Comments By Buster's Buddy

I’m contemplating the other side of this coin. Years ago I drove OTR for 6 months, then switched to driving tour buses (class A & B). Needless to say that hasn’t been paying well lately, and my personal circumstances have changed. I’m seriously considering going back to trucking, and one of the aspects I miss the most is getting paid to drive across the US and Canada in a 50 sq.ft. tricked out vehicle. I love driving. I love watching the world go by, seeing new things, going new places. I loved living in my truck, and will again. “Home Time” is irrelevant. As others have mentioned, driving the open road is far, far more appealing than city driving. Having control over my work hours means a lot.

But I keep hearing that LTL pays better. At least with my limited choices with a stale CDL. I could get out of debt faster. That’s tempting, but I’m concerned the trade-off would mean more of the things I didn’t like about trucking, and less of the things I did like. It’s helpful to hear this conversation from the other side.

I’ve never had any issues with my trifocals when it comes to driving. I guess I’m another one where I compensate subconsciously. I’ve been driving big rigs, motor coaches, and passenger buses for over 5 years with progressives. Thanks to Zoom, I have recently learned I sometimes tilt my head when on the computer. I guess something’s off with the way my glasses fit.

Seems I’ll soon be rejoining all you fine folks back out on the highways. I’ve maintained my Class A over the years, although I’ve let endorsements drop away as I’ve moved from state to state as a tour guide, driving Class B from the Grand Canyon to Alaska to Napa Valley. Since my Class A is 4 years stale, my options are pretty limited. I did consider starting from the very beginning and going back to school, but Western Express has made me an acceptable offer: dry van Western 11 at 26cpm over 600 miles. That last part kinda hurts. Less than I started at 5 years ago. It bumps to 34cpm between 200 & 600 miles, and is even higher for shorter runs, but that’s not a plus to me. I got spoiled running the 5000 mile Laredo-to-Quebec turnaround. I want to get back to being a truck driver, not a truck trailer-shuttler. But, it gets me back out on the road, and I only have to sign a 6 month contract. Then I can start looking for greener pastures 😉

I know WE has a bad reputation, but I looked into a lot of the reviews. A surprising number of the bad video ones are in the category l-did-something-incredibly-stupid-and-crashed-and-now-the-mean-people-are-firing-me. Most of the good ones are I-do-my-job-and-everything’s-fine. And I know WE has always received positive marks here, especially for those of us with limited options.

One of the best parts is training is only five weeks. I definitely need the refresher in handling the trailers and all the business aspects. But in much less time than starting all over I’ll get my own truck again, and Buster & I will once again be part of that band of gypsies going down the highway.

For the past 4 years I’ve been driving Class B vehicles, but I’m thinking about returning to OTR. I still hold my Class A with air brakes & tanker endorsements. I know I’ll be starting over, so I figure I’ll start with one of the big boys. My question is — is it possible to start with a mentoring program (like they do with new graduates), or do I need to start from the very beginning and attend trucking school again?

Two years ago I was all set to go back with Warner, but I was headhunted with an offer I couldn’t refuse. Since then I’ve moved from San Francisco to a small town in southeastern Arizona, and I’m concerned that is going to limit my options.

Another vote for the KeepTruckin app. I’m currently driving Class B. My company uses logbooks so I started using the app since it so much easier for me. They have a module to make it compliant.

For the record my company has 2 divisions, one that requires logs and one that is exempt. I primarily drive for the exempt division, but occasionally get pulled over to the other side if needed. In which case I need to have a log of all of my driving. KeepTruckin allows me to email my logs. The company is now scrambling to get the 90 vehicle fleet ELD compliant.

As an aside, I’m back on truckingtruth.com because I am returning to OTR. I have great home time since I switched to Class B. The thing is my only family is my dog, Buster. While I spend less time at work, I also spend substantially less time with Buster, since I can’t bring him along like I could in the semi. I’m excited to get back out on the open road. A recent trip down to LA proves that Buster is too.

I can tell you right now that if you get in a wreck those bungees are probably going to be useless. Your kitchen is going to be raining bombs on the back of your head. I would find a much more secure way to lock those things down.

I considered that during construction. Originally I was going to use tie down straps. The Cascadia has full height cabinets and the fridge and microwave are placed so that they would be stopped by the cabinets in the event of a forward collision. The crock pot is the biggest danger, but the Cascadia had very large seat backs and I felt protected if it became a projectile. I wish the photo showed the straps I added to keep the board in place.

Now that I'm in the T660 I'm toast.

These pics are from the initial installation in the Cascadia:

I'm a big fan of my top-bunk-kitchen, an idea I picked up from my trainer. A piece of plywood the size of the mattress, with eye hooks for bungees. The fridge (same as above) and the microwave each get 2 heavy rubber bungees, the crock pot gets a regular one that fits through the lid and handles. Love the crock pot - I use the slow cooker bags and really cheap plastic containers. These get thrown away so my only washing up is the ladle and the fork. I use Clorox wipes for these. I have a good knife but so far I've only used cubed stew meat which kinda falls apart. I don't do coffee but my trainer has a coffee pot. I occasionally use the microwave for tea or hot cocoa. I also keep a supply of ziplock bags in sandwich and gallon size for disposing of liquid or messy items.

I tend to not try to closely control the temperature when I'm stopped but I do get cold easily when I sleep, so I keep a large blanket on my bunk that is folded in half along the long axis. To start I fold back one layer then as it gets colder I can get under both halves.

This is all part of XPO's plan to "Maximize Asset Allocations", as it says on the posters plastered everywhere. They took all the old Freightliners from Truckload (OTR) and moved them to the LTL Division. I didn't understand why they didn't give the day shift guys the tiny trucks and leave the big comfy rigs to those of us that live in them until I arrived at the customer last night and tried to turn around in their lot. Strains of the Willis Brothers' "Give Me 40 Acres And I'll Turn This Rig Around" echoed in my head as I wrestled it back in line and searched for a section with a few trailers parked further back so I had that few more inches of clearance I apparently now need. I was officially told that XPO is buying new trucks next year and I'll be first in line. If I'm still here, that is. Only 7 months to fulfill my training contract. Who knows, maybe I'll get used to this once I get a chance to swing by my storage locker and offload the stuff I couldn't bring myself to just throw away.

For folks considering XPO/Con-way I should point out that the 4 guys that graduated from Crowder with me are all driving 2016 Volvo Automatics. I just tend to naturally have more Adventures than those around me.

For the past 11 weeks Buster and I have been tooling around the US and Canada in a 2013 Freightliner Cascadia 13 speed. We live in the truck and I had it all set up nice and pretty and some custom furniture so the Corgi could go from the passenger seat to the bunk without having to jump (for those unfamiliar with Corgis think small German Shepard with Dachshund legs). Loved our ride and life was pretty grand.

Those days are over, or at least significantly modified. They pulled me in Sunday to put us in an old T660! I feel like I've gone from a Lincoln to a Yugo. Last week I felt like I was driving a shiny new RV, now I'm having flashbacks to 25 years ago when I drove around the country living out of an old Ford Ranger. Although I think I had more space in the Ford.

Still, the most import thing is Buster still thinks he has enough room. He's not constantly banging his head. Guess we're off on a whole new set of compact adventures.

Hopefully it won't take me too long to get the hang of this 10 speed.