Comments By Moe

I put together a new dish, new to me , not necessarily new new to the cooking world; last night and wanted to share it as it is really slamming good!

You will need: (Please note that this is for a VERY large portion that has fed 2 people the last two nights with plenty to leave at home, plus take some out on the road in my fridge, you can and probably should adjust the recipe to your individual need(s) if you want to try it out)

1/2 pound of bacon -preferrably Applewood Smoked -though I suppose hickory could work in a pinch 2 pounds of Ground Beef (Turkey is good too, in fact I did a one to one Turkey and beef since I made this for me and mom) 1 chopped white onion 1 chopped green bell pepper 1 chopped red bell pepper 1 Large can ( I used 55 oz of bush's original) 1 15 oz cans black beans - drained 1 15 oz can of kidney beans- drained 1/2 cup of brown sugar (less if desired or omit) 1/4 cup worchester sauce add your favorite bbq sauce to taste garlic powder (to taste)

How to bring it all together:

Take a large frying pan, peferrable one with a deeper dish/thicker walls - I used a ceramic lined pan as mom doesnt keep cast iron.

1) Chop the bacon into bite sized pieces and fry it up in the pan, do not drain the grease.

2 Add the ground beef and turkey and stir the meats really well

3) Once the meat has been cooking about 2 minutes - toss in the onion and peppers, cook the mixture until vegetables are cooked

While all of that is going, open up your cans of beans and drain the kidney and black beans.

Once the meat and vegetables are cooked to desired consistency, add the beans and stir them up.

4) add the brown sugar, worchester and bbq sauce and stir

5) add in your garlic powder and stir, you can also add black pepper if you like (I did)

Stir it on the stove for a bout 2 to 4 minutes - then toss the pan in the preheated oven and cook for 30 to 40 minutes to get the mixture nice and thick.

Goes good slapped on a low carb tortilla or just as a meal, prep time is a bit long but its a tasty meal! :P You can also add tobasco or whatever you want after serving it. Versatile and tasty!

Don't be a cuck, first its the dog, then something else with the ex to get in your way while trying to get this new career going. Im with Steve, leave the dog out of it as a new driver, and not just any dog, your ex's dog?? Nope, just asking for distraction and pain man....my blunt .02 cents.

Ex wife needs me to take old dog on road with me but I don't know what to do if it dies in the truck..I want to help them out but don't know my options

Def check with May Trucking - they were my starter company before I got on with Marten. They are typically very forgiving (no gurantees as each person is a case by case basis).

The plus side is they do offer a reimbursement program for your CDL once you get it and they do offer LOGs , backing and driving training - you have o get your CDL PRIVATELY as they do not have a school. If you have any ?? About May trucking ask away!

May Trucking is also a company that may be willing to give you a shot. I spoke with them during my own search and I personally am not qualified for hire, but a felony conviction is not an automatic disqualifier with May Trucking.

Second that motion

Don't put me in with the Volvo group.

Because when all else fails, folks have to eat - good times or bad. General merchandise is going to take a dip once the supply chain evens out and there is all this surplus inventory. I plan to stay reefer until the dust settles from COVID and it is starting to already.

Also a reefer driver here, and I will simply concur with everything the other drivers have already posted.

Don't buy too much into the extremely negative things people have to say about hauling reefer. Trucking is trucking. None of it is easy. The one good thing about reefer is that with any of the companies that are 100+ trucks, reefer is no-touch freight, so you can use the time backed into a dock as personal time and get paid after a certain amount of time (2 hours being typical). The exception to no-touch reefer freight are local jobs like Sysco.

Thank you so very much for the words of wisdom Rob. A great read, I too lately have been looking at my future in trucking and seeing how that fits in with my over all life plan. I don’t plan on being OTR all over the place too much longer once I get moved back east, my friends and family come first.

Favorite part driving and seeing the country , least favorite part is dealing with the occasional feelings of isolation and loneliness

Been pulling reefer almost two years myself, power naps at shippers/receivers plus ten hour breaks. The good thing about my company Marten , is like, BK mentioned with Schneider, they do try to match your proven sleep cycles to load planning, doesn’t always work out that way and you do have to be flexible. That is why the 8/2 split rule is helpful, I am not sure if you know what that is yet or not?

Basically it allows us to split our break up and pause the clock while waiting which allows us to Rest In Peace while not worrying about the 14 hour clock winding down and being stuck somewhere out of hours. For example my truck was down for its 250K+ service while I was on hometime schedule which took the shop almost all day as it’s most of the fluids, filters, belts and various checks on parts for wear and tear, brake inspection blah blah, normally I like to start the day after hometime around 0800 in order to help maintain some of stable sleep/operation schedule , since the truck was down till pretty much the shop closed I had to get a pick up at 2300. Not my ideal, but again I’ve learned to believe flexible.

I called up the shipper and found out they were delayed until midnight possibly, that was at about 1715. They did tell me I was welcome to check in early - left the yard at roughly 1815 and got there at around 1940 - checked in had a nice conversation with the dock guy who handled the paper work and slept till about 2230 when I got the “door knock” (and yes for the record I do wish the pleasant female sounding voice from The Star Trek Next generation eta tv shows was actually a thing as I hate door knocks) but any rate - I got backed in around 2237 and was out of there at 2350. I went back up to our terminal and parked around 0115 after a quick post trip and took a full ten till 1115 when I rolled out and parked last night outside of Boise ID around 2130. My load delivers today at 1715 in Corrine UT Walmart. I am 5 hours from the receiver with plenty of time to spare to get fuel etc before heading in.

Now I COULD have driven more Friday night/early Saturday evening , however since I came off of hometime , I had woken up around 0600 Friday morning and waited till the truck was serviced pretty much all day around the house. This meant I was running pretty jet lagged and didn’t feel myself fit to drive much more than I had already done.

Key is flexibility- reefer companies know you are human, they know you need sleep, food, water and some downtime to avoid going koo koo. As long as you plan things out right, you can pick up or deliver in time and communicate, you can get the rest you need.

Jaime - heads up I just went near around affected area.

84 WB heading into Portland is closed, traffic diverted to 205, the closure is a 1.5 mile stretch of 84 EB and WB, to get out of Portland I would take five down to 205 near wilsonville (exit 288) take 205 N and you can get back onto 84 EB via exit 22 from 205, just did that this AM on my way toward Utah.

You may be able to connect 84 WB from 205 after the diversion, follow the signs and detours, it is rather confusing. Not sure where you are delivering/dropping at.

Road Master always seemed to me to be the “Toad Master”, slippery, oily, shady AF. From the folks who work there to the whole set up, they were also 50 percent higher than my private school costs to the tune of about 4K more for essentially the same amount of instruction, and the recruiters were too hyperactive and pushy for my liking, like it was purely a numbers gig for them , not that any school isn’t about numbers but TM (toad master) more so.

Glad I dodged the bullet