Comments By Doug K.

Well it has been one yea now with a company and it will be one year a solo driver on December 6. I have 110,000 miles in 10.5 months and I have to say it has been a real eye opening experience. Not a bad experience just eye opening.

I guess for me it was a little more difficult to go from management to employee but not that difficult. I am just sitting here on my break at home thinking about what to do next. I do enjoy this but there are things about it that are really frustrating. Not to the point of walking away but just frustrating and I am sure that the same things will be there even if I do go with a different company. Time will tell.

I don't post here very often but I do read almost everyday. One thing I do know about this work is that you have to WANT to do it. It is not something that can be taken lightly as there is a lot to learn even after you start driving and you continue to learn all the time. If you didn't/don't learn something new each day you are probably just spinning your wheels but that is true no matter what a person does. Knowledge is power.

Be safe out there everyone and above all have fun and relax.

I know exactly how you feel about none to many. Within five minutes of posting my availability on the internet the phone was ringing and I have five companies wanting to talk.

Wow. I am approaching the end of my first year as a driver. Oct. 22 is a year with a company an Dec. 6 will be my official firsy year as solo. What an interesting and exciting time I have had.

Been across the country from Cali. to Georgia an from Texas to North Dakota. I have for the most part enjoyed every mile I have driven.

I am looking forward to finding out what othrr opportunties await me as I do plan on doing this or some time. I guess the best advice I can give is just about the same you will get from others here with more experience than I have. Just be patient and safe. Roll with the punches and don't let it get to you.

There is good and bad in anything that a person chooses to do. The long hours inthis just seem to make things seem worse. They aren't. Just keep moving forward and always remeber to have fun no matter what.

I'll toss in my comment here. I'm 57 years old, with 35 years experience in the computer field. I was kicked to the curb a couple years ago, perhaps because of age, perhaps because of my job being outsourced to India....I'm not sure.

I spent a couple years trying to get continued work in my field, but my search was evidently narrow enough (my local area) that I wasn't able to find anything.

At the end of May I enrolled in a month long school, and am currently finishing up my 10 day orientation with a trucking company.

Age is not an issue at all. Go for it!

Basically the same thing happened to me. I am 58 and I got 5 offers within three days of getting my CDL. No age factor for me.

I thought with the new regulations, drivers are suppose to stop every 2 to 3 hours. Am I wrong on that or do I misunderstand the regulations?

The new regulation is that you have to take a full continuous 30 minutes in the first 8 hours of driving. It's not that hard to do. I thought it would be a pain to schedule it but I try do a 30 after five hours and I am good. You have to have at least four hours driving before you take the break or it won't give you the rest of your driving day. A little confusing but after you figure it out it's really no problem.

Driving long days does get easier as you gain experience. I have only been solo for about 8 months. I go out for 5 weeks at a time and take my five days off. At the end of the 5 weeks I am burnt but it works for me. You will have to find out how much time works for you. Everyone is different.

Be safe and above all be patient.

Don't apologize for being frustrated, man...us rookies need to know what we are going to encounter out there..good thing we can see that there will be days like this..so we know that EVERYONE has them...it's easier to handle when you know that there are other people out there who can feel your pain...

As a soon to be rookie, I am curious. Did you get paid for all those miles driving to pick up / drop off nothing? Detention pay? How does all that work?

Got regular miles for all of it plus the extra 15bucks for the pick ups. I was just annoyed at how it happened. Good thing that I have LOTS of patience and also that IS really do LOVE this job. Oh yeah. One more thing. NO FLIP-FLOPS. Dangerous. Be safe and above all, relax.

Man!. I have just had the worst three days since I started to drive. It all started with a rock in my windshield just North of San Bernadino Ca. I was on a load that I was to drop in the yard and pick up one going back North. Really don't enjoy Southern Cali at all. Bad roads, bad drivers and it was HOT! Got the windshield replaced in a couple of hours but by then my load(s) had been reassigned. Now I am dead in the water.

My DM got me a load out of SoCal the next day. I was to pick up a load at the Port Services yard and take it to Hayward Ca. It was already two days late when I picked it up but I thought 59 miles to pick it up and 381 miles to Hayward. No problem. Should be 7-8 hours with traffic. WRONG! Spent two hours bobtailing to pick it up. Half an hour in the yard waiting for some nut to get out of my way so I could leave. Got going and headed for Hayward. Well when I get to the area, 805 North just outside of San Jose Ca, the traffic is backed up but still moving. However it takes two hours to travel the last 20 miles. Grrrr! Calm down. Get it done and move on. Oh yeah. Forgot to mention that while I was on the way to Hayward my next load got changed 4 times. Yeeeesh! Nice planning.

I deliver the Hayward load and I have 1hour and 24mins to get to Sac to pick up the next load going to Clackamus OR. Ok. Could have done it but there is an accident on the freeway that has all 4 lanes blocked. Needless to say there was a violation on driving day. Just five minutes which I thought was a damn miracle.

Well I get the load and the planner calls me wondering if I am going to make it to Clackamus Or by the delivery time(midnite that night). I almost crashed laughing so hard. Not a chance. 780 miles. Not enough hours in the driving day to get there even IF I didn't stop to pee. They had me relay it to another driver in Weed Ca and I took his load.

The next day I take that load to Sac Ca and drop it in the yard(wasn't due to deliver until 7-8). Pick up a local to get an empty. Drive to Modesto Ca. 72 miles away and find out that the receiver is CLOSED for a long weekend. Thanks for the info planners! Take it back to Sac Ca yard and get an empty.

Drive back to Tracy Ca, another 77 miles to Crate and Barrel to pick up a pre loaded trailer bound for Delta BC. I get there. Go to shipping. The door is open but nobody around. By now my clock has and hour and a half left before the 14 hour expires. I call dispatch and they say well it should be there. I tell them I can't wait and head to the Flying J in Ripon Ca to stay overnight. Twenty miles. Got there with 30 minutes to spare.

Get up in the morning and call dispatch asking what am I doing? They say go back to Crate and Barrel and pick up the load. Ok. I go. I get there and check in only to find out the the market manager at my company has CANCELED the load. Thanks for the info! Would have been helpful YESTERDAY!

By this time my patience, which I have have wells of, is running a little thin. The dispatcher asks me if I want to go home for a rest or go to Clackamus tomorrow morning and take my rest there. DUH! Home is only 230 miles away and I need a decompression.

So here I am at home for my 34 reset. Will be ready to go Monday and hopefully things will go a bit smoother. This is pretty long. Sorry. This all started on 7-3 and ended (I HOPE) today 7-6

Be safe and patience!

Thanks for the great info and encouragement on this forum I don't plan on stopping this for a while. Having too much fun. It would take something earth shattering to get me out of the truck. Off to Utah in the morning.

Be safe and enjoy the journey

I just passed my 6month mark and I still really love doing this. Even though there are times that I question my sanity I take a little rest and realize that this is what I am supposed to be doing right now.

Got assigned a NEW truck. A Volvo 670. Only had 24 miles on it when I picked it up. What a difference! My other truck was just beating me up all the time(it had 446,000 hard miles on it). Especially in Calif. I think they have the worst roads I have been on. Been from the west coast to Ohio and North Dakota to Texas and Have loved every minute of it!

Sitting in Ripon Ca. right now waiting to deliver a load I brought down from Lewiston Id that is going to Winco Foods. Getting used to the weird hours and the stupid things people do on the road. That doesn't mean that I don't pay attention any more! On the contrary. I pay attention more now! Seems like you can never really anticipate what some one will do on the highway.

I am usually out for a five week run. My choice. Company says 2-3 weeks but I really feel good about five. Longest was a seven week run. Don't want to do that EVER again but it will probably happen. My DM loves it when I am out because I will run hard and get the load there on time. I am batting 98% right now on my loads being on time. Can't complain about that I guess.

For the new drivers, stick it out for at least 6 months before you make the choice about OTR. I know that there are those that want/need to be home because of family issues and that is OK. But, if you have no real hard ties this is a great way to go.. Other than that just be safe and watch out for the nuts on the road.

I think the dispatch did ya the bad deal...I always demanded the receivers phone number, and we dealt with them personally. you'd be suprised what you can get done that way...

I thought so too about dispatch. Turns out that Safeway is just that way. Talked to other drivers that were there and it is ALWAYS a re pain in the butt. The phone call would work but not with Safeway, in Tracey Ca anyway. If a driver calls them all you get is delayed more. It all worked out ok. Got detention pay and a rest. The next load was to Dallas Tx so I was a happy driver :)