Comments By David W.

"Been a long time been a long time been a long lonely lonely lonely lonely time"

Usually you can find that infor at the Texas dmv or .gov website

Is this a good idea and how does one go about establishing residency in a different state?

18 speeds are fun to drive. I drive an 18 speed every time I shift on a hill I say the Marty McFly line "let's see if these b*stares can do 90" even if I'm only going 45

This is my petsonal opinion. If you have the chance to get an unrestricted license do it.

First of all never driving a manual car/pickup is a plus. Very different than a semi transmission.

A CDL is for a long period of time, any one job isn’t. The mega carriers for the most part have gone to auto’s, but they make up about 10% of the total trucks on the road. Many less than mega carriers will have both or manuals. Case in point is OD. They are a large great carrier with mostly manuals.

Working for small carriers isn’t always a bad thing either if it fits what you want out if this industry. Also many carriers of all sizes are keeping assests longer than they once did. This economy is not a good time to be buying new equipment. Prices are still very high, interest rates are continually rising, and rates are consistently falling. Not to mention they are finding trucks built during the height ofvthe pandemic are having many more problems, likely due to lack of employee’s and laxer quality control.

My truck has an 18 spd transmission. I like it, not because I’m old and macho, but because there is no load I can’t do with it, much cheaper to replace than an auto if it breaks, and I can easily control it and not rely on a computer to control it, or push a few buttons to take control over it, if it’s not programmed to refuse the driver from operating it in manual mode.

My opinion is never say never, plan for tomorrow today and don’t put all your eggs in one basket!!

Moral of the story is when hooking up the first thing you do before touching the gear or airlines is check the pin. And when dropping the trailer the first thing you do before touching the pin or airlines is lower the landing gear. Any other mistake or misstep in the process is survivable

Once the economy gets better you'll be able to find a gig driving. Maybe have to put a lot of applications out.

I use it for snow or ice. We roll with the pdl in from October to April

In Alaska we disable that feature. Sometimes you need everything locked up above 25 mph.

We actually drive on snow more than probably most, so anytime the road is covered enough that I've actually got to slow down, I'll engage the power divider. Every truck I've been in though, it will disengage at a certain speed. I'm assuming that's what you're talking about, we've also got a differential lock and that usually just gets engaged offroad-not sure otr trucks are specced with that option.

You will be in my daily prayers through your struggle. I had a month long period last year between my break from trucking and my rehire with trucking. During which time I spent a lot of it with my wife and kids, and got back into going to church. Your post did humble my pride and complaints about having to work an extra day every week, I should be thankful when other aren't as privileged

10 roads pays kinda shady anyways. Atleast up here in Alaska their drivers are always in a rush.

Here is a quick update. I have been looking recently for a few days of weekly driving, and tried to get a mail hauling job with 10Roads. This company posts a lot of ads on craigslist, but, unfortunately, my available days don't fit well into their schedule. So I applied to a couple other local carriers, and was lucky to be hired by NFI, a contractor for Budweiser in Merrimack, NH. It is hard to find a better job for someone who likes both trucks and beer :-) Also, it is 100% no touch freight!

Biggest advice I give to new people at Pepsi is that no one ever regrets checking the oil, the kingpin lock, and putting up a load bar. And the same boss telling you to hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, will ask you why you didn't take your time when you hit something.