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As I sit inside our a/c 5th wheel enjoying my 75th birthday with my bride I can't help but think about all of you hard working drivers out there.

It surely feels like the climate has gone crazy because back when I started driving in the mid 1960s those model B Mack's were hot enough. You opened the windows and the vent windows and drove as fast as they would go.

Today's trucks are really a lot more comfortable even if not as reliable but that doesn't help with the heat.

Please just be safe and cautious out there, relax and stay hydrated. I wish you all could be here in the a/c and have a piece of chocolate cake.

Brandon,

I had a similar situation when I applied to a mid west company a few years ago. I had applied and accepted a mid East coast USA regional position but things changed upon arriving for orientation.

They forgot to pick up 4 of us recruits at the airport, after 3 hours someone arrived and took us to breakfast. At their terminal we were given a tour along with a meet & greet and the bottom fell out.

I was told that my mid Atlantic regional was now a mid west regional. Also told that they are a manual trans. but it was going to be auto trans now. It was also supposed to be paper logs but nope elogs. And finally the trucks assigned would not receive a new mattress so sleep on an used one that someone else had been on.

This might have been OK with some drivers but after all the lies I felt that I wasn't going to accept anymore of their lies so I booked a flight home and found a better job a week later.

I hope that you can get your old job back and good luck to you.

Congrats Davy,

Glad to finally read about your new home. You seem to have thought out everything that you needed to very carefully before making the move. That is something a lot of drivers do not do.

I hope that everything goes the way you are planning for and keep us in the loop. I look forward to your future posts.

BK,

I wish you all success in your upcoming surgeries. You seem have everything in order. There is no doubt that it will be painful but with your personal outlook on trying to correct these problems your inner self will overcome any of your obstacles.

Good luck to you for a quick recovery and hopefully back to trucking if you so desire. I will be pulling for you.

Scorcthednuts,

I would not believe what you are hearing about the so called guaranteed minimum at these companies. Look at the real world drivers and filter thru the hype. Yes you could make these pay claims but depending on the poor freight and real world it varies week to week.

It seems like you are doing quite well at Knight and to go somewhere else blindfolded could be a huge mistake. Do you realize that so called loyalty is noticed by the ones at the top of most of any of these companies?

You would still be at the bottom of any seniority list and have to fight for any good runs and equipment all over again. Be patient and keep proving yourself in this tight economy and you will be glad that you did.

A few cents more a mile that would be "promised" might just prove to be a disaster for you. Good luck to you.

Keep a wood yard stick in your compartments to check the level of fuel in the tanks. I would mark the yard stick when it was full and then you can make a good guess at the amount of fuel in the tank. You can't always trust the gauge to be accurate.

Secret Agent Man by Johnny Rivers

Don't be too quick to dump a good truckers atlas. All it takes is a glitch with a GPS to cause a failure and without an atlas to back you up you have no paddle to go upstream so they say. It seems like a lot of today's drivers depend too much on modern technology to be their only choice in how to maneuver through their day.

HeyMoe

I have to reply to you about your comment about rvers taking up truck parking. I am a 44 year retired truck driver and the wife and I travel full time in our 5th wheel (the one in my avatar photo). I have parked in the truck lot in the Flying J's who provide rv parking spots because some professional truck driver has decided to park up front in the rv area maybe so he did not have to walk too far.

I also have paid for a reserved spot at TA because there was no rv park anywhere for 50 miles. Not all people who rv are inconsiderate or lazy just like all truck drivers are not.

I also am not one of the rving people that will pull into a rest area or Walmart and open up my slides and set up the grill. There are definitely JO'S no matter who or what and being ignorant is no excuse.

Jeffrey,

You should definitely go thru a company training program. They train and most will provide transportation, food, housing, and some offer a pay scale will in training.

If you choose to go with a private school you will pay for everything and not have a job waiting for you after you are finished with school.

Good luck and just research the available companies that are hiring and the type of job that you would like such as van, reefer, flatbed or tanker. The pay, benefits, equipment and type of operation will be different between companies but the end result will be the same.