longest tenured member here and that would definitely put you top 5.
Yikes! Time flies. Congratulations on your P&D gig!
Posted: 7 months, 1 week ago
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Apparently OD is opening a new REGIONAL SAFETY MANAGER position for the west coast.
I applied for it not expecting much. Well I got called for an interview 2 weeks ago and today I had my interview with the 3 most important gentlemen in corporate overseeing safety, compliance, and training.
My 9 years in this industry boils down to this moment as my climax. I was nervous for a little bit but after that it was full excitement. I was blessed with having 2 weeks to prepare for it and prepare I did.
There's some seriously big competition but I know I did the best I could have. At this point I need some prayers. This promotion will be a life changer both financially and professionally.
Click Anywhere To Close
Posted: 2 days, 4 hours ago
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DM compensation.
My wife has been an OTR dispatcher for 7 years. Her 1st company was very small roughly a dozen drivers. She was taking home $2400 a month salary.
She went to a different company in January this year. She's making $1000 per week but as a 1099.
I've been on the receiving end of her ranting about her drivers. Man, you guys wouldn't believe some of the absolute stupidity of some of her drivers. The things they do sometimes are absolutely mind blowing.